Travel / My comments about Poland after staying there. [29]

I'm starting to tire just a wee bit of the continued stereotyping, either Polophilic -or phobic!

My experiences in Europe with any number of different nationalities over the years have lead me to believe that none has a monopoly on any of the "Polish" attributes aforementioned:-)

While I realize a free as well as open forum such as ours allows everyone's perfect right to vent, shout, clamor to their heart's content, I'd like to do a little venting of my own here and wish only to say that so much of what has been posted about Poland in this forum (as in the German and French fora to which I also belong) is simply bilge, plain and simple.

Study / Studying in Poland without speaking Polish? [15]

Yes and no, Angeliko! it also depends entirely on the level of English to which you're referring. Many, many American college students learn Spanish all throughout highschool, yet most speak it abysmally:-)

Love / What are the best love poems in Polish to receive? [77]

"Przez cały, biały dzionek czekam,
Aź stanie wieczór wiencu gwiazd....."

J. Iwaszkiewicz

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

No certain as to whether or not the Swedes might be as enthusiastic about the idea as you seem to be:-)

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

As I've already stated, Poland needs Germany much more than vice-versa. While Polish exports, e.g. apples, potatoes along with products such as beer, folk items, i.e. handicrafts etc. are popular in Germany, Poland must still rely heavily on her imports, whereas Germany remains an export-driven economy!

History / Lusatian-Sarmatic obsession of Poles [153]

Well, it's clearly of Latin origin, that's for sure.

History / Lusatian-Sarmatic obsession of Poles [153]

Guenter Grass considered himself German, although born in present-day Gdańsk to a Kaszub mother and a German-born father:-) He wrote exclusively in German, and never in any other language!!

History / Dacians in Poland [18]

Being that there was so much intercontinental transmigration during and even after the so-called "Voelkerwanderungszeit" or "tribal migration period", the presence of Dacians, Scythians and Celts throughout much of Central as well as Eastern Europe should not come as too much of a shock:-) There was the Turkish invasion of Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries, not to mention the presence for many centuries of the Etruscans in Central Italy, a people originally from as far away as the Caucuses!!

History / Lusatian-Sarmatic obsession of Poles [153]

Lusatia or "Die Lausitz" is still considered German by her inhabitants. There's an old, lovely song "O' Lausitz, du schoene Braut!".

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

Aren't you? If you were born anywhere between 1946 and 1964, you most certainly are (..as, for that matter, am I)! Don't bother denying it!

Secondly, there is a statute of limitations on historical events which occurred well prior to modern recorded history. It is true though that present-day Christian, as opposed to Muslim, anti-Semitism nonetheless stems from the myth that it was the Jews who killed Christ. The Romans were many times more "anti-Semitic" than the early Christians ever were, being as most of the early Christians had been themselves Jews. The Romans were pagans, pure and simple!

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

They already have been:-) Rurik was a Slav (..... as well as a Swede)!

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

You can't beat the clock of history, TheOther! Easy for the post-War red-diaper dopebabies of the post-Boomer generation to talk casually about "moving on" and kumbaya, making friends and forgetting the past, but as we all know, the past cannot, indeed steadfastly refuses to merely pass away, to seep into oblivion. Any time a Jew visits Germany, or a Chinaman visits Japan etc. he or she is alread aware of the burdens of historical nearness, no matter how far we think we've come so far:-)

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

@TheOther,

collective memory unfortunately often goes deeper than contemporary supra-nationalism:-) As far as "moving on", people will move on at their own pace, not ours!

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

The English, even up until the '80's had mixed feelings about the Germans! Witness Margaret Thatcher's scathing comments about former Chancellor Kohl's helping to re-unite the two Germanies. She was dead set against it and, as always, was not shy about speaking her mind:-)

As far as the restoration, i.e. "restitution" of stolen properties belonging to those of Polish birth now living in the States for instance, the Poles blame the Germans who in turn blame the Russians for their "nationalization" of any pirated properties under the Nazis.

It's a hopeless muddle.

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

Yeah, and the first woman to make it too:-)

Pity, all the pity!

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

Guys,

What's "feminine" vs. "masculine" is purely relative. Because Englishmen used to like to sport those thin, long brollies and lean on them while talking doesn't make 'em fags, does it? No, rather it makes them gentlemen!

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

Not to damn but with faint praise, Sweden too has had her mega problems with foreigners, among them Jews, in her midst, for at least several centuries! Leave us not play the idealistic violin strings of "Sweden - Paradise on Earth" either. The fact remains however, that Sweden, unlike Germany, WAS able to marshal her forces into a successful, productive democracy - no show of muscle flexing necessary:-)

The reason that Sweden, and Denmark as well, (unlike Norway or Finland!) could withstand the onslaught of Faschist philosophy has as much to do with religion as it does with economic wealth.

