Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


Have not heard this one, but I like it!

There was a family ahead of me. Father, mother, three small kids.

He was very fit, and made me feel a little self conscious.

But she was amazing... Thin, tall, and with the most amazing smile. Kids from another family would dive under the divider, and play with her kids - and she would light up with a smile that made the heart sing.

Then, when some Polish babushka had trouble understanding the black guy working for LOT in Newark, she stepped in and translated with the most delightful accent.

I was looking at them, and thinking... is this really who we are to drop some nuclear bombs on???

Good people.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]

@Torq

So no protest at you having big noses?

The person I was with, though from Ukraine, has always claimed to me to be Polish by blood.
In that line, she told me - look they all have big noses like me!

Big, impressive noses.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


You are right.


Yes!

I don't understand, why two guys standing 40 centimeters away from each other, in an absolutely silent train car, feel the need to tell their story about what happened at the construction site that morning at 110 decibels.

But I also like it, when my favorite guy at the local Subway shop greets me like I'm king Ashurbanipal III entering Nineveh.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]


I immediately remarked upon this to my friend.

When people from Russia visit me in America, they're always astonished at how extremely loud Americans are. A typical sentiment is, "I can't hear myself think in this restaurant".

Now, when I go home people tell me to keep my voice down, because "the whole restaurant can hear about your problems". I'm realizing I'm becoming loud as well.

In that line to the check in desk, we were definitely the loudest people there.

Even when people get plastered in Eastern Europe, it doesn't even approach the level of loudness from some Puerto Rican or Black mom in the subway casually herding her kids into the train car.

A Russian concert, is probably still quieter than your average American tailgate party consisting of just 10 people.

But I think it's not only Russians and Poles that consider Americans ridiculously loud - but all of Europe and Asia.

You guys have to go to Africa to find your peers.

Travel / Poles as tourists in foreign countries [93]

A few days ago, I took someone here in New York to the airport in Newark, so they could catch a LOT flight to Rzeszow.

This flight flies only once a week, on Sundays.

The rest of the time you have to take indirect flights going to Warsaw first.

My expectation was that I would see a lot of the typical crowd of spies, defense contractors, big muscly men my age, reporters, etc.

Barely saw any of these. Mostly just Polish families. Actually few Ukrainians... Here are my impressions in bullet list:

1) Poles have a lot of kids, at least those traveling
2) Poles like dogs. Three different families shipping a dog in a crate.
3) Poles are quiet like Russians. Huge line of 200+ ppl, but still very quiet.
4) Poles have big noses.
5) Polish women are very pretty, up to about 35-40 years. Then they turn into Russian-style matrons.
6) Poles like luxury brands.
7) Poles don't like black people or Jews - picked this up just eavesdropping.
8) Polish grandmas and grandpas are identical to ours, in appearance, in behavior - everything.

Off-Topic / Feed Back on the Moderating - Part 2 [207]

Boomers and Gen Xers destroying each other on PF is a sight to behold.

Following on the heels of the Greatest Generation, you are a pathetic bunch of grown children.

"Me, me, me!!!"

History / Why Was D-Day So Significant for Poland ? [266]


More jokes.

1) Britain was never invaded. The Battle of Britain, was fought entirely in the air, and lasted approx. three months from July to Oct. of 1940. Props to the British Air Force for being able to establish eventual air superiority.

2) The Battle of the Atlantic involved several hundred submarines, and maybe several thousand merchant ships and government owned cargo carriers. The total losses are tallied in the tens of thousands. In other words, approximately a week of Stalingrad fighting.

3) The North African Campaign was an absolute sideshow next to what was happening on the Eastern Front. Once again, total casualties are tallied only in the tens of thousands. Many more were captured, but that is because Hitler and Mussolini had no means of shipping those men back to the Continent. Soldiers who were transferred from North Africa to the Eastern Front, would complain that it was like entering hell (btw the soldiers transferred from France and the Low Countries complained about the same thing).

