Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]


I've never actually encountered it, but assumed it meant 'very drunk'.... assimilation of semantics?

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


I should hope so, it's one of the iconic national dishes in the UK while in Poland it's a marginal dish with a niche following...

I imagine that gołąbki are a lot cheaper/better in Poland...

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


tatar should be far leaner than hamburger.... personally I lurve raw beef... and it's pretty much impossible for it to be too rare (as my mother use to order in restaurants: Stun it a little and drag it in...)

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


note to self: Never invite Atch to dinner....

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


I in the early 90s getting the worst food poisoning I've ever had after buying tartar on saturday (I was later told it was probably left over form thursday...) until the sales lady said 'tatar' I had intended to fry it... which probably would have worked out better....

Now I used the little packages and make open face sandwiches with mayonaise on the bottom diced onion and pickle slivers on top and seasoned with magi (and plain freezing cold vodka - the only time I drink plain vodka now)

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

Also, many weaker teachers will simply teach to the test - which might help short term test results but hurt their longer term problem solving skills...

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

To upchuck, a round trip lunch, puke, technicolor yawn....

If someone is stuffed?

Genealogy / Which Polish first names are considered unpopular / obsolete in Poland? [124]

English-y names were popular a few years ago but more among the lower classes which meant that middle class and higher avoided names like Kewin, Samanta or Wanessa like the plague...

Travel / Are Polish people as unfriendly as Slovaks? [84]


how would you know? the only Poles you know are the subset of those who move to the US who are very non-typical....

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


I've seen those books, they're horrible and not about Britain at all (except very obliquely) students can get high grades on matura without knowing much of anything about real life in Britain* (much less the US).


I think that would be an improvement - let those who need to communicate with Belgians or Egyptians or Malaysians do so without burdening them with a bunch of culture stuff they don't need - while allowing those who are interested in culture and history to devote themselves to that.

*I don't know anything about real life in Britain but some Brits have told me that they're more or less science fiction...

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]

If English weren't required in all schools and if only those interested in English speaking countries/cultures were taking classes then I'd agree, but Euro-English is becoming its own thing and will probably eventually evolve into something English speakers won't be able to use or understand without special instruction...

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


For the most part in Europe English is not taught as a foreign language representing particular countries or cultures. It's taught in a deracinated way that emphasizes use with other non-natives. The great majority of those in English class have no real desire to live (or in some cases even visit) an English speaking country and aren't especially interested in the history or culture of English speaking peoples (beyond mass market fare they consume in their own languages).

Those that are really interested in anglophone culture and history major in English philology (though most students there also treat it as a lingua franca with 'just barely good enough' standards rather than a foreign language).

In a sense it's the new Russian - a language class to get through but not something most are interested in beyond the most immediate practical purposes which do not involve trying to mimic native pronunciation (British materials seem to have completely abandoned the idea of native pronunciation as any kind of ideal to obtain).

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


But Poland has a learning culture based on cramming (trying to learn the material at the last minute) which just doesn't work for languages.

I'm more in favor of individual assignments that the student has to go over one-on-one together with a teacher. That's where real learning takes place, not in a big classroom where it's easy to disappear in a crowd or in an exam where half the students are stressed from cramming...

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]


I've heard it a few times in the context of smn getting in the way -nb. not directed at me :)

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Yes Poland has an unhealthy (and very counter-productive) obsession with exams - that all but insure that most students don't learn as much as they could...

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

To get in someone's way (hinder them because of your proximity)

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


I have no problem with grades, but the idea that exams (separate from actual classes) are much of a indication... no. They're not except in extremely broad ways.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


My preferred method is to make cheating pointless. I'm big on open book tests... they don't help unprepared students but for students who know the material they relieve some unnecessary stress... though mostly tests are kind of pointless, I'm almost never really surprised by the results.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [1006]


Not the point of language classes in public schools (where the secondary benefits of language learning are more important)...

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

No, that's what it would be in English, in Polish it expresses disbelief or amazement, something like 'staring with [one's] mouth [hanging] open'

In my experience it often seems to imply the person is playing dumb... (feigning surprise)

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]

it's a noun, meaning something like (a) cheer, it can be turned into a verb wiwatować (meaning 'to cheer')

It's not super common... maybe more common in the plural? google turns up some things like..

"wiwaty dla króla" ([there were] cheers for the king)

"oklaski i wiwaty dla Jan Kowalskiego" (appaluse and cheers for Jan Kowalski)

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


"Long live" is "Niech żyje..." (Niech żyją for the plural).

News / POKO and LGBT lobby is trying to sexualize children in Poland. Now they aim for adoption [120]


That case is not a lie and has been reported in legitimate media...

msn.com/en-us/news/crime/texas-library-apologizes-after-registered-sex-offender-participated-in-drag-queen-storytime/ar-BBURGDM

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


I would go with unikać or ominąć both of which mean something like 'avoid'. When asking about translations the more context you can give the better - translating words in a vacuum often means they won't fit where the asker wants them.

Life / Polish women fight for their rights - manifa and other events [306]


Poland is not basically Russia, Poland has always been oriented toward the west (and western values which include things like equality before the law) while Russia has always been turned inward on itself and has never had any use for any idea of equality before the law.

Life / Owning a house in true countryside of Poland - stories [692]


I dunno, I watched it with a Polish lektor (I can watch movies with a lektor as long as the original isn't in English...)

Bonus: A couple of scenes take place in Poland... including a Biedronka sighting...

It's on the efilmy* site (under the title Putskowie / Wasteland)

*tolerated if not endorsed officially....

Life / Owning a house in true countryside of Poland - stories [692]


I thought it was the opposite... a friend was at a conference on the border (near where the Czech series Pustina* is set) and there were trips into Czech and apparently for many years people could build summer houses on public lands anywhere they could find space and get building materials to which was pretty chaotic...

*if you haven't seen Pustina you need to, one of the best mini-series I've seen in the last 10 years, a devastating look at environmental degradation, cultural nihilism, small town small-mindedness and a generational chasm (not a gap - it's as if adults and their children exist in different universes) I cannot recommend it highly enough

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

Is it like 'call someone on the carpet' (is that not used in the UK)? I

Life / Polish women fight for their rights - manifa and other events [306]


that would mean women are doing the discrimination, do you mean 'discrimination against women'?

my three grosze would be that women in Poland don't have very bad, and often better than lots of other countries. It's not perfect, but what is?

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]


you could use 'all that glitters' in that context in the US (esp if it had been a love-at-first-sight kind of couple).