UK, Ireland / Polish People are Welcome in Scotland [54]


The day when independent Scotland comes into existence is approaching. It is hard to tell when it happens, but I am sure it will happen one day. The process must take time and Brexit may be something that accelerates it.

L'Ecosse deviendra indépendante après le Brexit (Sturgeon).

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


Mr K' s party may not win a stand-alone majority in parliament this time despite his aggresive neo-Bolshevik propaganda that LGTB ruins the country by making families collapse.

Off-Topic / The "Anglicization" of Europe [132]


If there is too much influence of one language onto another, a sort of hybrid emerges. Hasn't English become such a hybrid with old French as a result of the Norman Conquest of 1066? Polish, however, has never achieved this level of hybridisation as English. There was a wave of Latin attacking Polish in the 17th century. Then there was a wave of French flooding Polish in the 18th century and next the wave of German in the 19th century. All these waves have been successfully repelled and only traces of them remain given the original amount that came in.

The influence of Latin or French affected mostly the higher classes of society, so they were relatively easy to annihilate. The German language wave was actively thought against by scientists and intellectuals with conscious effort made to replace German terms with Polish ones in technical and economic language. That effort has been largely successful.

What about English. We don't know yet, everything is still in statu nascendi (Latin term ;-).

News / PiS` magic tricks - the first budget without deficit in Poland [39]


That is true. Polish industry in the early 90s was more or less a joke. There were, however, a few examples of the opposite, but these only confirm the rule.

Critics claim now that those "jewels" were sold for nothing, but they simply look upon the economic condition in which the enterprises are now and completely ignoring the fact that this condition has been achieved thanks to foreign investments into these enterprises.

On that new economic base, some new Polish enterprises have been formed ever since and they have been very successful and have been 100% Polish-owned from the very beginning.

However, there have always been major companies that have remained Polish since the beginning of the economic transformation. One of those is the biggest Polish bank PKO, another is KGHM (and yes, the latter one was one of those Polish "crown jewels" which was on the verge of selling it to a foreign company in the 90s, but luckily enough, the trade unions had managed to block the deal, otherwise the KGHM would have really been sold almost for nothing).

Off-Topic / The "Anglicization" of Europe [132]

Which words specificaly do you have in mind? I myself tend to avoid anglicisms in Polish; the only one I use is 'apgrejdować' (upgrade). At first T started to use it ironically, but then I found out ... there was no Polish equivalent for it!

Do you speak with Irish accent, Ms Atch?

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


I have not heard of it, but if it is true, this must have been a totally sick paranoia displayed by those nationalistic morons of Poland.

Jan Brzechwa was a true master of the Polish language, in particular in his poetry for children. The famous "Stoi na stacji lokomotywa" was his, wasn't it?

News / Dodgy PRL-holdover judiciary finally reformed [420]

In 2015 only 37.6 % of votes were cast for PiS. That is far below 50 %. The turnout at the election was 50,91 %, so effectively the percentage was about 19,14% voting for PiS.

Saying that PiS is supported by about 50% of the population is a pathetic act of neo-Bolshevik propaganda.

History / Polish-German alliance. [489]


An interesting map. The map seems to show the situation after the invasion of Bretislav of Bohemia in 1039 who captured Silesia as a result of the invasion. At that time Silesia was yet far from becoming German. Can you indicate the exact year for the map?

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [492]

He is trying to sow ferment just as those functionaries at the Ministry of Justice who orchestrated a farm of trolls in the ministry did.

Notice that he is completely silent on the embarrasing subject of trolling in the Ministry, but instead tries to re-direct the thread into something else, e.g. a "final solution" against PiS members. Totally pathetic PiS trolling by Gumishu!

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [492]


No one (except you) assumes that those who voted PiS once will vote for them for ever.

I think you've just smoothly moved here from an assumption that PiS are neo-bolsheviks to a very strange conclusion of some "final solution" is needed. Aren't you perhaps a neo-bolshevik in its worst incarnation - a neo-stalinist?

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [492]

PiS neobolsheviks are those who rule the party or are party activists. People who vote for them are voters who were bribed by them to get a vote.

It is absolutely hilariuos that a troll farm has been set up within the Ministry of Justice and it was orchestrated by a deputy minister.

History / Why Poles love Russia [105]


That is amazing, isn't it? And why do they still keep this political terrorist Lenin as a mummy on the Red Square in Moscow, if the mummy himself wanted to buried in the ground and not be shown as an ape to everyone?

News / PiS and Russian political/economic interests [70]


Funny that an expat likes him constantly advocates Poland to leave the EU. After all, he hasn't lived in Poland for a fecking lots of years, so why dare he voice his opinion on this? It's none of his business whether we who live in Poland want to stay or want to leave the EU.

If he prefers Russia, let him go there, stay there for the rest of his life, shut up his mouth and forget about Poland.

News / PiS and Russian political/economic interests [70]

Ironside must be very satisfied with this kind of development, mustn't he?

History / Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland [250]


Ha ha ha. If so, then ask RM why he left communist Poland for America in the 1960s, if communist Poland was such a great place to grow.

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

IMHO, "a boy for beating" would be a better translation.

Or "a boy for whipping" indeed.