Bottom line - the scale, brutality, and amount of armament involved - puts the Eastern Front on an entirely different level than any other theater of the war. The Eastern Front of WW2 is the most brutal fighting experienced in the history of our species. Meanwhile, the battles in the West, in Africa, in Asia, could have easily happened in WW1 or in the 19th century in terms of the losses involved.

Britain and France both lost much more men in WW1 than in WW2, though that war is rarely ever discussed when fighting for bragging rights over the dead.

Britain - WW1 losses: 887K military deaths
Britain - WW2 losses: 383K military deaths

France - WW1 losses: 1.4M military deaths
France - WW2 losses: 217k military deaths.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

@Torq
You dog!

Of course - Serbia - spiritual homeland.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


I apologize Sensei. You are correct.

You have accurately pointed out the logical fallacy of my constructed argument.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


Mhmm, not easy.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


Much of my surrounding also finds my infatuation with Poland suspicious. I'm not Polish by blood (except a very small part), so of course I try to defend myself.

Bottom line - Poland should one day become part of a 4-Nation unity. Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia. One spiritual and philosophical continuum.

We have more in common with each other - and what will make us strong - than what separates us.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


How do you know that I am NOT learning right now, at this very moment?


Apologies Monsieur - this was addressed at my nemesis.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

Your negative appraisals are valued at close to zero by me.


Kania, dearest...

Polish military traditions are important, and it is always - in general - important to be respectful towards local customs and traditions.

But I feel you are focusing on the crumbs along the kitchen table, while we have this grand turkey of a feast situated in the middle.

The man, did more than any Western commander to defeat Nazi Germany.

He is a hero of quite literally legendary status in Russia.

He commanded MILLIONS of people.

As a professional military man, that was forced to go to Warsaw to serve in the civilian role of "Minister of Defense" - I'm sure most of the time he was bored out of his mind and was not very efficient.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


And lose the war and present our undefended anus to Das Deutsches Reich?

Vlasov tried that.

He is now forever the Judas of the Russian people. His name is mixed with sh*t, anytime it is mentioned.

Life was no picnic back then. There was no justice to be found. Men like him, that acted responsibly regardless of this chaos - we owe them a special debt.

Rokossovski is one of the greatest Poles in history for Russians.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

@Paulina

Did anyone attack Poland since then?

Did Poland kick Hungarian and Czech ass together with us?

Does Poland have a powerful military in the present?

What did Rokossovski do to you that was bad? How did he betray you?

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


He was subjected to extreme hounding and humiliation.

His wife and children were sent into internal exile.

Himself, he was pressured to sign all nature of false confessions which were popular at the time. The price for not signing these confessions, was inhuman beatings and other forms of torture.

He never ratted anyone out. He never confessed. Then, when the time came, and the country came calling - he answered the call.

This is a patriot of Russia.

Russia brutalized him and spat in his face, trampled over everything he held dear, and yet he went out there and laid his soul down for the defense.

This makes Rokossovski more Russian than most Russians.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


Yeah "hahahaha".

Find in 1949 in Poland a Pole that had experience of commanding a front consisting of multiple millions of people.

Find a Pole that was treated as an equal by Montgomery and McArthur.

Find a Pole that had the same level of connections in Moscow.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

Enough for today.

Tomorrow, I decided, I will give another go to Rokossovski.

One of the most exceptional Soviet commanders in all of WW2 (perhaps, the most talented).

Born in Warsaw in 1896, he started indicating Velikiye Luki as his birthplace, after being awarded two consecutive Hero of the Soviet Union orders.

Known to us as Konstantin Konstantinovich, he was born Konstantin Ksavyerovich. Some historians assert that his real birth name was Kasimir.

His father was Ksaveriy Yuzefovich Rokossovski (Glyaubich and Orsha arms). Inspector of the Warsaw railroads.

