History / What should Russia and Poland do to become if not friends, then at least not enemies? [943]


Bit of an over simplification there. The women's lib movement (if you mean that of the 1970s) was only the culmination of a long, long journey towards equal opportunities and fairer treatment for women - unless you're just talking about the situation in America.

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


As a matter of fact that's about correct. I know that from years of teaching. Take any group of twenty kids, about five will be well below average, about five will be above average with maybe two being exceptional, and the rest will be - average :) Interesting that you used the word creative, rather than intelligent. Most people tend to associate creativity with the arts but creativity is about using your intellect to solve problems. Engineers and scientists are just as creative as artists and writers.


Because guns can hurt not only themselves but others.

Incidentally, sad to say, but in times of war and chaos, it's not only invaders who rape and loot. But in any case, you might repel the first few looters/would be rapists but you can't carry on indefinitely.

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


Well actually so was I. Countryside will always be vulnerable but there's no reason why a small town can't have a few trained people.

The idea that you can stop an invading army by having a gun per household is nonsense. What happens when their ammo runs out? A farmer can shoot the first few Ruskies on his property and that's all.

And you must face the realities that there are too many people who can't even be trusted to operate a chainsaw for cutting wood, let alone a firearm. Do you ever read about the various accidents with machinery and tools that happen in rural Poland every year?

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


I absolutely agree with that. It's unfortunate but the fact is that war or states of conflict have been the norm for centuries. The nineteenth century saw many wars in Europe. In the twentieth century we had two major wars that started here and overflowed into the rest of the world. We have managed to sustain the peace for nearly a hundred years. But now we're back to the usual state of affairs.

You're right when you say the people who have been born into an outwardly peaceful world and have never known anything else find it hard to conceive of the fact that we're no longer at peace. However, if history repeats itself, these times too will pass eventually - though it will be many years and Europe won't be the same afterwards, anymore than it has been following previous wars.

I don't see any reason for people to arm themselves though. Poland has a well developed military and wouldn't be alone. A gun per household is out of the question. There are too many households with hot tempers, unsupervised children, careless adults etc. that are not fit to have lethal weapons in the house. Better to have a larger, properly trained army reserve, especially in the border area.

Off-Topic / Things we hate [420]


Yes, it's ridiculous - but she could do it if she knew how to play Camogie. There was an incident a few years ago in Ireland where a fourteen year old girl overpowered an intruder with her Camogie stick. Her parents ran the local post office and he tried to hold the place up.

youtube.com/watch?v=Uu99hSEwiY4

Of course most of the scenes involving men are equally ridiculous. What price Stallone, 5 foot 6 on a good day playing heavyweight champion of the world lol! I suppose his Cuban heel boots and hat added the other six inches to at least get him up to about minimum height for the role :)

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


I notice you mentioned Poland reintroducing conscription so I take it that you believe that a war involving Poland is on the cards. When do you think that is likely to happen? And what do you think the threat is exactly? Is it as simple as being invaded by Russia? Or do you think that the war in Ukraine will escalate and that NATO will become involved, thus perforce involving Poland?

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


Why?

Work / How can I found job for Hebrew speakers in Poland? [46]


Were you not listening to the priest? 'I leave you peace, my peace I give you, look not on our sins but on the faith of your Church and grant us peace in our day.' blah, blah, 'The peace of the Lord be with you always' Congregation responds 'And also with you' Priest says: 'Let us offer each other the sign of peace'.

Now if I could only remember when I'm supposed to stand, sit or kneel, without watching the row in front, I'd be away in a hack, as the old saying goes :)

I've noticed when attending funerals in Poland, that there aren't many regular Mass goers, even in the older age group because they all look terribly confused about what to do with themselves at the different points in the Mass. In Ireland the priest very kindly spares them such embarrassment by saying 'Now let us kneel and etc. etc. or 'Let us now stand and recite the Apostles' Creed.' Irish priests copped on years ago that a lot of people had forgotten what to do during mass but Polish priests prefer to shame those infidels :))

Life / Polish fences - complete anthology [72]


They may feel the cold more but it won't do them any harm. Like I said, move and get the blood flowing, then go back and sit down.


Plenty of fat arsed Indian women. India is renowned for its fat women apart from the poor unfortunate, skeletal ones who starve in the streets. In fact nearly half of Indian women in urban areas are obese.

