Love / How do Polish men feel about gender equality? [780]

Read an article in today's NYT about that retired football player, Kelce's his name, I think, who
openly wept when he announced his retirement the other day.

I was reminded how openly Polish men whom I've known, completely straight men built like linebackers,
will cry at the drop of a kapelusz, if their history or identity is impugned, particularly by the foreign press!
Other nationalities such as the French, Germans or Italians, will react to such ignominy with anger, perhaps
even violence, sometimes with irony and dismissive laughter. Only the Poles whom I've experienced will respond
unabashedly with tears.

News / How will Polish-American relations change if Trump is elected president again? [706]

Clearly relations would worsen, perhaps irreparably so, Alien!

What a cruel irony (Treppenwitz) indeed that the single nation which successfully defeated
Faschism and Nazism might decide to "elect" a man who doesn't even believe in or understand
the same Democracy for which his fellow Americans fought and died.

Trump doesn't care about checks and balances; he believes only in an Executive Office in
which the Chief Executive answers to nobody but himself.

Biden still has a fighting chance. Never heard anyone complain about Trump's ramblings, have you?

Genealogy / What are common Polish character traits? [425]

At work, we often have many younger visitors, both from the UK
as well as the Continent and those from Great Britain in particular
tell me that the capital has become so multicultural there's practically
little to any trace of the past in terms of what Americans especially
consider "typically English":-)

I do try to keep myself updated as to what's au current in Europe
these days.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]

Had you been there, Ironside, you would have been on my side.

Language / Polish language test, NATO Stanag 6001 format. [8]

Much appreciated, jon.

Off-Topic / How to get some smoke [16]

Thanks, you guys!

Language / Polish language test, NATO Stanag 6001 format. [8]

Figure I can download it.

Life / Poles speaking English - examples [263]

In my experience, the majority of youngish and middle-age Poles whom I've
encountered tend to attempt a solid imitation of an educated Britisher.

Those clodhopper, caricatured "Polish accent" heard among uneducated
Polish immigrants has become a thing of the past, I think. For example,
in Greenpoint Bklyn. not far from where we live in Fort Lee, NJ, one typically
hears people who speak English so influenced by their native Polish pronunciation
and sentence structure, idiom etc., it's often difficult for me to understand them.

They seem to understand my Polish better than I am to understand their English.
I only say that because whenever I respond in Polish, they in turn answer correctly in Polish as well,
giving the impression that I made myself crystal clear.

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

As Sweden's in, Finland's sure to follow.

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

My position is simply that Sweden has historically always been a solid
international citizen and therefore deserves membership! About Finland,
once again, I'd be most interested in the opinion(s) of my fellow posters
including yourself!

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

Then kindly re-read #82 and get back to us:-)
It's a question in the form of a statement, really a conjecture.

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

Colorful as they may be, what has your comment to do with my question?

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

An even more contentious issue is whether nor not neighboring Finland ought to be allowed in to NATO's ranks! Considering
her strained and problematic relationship with Russia, probably her vote will be rejected.

Off-Topic / How to get some smoke [16]

Is vaping also popular in Poland these days?

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

Well, Hungary finally gave Sweden the green light to join NATO! Took 'em long enough.
At least Kristersson's gov't. backs Ukraine.

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

Invasion, Rich??

Think of the countries in the world "invaded" by rough-hewn US expats.
throwing their weight around and expecting to be treated like royaly,
in Mexico, for example. Ever heard of the Ugly American?!

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

To which nation(s) are you referring, furthermore,
kindly prove that the proverbial rough slap in the face
actually solves the long term problems you're trying to solve.
"Shock treatments"?? Give me a break.

Germany needs the AfD about as much as the the US needs Trump
or the (Bitter) Tea Party of acrimony and out of control mean spiritedness!

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Ethnocide would only apply to the genocide of another race,
although perhaps I'm splitting hairs here.

Nonetheless, the analogies with Hitler beggar comparison;
Putin seeks only the (re-)acquisition of Ukrainian territory
rather than world domination.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

@jon,
The consideration here is that Putin would ideally like to "Russify" the Ukrainians,
to bring them into line with Russian requirements! Hitler had no such desires as
it came to the Jews. They were simply to be eradicated and their indigenous culture
rooted out, destroyed root and branch. Even the ultra-assimilated were felt
unworthy of being considered truly "German". Only with certain Mischlinge or so-called
"half breeds" was some small degree of latitude granted, and even so, not always willingly.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Aha, correct jon! But Putin doesn't believe there's a separate Ukrainian identity,
Hitler believed with all his heart and soul that there WAS a separate Jewish identity
which he and his cohorts deemed was completely and unutterably incompatible with
"German", read "Aryan" identity!!

Putin couldn't care less about such rubbish; he be believes that Ukrainians and Russians
are (Slavic) blood brothers, who share the same language, the same spirit, the same dreams.

How different from Hitler can you get!

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

@Rich, I don't see your point here.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

@jon & Mafketis, yet by doing so, he'd be destroying his very own, as Ukrainains,
like Russians, are of course fellow Slavs, barely indistinguishable from another
both physically as well as religiously, save for the differences in their mother tongue!

Hitler's war against the Jews was that of a people completely different in appearance, by
in large, religious conviction, even historical language, don't forget, all Jews originated
in the shtettl prior to moving to the towns, and their first language was YIDDISH, not German,
Polish or Russian.

The analogy is again, convenient, but hardly accurate.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Good show there, Rich! Your pride is much appreciated.
:-)

History / What do Poles owe to Germans? [451]

Tusk and von der Leyen. What a tender scene LOL

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

NO, Alien!!! Putin is NOT like Hitler.
Always so easy to label every evil doer (and Putin certainly is one) with that ultimate old catch all.
However, if one examines Putin's agenda, his goal is simply territorial rather than biological or even
ideological.

Putin isn't prepared to somehow ban the Ukrainian language or culture, methodicially exterminate its population.
Instead, he desires to incorporate Ukraine into "Russian" territory using whatever expedient which he deems
necessary. True, as with any dictator, the end justify the means. The ends though of Putin differ radically from those
of Hitler as do the means, as I indicated above.

Be wary of wild assertions merely to draw attention to an extreme situation; it's poor history.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

So they say. Yet it is said that the biographies of many a famous figure contain
merely a kernel of truth, the rest is bilge.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

Che was a different kettle of fish ("eine voellig andere Kiste")!
Neruda's family name was actually borrowed from the name of the equally famous Czech
poet Jan Neruda. I honestly forget the Chilean poet's actual last name, but he was apparently
as political as he was poetic:-)

@Bobko, if you mean that Navalny was something untranslatable Russian in melos as well as significance,
you might well be right. Certain figure simply can't be adequately understood or appreciated out of their cultural
or historical context.

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

??? You've never head of the late, great Chilean poet, the man who inspired the film "Il Postino" (1995)?

News / Reactions in Poland to Alexei Navalny's death [128]

The Kremlin has never been known for her transparency, folks!
We may assume that Navalny really is dead. However, the manner
of death might never truly be known.

Just heard today that after ever so many years, Pablo Neruda's death by natural
causes might actually have been due to poisoning.

History / 70th anniversary of 1943 Wołyń/Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Massacre - controvercies [454]

You got that right, Maf! Same with nearly all the Ivys.