In 1949, the Polish President Bolesław Bierut, requested the Soviet government to send the Pole Konstantinos Rokossovski to Warsaw to serve as Minister of Defense.

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History / Why Was D-Day So Significant for Poland ? [266]

@Novichok

This post... I feel owe you a State Award from the Russian government.

This is what we have believed all along.

They were delighted when the Nazis and Bolsheviks were butchering each other. Then when the communists started making startling advances, they finally got going.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

Hahahaha!

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


Do you feel the Russian writing and resulting pronunciation is accurate to how Poles would pronounce it?

How do you rate Russian in general at producing Polish sounds?


Which makes me wonder why we put the R back in there in Russia, when Poles don't use it. Seems wrong. Thanks for this!

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


I noticed a long time ago that Germans write our Zh sounds as Sch, though.

It makes them sound very funny when they speak Russian. The German accent in Russian is probably one of the most funny ones.

What do you propose they use instead if you say yourself they don't have that sound?

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


Omg, haha. I butchered his last name in transliteration.

It is not "Kri-schi-SCHIV-onowski"

It is "Kri-schi-SCHAN-owski"

I will admit, Poles could have simpler names and it would make life much easier.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

@Bratwurst Boy

Yes!

5/5

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


Well, it's technically only three consonants. The Russian Ж, becomes Zh in Latin transliteration.

It's pronounced Kry-zhy-zhyv-onovski.


We literally spelled it exactly as it was written in Polish, but using Russian letters. You should say thank you. In America this would become Krysanovski.

History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]

Today's Great Russian Pole - Gleb Maksimilianovich Krzhizhanovsky.

Born to an old szlachta family, he was one of Vladimir Lenin's oldest and closest friends.

In the early days, he was the editor of the Rabotnik newspaper, and a cofounder of the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.

Later, when sitting in prison with Lenin, he wrote the Russian words to the Warszawianka.

However important his work was in the early revolutionary circles, Krzhizhanovsky is most remembered for something else. That is, being the head of the GOELRO and the first Chairman of the GOSPLAN.

It's hard to identify two organizations more important to Soviet life in the first decades of its existence. GOELRO, was the state plan for the electrification of Russia. That plan is responsible for the building of the mighty hydroelectric dams in Ukraine, and across Russia proper. The industrialization of the Soviet Union was inextricably linked to the GOELRO plan, administered by this Pole.

The GOSPLAN, is of course the Soviet ministry which managed all of planning in our centrally planned economy.

After his death, Krzhizhanovsky was buried along the Kremlin Wall in the necropolis along with other heroes of Russian history.

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History / Russian Greatness - and its Polish Contributors [77]


If you know that I am "Imperial" - then you must understand that I am not a nationalist and not a xenophobe.

A Pole serving Russia, is equal in my eyes to a Russian serving Russia, and above a Russian who is Russian in name only.

History / Why Was D-Day So Significant for Poland ? [266]


Do you smoke crack?

For those of you out there that are not history buffs - D Day was a large allied amphibious landing in Northern France. It represented the long awaited opening of a second front against Hitlerite Germany, from the West.

It occurred on June 6, 1944. I will repeat that - June 6, 1944.

We had been begging the allies to open a second front every year since 1941. Every year the operation was delayed under some new and very convenient excuse.

I think the Americans and Brits were happy to watch the Nazis and Bolsheviks slaughter each other.

By the time the Normandy landings happened, Germany was a shadow of itself and retreating in the East as fast as the German soldiers' legs could carry them.

Turning point of the war... This is a spit in the face of millions of Soviet citizens. Ever heard of Stalingrad? There, in an attack on a single tractor plant, Germany lost more men than in the Battle of France.

I repeat, a smaller episode of street fighting in Stalingrad was bigger than the entire collapse of France.

USA, Canada / Why Americans don't allow men to be in briefs at the beach/swiming pools? [90]

What is it with you and shoes? Are you a shoe salesman?