Work / How can I found job for Hebrew speakers in Poland? [46]

Yes it is. But in ordinary speech people use the term 'say Mass' interchangeably with 'offer'. Something I find weird about Mass in Poland is that the bit 'Let us offer each other the sign of peace', they just nod to each other and don't shake hands, well in Warsaw anyway. Maybe it's different in other parts of Poland. In Ireland we always shake hands and we might exchange a few words. Some people will say 'Peace be with you' or if they know each other in a small community they'll say something more personal. Like 'bog off you gobshite' :-))

Work / How can I found job for Hebrew speakers in Poland? [46]


I know you're trying to be a smart arse (don't try, you're not clever enough) but it's an interesting question (rhetorical though it's intended to be). It's the kind of discussion we might have had during those long years of daily religion classes in the convent school. 'Sister, why do we use 'to say Mass?' Then, the nun, instead of giving us some pat answer, would ask us to put forward our hypotheses and we'd have a great old chinwag about it.

The really correct term is not 'say' but 'offer'. Mass is a sacrament (basically it's window dressing around the Eucharist, that's the sacrament part) and it's therefore offered. The part of the Mass where the Eucharist is done is actually called the Offertory. If you can go to Mass in Ireland, the priest will always use the term 'offer' when he's reading out the list of forthcoming special Masses. For example: 'Mass will be offered for the fifth anniversary of Mary Murphy on Wednesday 10th March.' or 'Today's Mass is offered for peace in Ukraine'.

But as to the use of said, here's my take. Mass is a form of communal prayer. The congregation participates in it so it's not delivered. It's prayers lead by the priest. But because it's more than just saying prayers and involves readings, a sermon, singing and the offering of the Eucharist, it's not recited either. Performed could be nearer to the mark , because it is more akin to a rite or series of rites than an actual prayer. The Mass is a ritual performed by a priest and congregation together. But of course Mass does not require a congregation. A priest can offer Mass including Communion entirely on his own.

Travel / Kielce and the area - amazing Polish Pocket Knives live there [105]


It's Mr Atch's favourite too but I prefer Winiary :)

Work / How can I found job for Hebrew speakers in Poland? [46]


Not anymore. The Mass hasn't been said in Latin since Vatican II back in the 1960s.

News / Referendum to decide about exotic immigrants in Poland [549]


Poland, like so many countries, doesn't have a proper system of proportional representation. The only way to get a properly representative government is to have the single transferrable vote system of PR.

Life / Why is women-hatred and stereotyping so popular in Poland? [181]


That's not what you said in the first place, so it's not a case of 'one more time'.

Why do you keep asking these tedious questions on this forum? Why don't you ask these question of activists, especially American ones, especially ones in California, which is where most of this nonsense seems to go on?

Life / Why is women-hatred and stereotyping so popular in Poland? [181]


I actually misunderstood what you said. I took it to mean that men and women are not allowed to compete against each other in chess competitions.

Life / Polish fences - complete anthology [72]

Yes, that's fairly typical but you get winds like that inland too :) But the Atlantic coastline is the best for winds and waves and getting drenched in sea spray, scrambling over the rocks to escape the incoming tide. I do miss it!

The link below shows the exact place where I used to go running when I lived in Dublin (it's just Dublin Bay /Irish Sea, not Atlantic). The winds were so strong sometimes that you literally had to turn your back and just walk against it backwards while you got your breath.

youtube.com/watch?v=Qk-NKvbGBGE

Life / Why is women-hatred and stereotyping so popular in Poland? [181]


They are.

Life / Polish fences - complete anthology [72]


Pawian, I'm an islander. I know all about sea breezes, and much colder ones than Poland's. Freezing your arse off on the beach is a time honoured tradition :) if you're cold, get up and go for a walk.

UK, Ireland / London is Poland's 24th largest city [85]


Mr Sponge is hilarious :) and very evocative. You can really feel yourself transported right back to the England of the early Victorian era. It's a long read though and the best way to enjoy it is in the winter (the season when most of it takes place), ideally when you have a few days off and can settle in comfortably and allow yourself the luxury of living in Surtees' world for a week.

The basic premise is that Sponge is of indeterminate but probably lower middle class background. He probably grew up in the countryside because he's a superb horseman but he can't afford to keep any decent hunters, nor does he have the funds or social connections to gain membership of a good Hunt. So he spends his life borrowing and hiring horses which he pretends are his own and trying to wheedle his way with varying degrees of success, into comfy bilets with good hunting attached.


And Jesus wept!

UK, Ireland / London is Poland's 24th largest city [85]


I'll be never be able to think of Richmond as anywhere but Surrey. To me London is the City and the 32 Boroughs and that's that! I hate the idea of the Home Counties being swallowed up and called London.

