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

Don't know to which "game" you're referring, TheOther! I'm speaking about historical fact, not opinion. The fact is that Germany was particularly susceptible to Hitler because their foundation in popular democracy was weak to almost non-existent. Come one, man! Take a look at the failed Vormaez so-called Revolution of 1848!! It was like claiming to be a serious army and attacking the enemy with one pop-gun and a water pistol:-)LOL The Weimar Constitution??! There was a bleedin' failure if I ever heard one. Dressing a military nation-state in democratic garb for a decade and calling it a true democracy??

I'm only painting German history with the brush strokes it deserves, using the colors and canvas which it has bestowed upon me, nothing more, nothing less!

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

@TheOther,

You and Jolly are the two big "German"/"Germany" experts around here 'right? Well check out H. Plessner's treatise on 'secular piety', one of Germany's philosophical responses to the Plague, the Thirty-Years War and a bunch of other stuff brewing pre-Enlightenment throughout the German Empire! Secular Piety is defined as a uniquely German view of the world which seeks to "despiritualize" the physical world and remove G_d from the entire equation. Kant too contributed to the so-called Nazi Weltanschauung, whereby e.g. pity as a response to pain was deemed essentially illogical and thus unimportant. Obedience to the Will was the highest commandmant, hence, disobeying the Will might be considered even worse than murder! The German title's too long and this ain't a German Forum per se, only once you read, you'll instantly see this guy Plessner's take on the essential cave-in of grass-roots Christianity to the ruling aristocrats at the time. He and others have explained the failure of Christian ideology and its basic 'Judaism' as one of the many reason Hitler was able to appeal so viscerally to the German masses! Basically, Germany was still pagan, had never Christianized (except nominally), hence had no concept of human equality, brotherly love, i.e. the glue that holds Western Civilization together.

If you're thinking, "Hey, £yżko! Whaddabout the Crusades?", the Crusaders themselves were only converts to Christianity, not familiar with the teachings of Jesus.

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

Yeah, we know! And "our" Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes once advocated mercy killing of the feeble-minded, right!
That doesn't make it right either though, does it now?:-)

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

Germany has seen itself throughout history as the unwitting victim of inferior races and peoples, forever vying for their rightful place against the "superior" Germans. This attitude has morphed into "LOOK, WE'RE GERMANY!! ECONOMIC SUPER POWER NO.1 IN EUROPE. TREMBLE BEFORE US!!!"

They needn't say such expressly; it's often plain oozin' outta their pores:-)

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

Name me one testing system which ISN'T flawed in some way, I dare you!
:-)

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]

Problem is, folks, is that the US simply hasn't kept up with the rest of humanity! "What was good enough for grandpa's good enough for me!" type mentality pervades the Western States especially, like a cancer, never cut out at its source!! Is protection important? Sure, it is! But the cure for crime isn't arming every potential nut job walking around. The cure for crime is ameliorating social conditions at home, school and work, thereby decreasing the need to commit violent crime.

In my opinion, only registered and RESPONSIBLE police officers in any town in the land, should be allowed to buy, carry and use handguns on a regular basis. Just being a "hunter", "gun-fancier" or the like, shouldn't be good enough:-)

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people!" is what the NRA has been babbling for generations. Yet, if the (unstable, trigger-happy) people didn't carry guns in the first place, more (unarmed, innocent) people wouldn't be killed!!

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

ALL facts by their very nature are subject to both legitimate "interpretation" as well as abuse by certain groups wielding a particular agenda, and the fact remains that Germany has suffered seriously, starting in around 1985 up 'till round about the late '90's and beyond with a much-watered down school system to accomodate all those groups heretofore excluded: the feeble minded, immigrants, often from poor, illiterate families, as well as children from so-to-speak "broken homes" aka "at-risk" populations.

The situation is roughly analogous to contemporary America. The reason that countries such as Sweden, Iceland and Finland seeme to score so high, is/was the relative lack of the type of malignant social problems which have invaded Germany, the US, the UK and France. In by and large homogeneous societies, e.g. Sweden or Iceland, (yet curiously NOT Norway or Denmark as much any longer!), the learning curve is far more uniform, the household and the school go much more hand in hand, and immigrants are far less integrated than they are in many other countries in Europe.

Law / The right to own guns: would you support such legislation in Poland? [2237]

If that Roof character hadn't had a gun on his person (mad as hell though he probably was), there would've been NO shooting and the world wouldn't be reading about another countless statistic! Same for Adam Lanza, the Columbine Gang and all the others.......

:-)

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

Nonsense?? PISA was correct, TheOther!! Whether the reasons are due to immigrant children or not, the fact IS that Germany's level HAS lowered over the past decades:-) How can you argue with facts or are you merely splitting hairs as usual?LOL

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

Nice one:-)

By the by, the spelling is "aneCdote":-) Think of "eXam" vs. "eGZamin" etc....

English spelling's a nightmare for most Europeans, don't worry, I'm only being my persnickety self!

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [145]

Believe her bio says Kraków, but that could always be misleading:-)

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

Correct!

However, it might also be that Mirten's schooling is poor and he may not have learned in history class about Modern Germany:-)
Considering all the revisionism that's been going on recently apropos Hitler and the Holocaust, I'm not surprised. Frankly, it didn't even occur to me reading his post. And don't let's please not forget the embarrassing PISA study some years back, in which Germany was ranked almost number fifteen among world nations in education.

