Genealogy / What does my Polish name mean? [401]

@TwentiethNovemb e.
Never heard it before. I had to google it so I guess it's rather obsolete ...

Genealogy / Abbreviations used in Polish gravestone inscriptions [63]

It's 'the 8th' and 'the 25th' respectively as 'ósmego' is 'eighth' and 'dwudziestego piątego' is 'twenty-fifth'.
r. does stand for 'roku' (rok-year), indeed.
You got the months right.

Love / Are Polish men handsome to you? [182]

Surprisingly enough, there have been some attractive Polish actors in the last 50 years ...
Anyway, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Some Polish men are attractive, some are not.

Love / Are Polish men handsome to you? [182]

@Lyzko
As funny and witty he is, he has never been considered a sex symbol or 'drop dead gorgeous'. You might have met someone who had a crush on him.

He's a regular, pretty attractive guy.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

@kranskylover
Well, according to słownik języka polskiego PWN, parasza is a passage from the Torah read in the synagogue - parashah in English.
Surnames ending in 'icz' are indeed typical for and thought to have originated in Eastern Poland and kresy but used all over the country nowadays due to migration.

History / Recommended Poland's history books [191]

God's Playground by Norman Davies.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

@TAK1730
There are two villages called Dluzniewo so that's probably where the surname originated.

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]

Starka and starzik are used in the Silesian dialect. Do you know where they came from?

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

@TAK1730
As I said - not always. Secondly, on two many occassions there are several places by the same name.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

@Unknown1
Rachwał is derived from Raphael - other variants are Rachwael, Rachwa, Rachał, Rachoł, Rafał.
Elczuk sounds kind of Ukrainian. Elczyk sounds more Polish. I'm not sure about the origin/meaning of Elczyk/Elczuk as well as Zemski. As you can see in the links below they're not very popular.

moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/zemski.html
moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/elczyk.html

Rachwał is far more popular moikrewni.pl/mapa/kompletny/rachwa%25C5%2582.html
I know one Rachwał family. They're not Jewish which doesn't mean they ancestors weren't. On the other hand, many Jewish families adopted Polish surnames.

@TAK1730
You can't always pin a name to a given place ....
Nowadays we can just guess what the origin of our ancestors' were based on the available data.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

@crmondo
The handwriting is really fancy but hard to read ...
As for the first image I think it's Stanisława Supka, służąca (?) - servant, maid, born on April 16th, 1898, religion:R (Roman Catholic, I suppose). The place of birth is given as Dolne / Dalne Szamotuły (???). Szamotuły (if I read it right)is both a town and a powiat (sort of an administrative unit) so it's either Dolne Szamotuły (Lower Szamotuły) or a village called Dolne/Dalne in the powiat. But I haven't found anything like that connected to Szamotuły.

As for the other image the Polish names should be spelled Marcin, Agnieszka and Andrzej. There's no letter V in the Polish alphabet. I have come across Valtos as an anglicised form of Woltosz but there are also surnames like Waltos, Waltos all probably derived from Walter or walt.

worsten.org/grandpolio/szamotuly/weok_kazmierz.htm

According to the link above Dalne is another name of Dolne Pole, a village in gmina Kazmierz, powiat Szamotuły.

Life / Help me find this Polish band and song.... [117]

@Sorn
That's basically 'Ballada o synu sternika' :)

Genealogy / Looking for Polish Spelling of Last Name [17]

@rlmarten
Are you sure it's Polish and not Czech Plavaček?
@dashflyer
How about Sperczak?

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

The truth is somewhere in between. I also think people have always moved and that's pretty much I wouldn't talk about 'Slavic looks'. Slavs have mixed with several peoples and that pretty much affected the way we look. But depending on the nation, the influences were different.

@idem
Well, probably because she looks like some Polish women they have seen before.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

There are some similarities.
On several occassions I thought someone was Polish but they turned out to be Lithuanian/Czech etc.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

I was taken for a Russian twice-once in London. A girl approached me speaking Russian.
Most of the time I was recognised as a Pole by fellow Poles, or Slavic by fellow Slavs.
I don't think it's about hair/eye colour or height/body built, it's more about some looks you kind of have seen and associate with Poles.

As for other nations, Italians and Brits seem to be best at it - probably due to the number of Polish tourists/immigrants there. I was surprised when it happened to me in France.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Szmul is a Jewish first name - a variation of Samuel, I think.

Genealogy / Why are some Polish people dark complected, and others very light [511]

I have seen so many different 'Polish looks' ...
Yet there are still people I see abroad that look 'Polish' to me. Judging from my own experience, I look Polish, too. And I'm not blonde (even though I was as a kid).

Language / Good Polish Music To Help Me Learn? [41]

@spiritus
He was amazing.
Both the pace of his songs and his diction should make things easy to understand. Dni, których nie znamy is fantastic.
Some songs by Czerwone Gitary like Kwiaty we włosach seem good for the purpose of learning for the same reason.

Life / Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints Day) // Dzien Zaduszny (All Souls day) [93]

@Roger5
I don't think it has happened before.
I saw it on the news this morning. Some people were understanding. Others were annoyed.
I think they need to sort it out before tomorrow. People often travel for hours to reach a given cementary. Not to mention, it's an important day for most people, stressful enough because of the traffic.

Grzegorz seems to have calmed down so they just need to make sure there's no danger involved for people visiting the cementaries.

Language / Good Polish Music To Help Me Learn? [41]

@koniczynka
Have you seen the topic of this thread? Laleczka z saskiej porcelany brings some nice childhood memories but it's just a song for kids.

Anyway, as long as you like it and it may help others learn Polish, why not.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

How about Poczyński? However, it's not a verticale popular surname.

Language / Good Polish Music To Help Me Learn? [41]

I'm sorry guys but neither Ludzie wschodu nor Laleczka z saskiej porcelany is actually full of useful everyday vocabulary.
If anyone wants to learn Polish or any other language, choose a genre of music you like. However, a beginner should look for songs with useful vocabulary.

UK, Ireland / The "Paracetamol Myth" - Polish people hesitate to visit UK doctors. [46]

@Bulikov
Not really. I don't pay for private visits here unless it's really necessary. I definitely wouldn't pay for a private visit at my GP's. And yet I do get my prescriptions and exams when necessary.

The biggest problem with doctors here are visits to specialists.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/pspsj/article/view/1981

As you can see there are lots of Polish surnames identical as bird names. Perhaps someone was dumny jak paw?

Btw, in 'Ogniem i mieczem' set in 17th century Poland and written in the 19th century sokół is used to describe a brave/cunning man/warrior.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

pl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korczewski

sorry, that was about KorczeWski.
They were a Baltic tribe.

Language / Polish Proverbs (American style?) [20]

@Ziemowit
Never heard the first one. The second is reallly well known - just didn't think of it reading the paraphrased English version.

Language / Polish gravestone translation [45]

@CarrieANNE
Have you got any photos? Any further information about where the grave is located or the ethnic background of the person/people buried there? I'm not sure if we could help then but perhaps it would be more possible.

I have no idea what the first two words might mean. The word 'obiecujesz' - 'you promise' seems probable but a bit far fetched too.

curk zohan - curka i żona (misspelled 'córka' - daughter and wife)
curka Johana - Johan's daughter (if they were of German origin) but that's really far fetched.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

According to Wikipedia, it's derived from Korczon or Krczon - a first name used by Polekszanie ( Baltic tribe) until the 14th century.

Language / Polish Proverbs (American style?) [20]

@johnny reb
I know most of them except for the second and the last one. At least nothing comes to my mind. :)