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

My lasting impressions of Sweden, having last been there only in the late 80's, were of a singularly homogeneous nation, jealously guarding both their beautiful language and their culture from the majority of outsiders! No, many whom I met did NOT speak decent English, at least up to my standards, and so we ended up speaking Swedish:-)

The image propagated through the films of Ingmar Bergman is about as representative of the entire country as Frank Capra and John Ford are of the US as a whole. The Swedes I met, and on their own terms, were jarringly down to earth, highly educated, upwardly mobile and as removed from the stereotype "My name is Jan Jansson, I come from Visconin."- stumbling, slow, clodhopper as one could imagine.

I guess opinionated would be the best way to describe the Swedes I met, across the board. Unlike the Poles however, the Swedish tend almost never to descend into heated emotional rhetoric when certain cherished notions of theirs are attacked; they'll gladly (and rather skillfully too, I might add) play the Devil's advocate...and they'll usually win.

On the less positive side, I found many, even in the bigger cities such as Goteborg, to be somewhat provincial, smug and almost incredulous of the fact that not everyone else thinks or is brought up in lock step, i.e. gets married young and automatically has children, cradle-to-grave security etc..

Generally though, I was impressed by the breathtaking landscapes, the gorgeous language, the long summer nights and the ever spirited company of my many friends.

Sweden. All may be summed up perhaps by the motto of Lund University: ATT TANKA FRITT, AR STORT. ATT TANKA RATT, AR STORRE" (To think freely is a great thing, to think correctly, even greater)

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

So is drinking, but why stereotype ALL Swedes as drunks???! As I recollect, the Finns drink twice as much as either the Swedes or even the Norwegians combined (plus can get twice to thrice as nasty in the process!!).

:-)

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

Not__Polish, when will you ever learn that just because it's on Wiki DOESN'T make it necessarily so!!

@player,

Men va' tycker du over det?

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

First of all, I'm from the West, pal! From the garden spot of the States, Brooklyn, USA!! Secondly, where do you get your facts regarding Sweden's sexual life?

I'd be more than happy to "inform" you about history if I though it'd do much good:-)

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

Your errant and coarse oversimplifications of complicated historicity are highly offensive, not to mention completely UNacademic! Characterizing Sweden for example as a feminine society because of her feminist movement??! For G_d sakes, man, you sound just like Archie Bunker (minus the mangled syntax and malaprops)!!

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]

Swedish roads weren't exactly all too shabby when I last visited Goteborg almost twenty years prior.

Language / Grammar - difference between "jaki" and "co" in Polish language [43]

When I first started learning Polish eons ago, I too had a similar doubt, as well as about the difference between "jaki" vs. "który". My teacher mentioned to me one day that "Kupiłam dzisiaj sukienkę." to which I responded "No, który kolor?" whereupon she promptly corrected me by interjecting "JAKI kolor!" I mistakenly asked "Whose" resp. "Which" color instead of "What (kind of) color was it?"

Ever since I haven't forgotten the distinction:-)

Language / Grammar - difference between "jaki" and "co" in Polish language [43]

"jaki(ś)" means more "what type" or "kind"/"sort", e.g. "Proszę o chleb! - Jakiś chleb? = May I have some bread, please! - What kind?, or "Jakiś kolor jest?" = What color is that? "Co" is like "What", e.g. "Co to jest?" = What's that?, "O co to chodzi? = What's that (it) about? etc.

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Yehudi,

Vox claimed I was comparing the tragic death in a street accident of Socha's young daughter with the death of numerous AK fighters in Warsaw.

The person obviously grossly misunderstood what I was saying:-)

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

You missed the entire point, Voxie!

History / The Warsaw Uprising memory. To remember who you are. [180]

Gumishu, Germany aka Nazi Germany was hardly alone in her committing of unspeakable missdeeds. The "singularity" of the Nazi Era was more the seeming nationwide complicity as well as the methodical thoroughness with which such barbarity was carried out!

Yes, JollyRomek shares with many other Germans this insecurity which the Germans call "Geltungsbeduerfnis" and which is like a knee-jerk reaction every time the truth about Germany's shameful recent past suddenly comes up. Most can't handle it.

Then again, I don't see the average 21st century American rushing over to see the Museum of US Atrocities to Native Americans or the Monument To Slavery either.

The latter crimes however, do beggar comparison:-)

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Ooops. Guess, I'll have to re-read the Wiki-Pol. entry:-)
thanks!

History / Terrible past for the Jews in Poland? [930]

Merged: Leopold Socha - Jews savior, hero?

What with all these commemorations concerning the indeed valiant Warsaw Uprising in '44-45, it seems to me that equal attention should be paid to the brief, shining life of Leopold "Poldek" Socha, the sewage inspector in £ódź who hid Jews (even those who couldn't pay), losing his own life at only thirty-six while saving his young daughter's right after the war, in 1946.

As we Jews would say, may his memory be as a blessing!