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

More Poles learned German for years rather than English (even when it was later offered in school). Those I've spoken to also preferred it to Russian (albeit the latter was superficially easier for them):-)

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

Mirten,

Based upon my readings, I would say that Poles historically disliked neighboring Germany, yet feared Russia much more intensely! I base this on my research into the losses which Poland sustained at the hands of Stalin vs. Hitler. While Hitler did of course amply label Slavs (above all the Poles) as "subhuman" cf. Stauffenberg's long-repressed quote which finally surfaced several days ago in the Polish press that Poles are "shiftless low lives" (Gesindel) who must be regularly beaten" in order to remain obedient, one must make a distinction between the incalculable losses the Polish gentile majority suffered in contrast with that of Polish Jewry!

Polish Jews surely saw Germany as a far more fiendish enemy that Russia ever was.

News / Czechs most liked by Poles! [35]

This may be due to any number of false friends between the two languages which often lead to offensive misunderstandings, e.g. stały vs. staly, zapach vs. zapach, szukac vs. szukat etc....

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

As stated ad nauseum here on PF, when I close my eyes and envision a Polish male, he is generally broad-faced, oval-headed and quite fair, with a lantern jaw, sculptured facial structure, even features and a muscular build; and there you have him - Andrzej Duda!

LOL

Language / What are the hard aspects of Polish according to its learners? - home essay [21]

Have you also tried listening to news on the radio?

Language / What are the hard aspects of Polish according to its learners? - home essay [21]

It continues to be essential to learn all new vocabulary in context! This is of no end importance in training correct usage. In addition, learn the gender (and the plural forms!) for each new word acquired:-) That way, days, weeks, months into the future, you needn't nag yourself with the same irritating "!#%@! Is such-and-such masculine, feminine or neuter?? How d'you say the plural of...?" etc.

:-)

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [145]

A good point, jon. Yet it needn't be that way! On the one hand, I always accept correction of my Polish. On the other hand, I give as good as I get and am never shy about correcting the English of my respective tandem partner, regardless the language:-)

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

No offence taken:-)

Apropos "Whose Camp was it anyway?", clearly Germany bore the brunt of the atrocities. After all, to be historically accurate, Auschwitz was NOT in Poland, but rather in Nazi-occupied Poland, i.e. Nazi GERMANY!! The Poles. many at least, were simply willing accomplices to German-sanctioned and administrated mass murder!!

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

True enough, yet the very experience being commemorated is so ghastly as to seemingly preclude the random lifting of even the strayest of stray objects. A concentration camp site is exactly that, sacred ground, hallowed soil, preserved for one and one purpose only, NOT for one's own prurient purposes such as a photo op, an ice-cream "break" or (shudder) the discoteque idea once proposed by the Polish government in a misguided attempt to extract state revenue from Auschwitz aka 'Ośwęcim'.

Barbaric!

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

Jon,

When I visited the Dachau Memorial Site many years ago, the lax way in which the grounds were patroled was indeed curious. I could almost touch the barbed wire inside the gates and grab any one of the pebbles lying on the soil.

Makes one wonder as to the maintenance issues at such places:-)

News / British schoolboys very sensibly dealt with by the Poland's authorities after theft in Auschwitz [45]

At best, a sound and harsh reprimand would have been sufficient!

It is my opinion that the flagrantly thoughtless behavior of the boys perfectly reflects the often lackadaisical manner in which the Holocaust is presented in certain countries. Take Austria, even Russia, for example. Until the plug was finally pulled, the former allowed a company to issue a board game in which one team would be the prisoners, the opposing, the concentration camp guards etc... Perhaps this is the root of Holocaust denial as well as other acts of rampant anti-Semitism.

The above is only one man's point of view.

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [145]

My principle problem is the need for constant practice! I always communicate with Polish native speakers in Polish, as it's easier for both of us. I DO appreciate correction.

Glad to see the feeling is mutual:-)

Work / What are career opportunities for a foreigner in Poland? [16]

Translators too are in high demand and well paid too. Negotiate a price though. Typically, you'll be underbid; ALWAYS overbid and overcharge, just like any other professional!

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [320]

:-) Thank you

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [320]

Polish isn't an "American language"... (unless you forgot the period after "hard", he-he!):-)
Do you mean perhaps, "American English has letters whose phonetic quality changes with use, where Polish pronunciation is more consistent.".??

Language / Polish Language Exchange Thread [145]

Hej!

Did you get my reply to your e-mail already? I sent it off less than twenty minutes ago.
Thanks:-) Not too many English errors on your end, by the way!

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [320]

I agree. Way too many a Polish student become hopelessly mired in "Pan Tadeusz", Biblical quotations, not to even mention purely grammatical exercises, merely to discover eventually that they can't communicate in daily Polish with average, run-of-the-mill Poles!

In this poster's humble opinion, HEAD OUT OF THE FREAKIN' BOOK and start conversing with Poles (mistakes and all):-)

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [320]

Exactly, Ziemowit!

The text is indeed truncated, but the "Twemu" immediately came to mind as arch literary, i.e. biblical, diction:-)
Church services for example in almost any language will contain archaic usage, often neither known nor even recognized in everday language.

Back to counting, collective numeralia I continue to ponder over when writing.

The schwa sound also exists in Turkish and in Albanian, the latter having two dots over the "e" for certain words.