But I know it's an inevitable pattern of development. I mean back in the 1890s Kensington and Chelsea were villages. There were still vast orchards and fields in Kensington behind Kensington High Street. Mind you, it was a building site too at the time. An enormous amount of construction was going on then.

Did you ever read Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour by Robert Surtees. It was published around 1830 I think. Sponge goes down the Edgware Road to find a horse for going hunting. There's not much out there except stables.

All of these places subsumed into London. At least places like Hampstead and Chelsea retained their individual character to some degree. The feel of the original villages is still there to an extent.

Life / Polish fences - complete anthology [72]


Jon, I know you don't like lols! but really nothing else will suffice................ :))

I can't believe that anyone could be such a wuss as to need a wind breaker on any beach but especially a Polish one. As you say, a pond!

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


Please show me the post where I said 'we'? I usually refer to women as 'they'. For example:


Otherwise, I use the word 'I' referring to my own experience.


When have I ever suggested that men are lacking? When have I ever whined? Show me the posts.

I'm not a bitter or angry person - though you certainly sound like one. I'm a happy, well balanced person and if anything, I'm a rather old-fashioned sort of woman.

Here is an example of my knitting. The doll I've had since childhood, the dress I knitted recently. I made the handbag too! Always loved my dolls :) And also a picture of a lovely cake I baked at Christmas :) with my childhood dolls' house in the background. Actually I bought that one myself when I was a teenager. I had a different one when I was a kid that I took over from my sister.

It's shocking isn't it, the depths of depraved, radical feminism .........., what is the world coming to when women are knitting and baking? Have they no shame??

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News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


Material things don't always make for a happy family. What children need most is a stable home with loving parents who are good role models. They don't need private education, they don't need lots of toys, lots of extras. Families don't need two cars.

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


In what way am I a 'progressive' whatever that is? When did you ever take care of an elderly relative, feed them, wash them, help them on and off a commode, empty it afterwards? I've done it many times.


Let's hope not.

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]


Would that be perhaps because some couples' expectations are too high? If you want a modern apartment, two cars, a couple of holidays each year, private school for your children, extras like music, drama, English classes, sports clubs, guides/scouts, etc. your living costs will certainly be high.

News / Polish Parliamentary Elections 2023 [933]

I think the lower retirement age for women reflects the fact that they have the additional task of the bulk of the childrearing and running of the home, cleaning, cooking, shopping etc. and once they've finished that, they often have the care of elderly parents.

However, I believe that there must be an equal choice available to both men and women for retirement age. If there is going to be a lower retirement age option it should be right across the board or shouldn't exist at all. It should be up to the individual to choose from an early retirement option or to carry on working. Plenty of women would probably like to carry on working for the financial and social benefits. I do think also that it has to acknowledged that men have a shorter life expectancy than women and an earlier retirement age would allow them to have a few more years of peace and relaxation if that's what they want.


But there's no conscription nowadays for men so why for women? But military service for women is fine as long as it's not sitting behind a desk typing and making tea for the generals.

Life / Why is women-hatred and stereotyping so popular in Poland? [181]


Surely you can answer that question for yourself if you're Polish.

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [940]


Polls ........... we asked 100 people coming out of Walmart ............ and once again your perspective is uniquely American.


As many and more than your poll, I can assure you. The degree of adherence to Islam varies hugely. For example I have a lot of Turkish friends (living in Turkey) and they are closer to Europeans in their outlook. They range in age from mid twenties to mid fifties. Though they all believe in God, none are very religious and the women wear ordinary, western clothes with no head covering. The younger ones wear shorts and a t-shirt in public. I also have friends from Oman. You couldn't meet nicer people. Most Muslims are just like most people anywhere - ordinary. They want the same things as we do, good health, to earn a decent living, a nice home, a happy family. They're really not interested in taking over the world. Extremists are precisely that, extreme. They are by definition, an exception.

Apart from the Muslims I know who are living in their own homelands I've met literally hundreds if not a couple of thousand over the years because I lived in London for several years and in Ireland I've taught a lot of kids from Muslim families of all nationalities, Algerian, Pakistani, Georgian, Indian, Lebanese, Libyan, Iranian, Iraqi, even Saudi and got to know their parents pretty well. The Saudis were the most stand-offish possibly because they were not permanently settled, just passing through usually for Phd studies or work. As for the Saudi children, the boys were difficult, spoilt and disobedient, the girls a delight. The boys learned how to behave though :) We had a wonderful nun in charge of the school and she told one father point blank 'In your country the men might be the boss, but n this country he'll have to learn to do what he's told by women.' :))

Study / Various education and school issues in Poland. Opinions, stories, controversies. [940]


I'm talking about ones who live in their own countries