Off-Topic / DALMATIA - How much Poles love Dalmatia ? [123]


You are comletely wrong in this case (as you usually are in such cases). Dalmatia is only part of Croatia, so we don't call it Croatia. Not now or ever before.


Another proverb: Czym chata bogata, tym rada.
(PRL version of this: Tym chata bogata, co ukradnie tata)

UK, Ireland / Why are Polish people, especially women, so disrespectful toward the English? [442]


What about the Irish? Now, there's this little bit of verse on the Irish!

Me mudder is Oyrish, me fadder is Oyrish
And Oy am Oyrish too.
And we keep the pigs in the parlour
Just like the Oyrish do!

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [492]


The political culture in Poland generally lacks moderation, so such a quality seems to be really important. We are far behind Germany or Britain in this respect, I believe. The tradition of this "unmoderate" culture goes back to pre-war Poland where it was even much worse than today.


I was possibly too much engaged with fighting the Brit Bullies gang at that time. This is serious what I've just said; that clown Harry and that other clown jon357 were so much annoying and nasty towards Poland that it was a priority for me to join forces with Johnny Reb and others to defeat them and eventually win.

I have always disapproved of the PSL for their greed. I'm sure that one day this party disappears. For PO, I was truly shocked by the scandalous role and behaviour of Warsaw's mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Walc in the property privatisation processes. Generally, I believe this scandal (among other things) has made PO sink to positions they will not be able to recover from for quite a long time (if ever).

On the other hand, I have always disliked bombastic patriotism and, most of all, nationalism; the former seemingly being the tradmark of PiS. But I don't think that PiS a a Putin-like "One Russia" party which aimes at dictatorial power while building a democratic facade for their un-democratic actions. What is more, I feel they are now far behind Hungary's Orban "clientelism" yet, but - I hope not - the party's stance may one day advance in that direction.

News / Scandals, conflicts, tensions, arguments - real life examples from Poland [492]


Are you going to tell us that things were not going to change for the better under PiS rule, but only become "less serious"? I shall then remind you of the famous slogan coined by former PM Beata Szydło as aguidance for all PiS political activists - "Pokora, Praca, Umiar". Yes - Restraint, stupid! 23 flights with family to Rzeszów on board of a government plane is not what we (editorial) may count as "restraint".


For how long yet are they going to endlessly repeat: Waza zbiła się etruska - wina Tuska! ?

And last, but not least, Mr. Kuchciński's spokesman (or other Sejm official) had at first insisted that Kuchciński did not take his family on board on any occasion. Now, what filter should you put on to see that lying was not mentioned in the message of Beata Szydło?

Life / Do you know these characters from Polish movies? [223]

Un unforgettable role in an unforgettable film. Did you know that Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz was ... hmm ... not particularly liked by the political class in pre-war Poland?

[A little bit like certain people being not particularly liked now by the PiS government in today's Poland]

I first read the book on which the film is based as a teenager when the book was not filmed yet and I must say - the book had impressed me a lot at that time! So I'd like to advise everybody: you must certainly read the book, if you liked the film.

Life / Do you know these characters from Polish movies? [223]

Bingo! There has appeared a book on her recently. Loda Halama died in Warsaw in the year 1996 at the age of 85.

She left for Switzerland with her rich husband whom she married in 1939, but they returned to Warsaw in 1941 amid in the mids of German occupation. Her husband was shot dead as a man working for the Home Army. She then left Warsaw and eventually returned in 1985 where she died 11 years later.

Life / Do you know these characters from Polish movies? [223]

Which actress and dancer has been nicknamed "Pierwsze nogi Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej" (First Legs of the Second Republic)?

History / Modern myths and legends about communist past in Poland [250]


They were very good quality.


Typically, coupons from it were being cut out after selling an item to the customer.


They were of not too good quality altogether and rather bad for roads in the PRL cities. In the end, they were replaced gradually by the Hungarian "Ikarus" buses, at least in Warsaw.

Language / Puns and language games in Polish adverts [33]

They obviuosly expect people to cover the G in GRUCHAĆ.

Language / Busha and JaJa [140]

No one has solved this mystery so far. And I sincerely doubt if anyone ever does ... That JaJa is truly hilarious to the Polish eye.

Busha and JaJa ... Very funny!

Life / Do you know these characters from Polish movies? [223]


It is the film "Wesele" directed by Andrzej Wajda where Daniel Olbrychski plays Pan Młody, a character based on the real person Lucjan Rydel.

Stanisław Wyspiański was, of course, the autor of the theatre play "Wesele".

Here is the "real" Stanisław Wyspiański for you (painted by Stanisław Wyspiański himself) :-)

Life / Do you know these characters from Polish movies? [223]

Before trying to guess the title, it is worth pointing out that my clue as to who the actor is and whom he plays was a perfect example of the so-called "culture codes" work. Neither person calling you, Pawian, not being a native Pole (Johnny Reb, Dirk diggler, Joker) would have been able to tell this, whereas a true native Pole like you and I readily identify the ground on which they stand.

Life / Do you know these characters from Polish movies? [223]


I don't know the film, but the guy (Daniel Olbrychski) looks like playing Stanisław Wyspiański

History / MAP OF POLAND IN 1880'S [95]


It was, however not all of it. Czernikowo was just not far from the border on the Russian side.