Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


In Yorkshire we called it pork hock. I used to buy them and boil them up. Cheap and tasty. The various Polish way of doing them can be good. Back when I ate pork, I braised them in beer and finished them off in the oven.

Sucking pig is an interesting Polish food, though only really for banquets. Stuffed with kasza and with an apple in the gob.


Better have a 0.7l in reserve. So you don't have to go to the beeroff in the middle of the night.

Life / What is Poland's view on obesity? How healthy, fit are Poles? [166]


The displays of sweets and cakes in shops in PL have become more common and more affordable.

Some people do have bad diets. Quite a few times I've seen Poles (always male) drink an entire carton of 30% cream, sometimes (disgustingly) in the shop before taking the empty carton to the till and paying!

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]


Post-war movement is partly (though not only) to blame for that. Nevertheless, some accents (Podlasie, Górny Śląsk and Poznań in particular) really stand out.


The 'old' Warsaw accent (usually now only heard among older people in Praga, for the obvious reason) is like that.


This is how I used to hear it.

please stick to the topic, everyone

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


I usually do, though sometimes it's handier to buy.


In Bradford, they serve(d) it raw with vinegar. Nasty. My granny used to batter and deep fry it in her chip shop (on Merseyside). Popular years ago, though you probably couldn't give it away free nowadays.

Life / What is Poland's view on obesity? How healthy, fit are Poles? [166]


Go to Jack Fulton's etc (or the Polish eqivalent thereof) and the cheapest foodstuffs are always the processed ones. Those 'instant ramen' things are popular in PL, along with a lot of other nasties like parówki, berlinki, Paprykarz Szczeciński (to be avoided at all cost if you know the quality/age of the fish that goes into it) and mielonka.

Remember, the less money someone has, the less motivation/energy they have to cook from scratch.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


I'm not fond of the Polish kind; it seems bland. If I buy any, I alsways pour some of the liquid off and add vinegar, whole allspice and peppercorns. It's still limp in texture though and slightly decomposed, rather than crunchy and firm like the British kind.

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]


Anyone who lives in PL long enough can distinguish between sociolects, and the major regional variations in sound.

Life / What is Poland's view on obesity? How healthy, fit are Poles? [166]


Yes. For a lot of people, when life says a great big no, comfort food is a yes. That and unheathy food being cheaper, as you implied.


Nowadays kids in towns seem to play at home (probably on iPads), under the watchful eye of their parents. Back in the day we roamed for miles.

Real Estate / Websites to find an apartment for rent in Poland? [30]

These posts from arto120 all look like free adverts from a bottom-feeding estate agent rather than recommendations from a happy customer!

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


I've never once heard anyone say they want them.


Sadly has a gun crime rate many times higher than Poland or the U.K.

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]


Certainly yes. That was something he did very well. It's worth reading the quote in context; it's a beautiful passage.

Hector Hugh Munro (Saki) wrote a short story where one of the characters (who is only referred to) was a Polish Count that several rather posh English widows were competing for; one of them got him and was about to go to Poland for a new life. There was a certain amount of speculation about whether he was actually a real Count or a fake and what his new wife would find.

I wish I could get hold of the story (I looked for it online when I was teaching in PL; it would do well for anyone of intermediate level or above) but couldn't find either a print copy or a digital one. It has some interesting quotes in. Unfortunately it isn't one of his better-known stories. Saki knew Poland and Poles fairly well; he spent several years living in Warsaw and had connections in Lviv (then Lemberg).

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]

For sure. Of course he was of Polish descent himself; his family were part of a minority group. In the same text (his book, "Sexus") he wrote that the Poles he was describing were: "smooth−tongued, overly polite, pretentious and thoroughly false". The passage as a whole (it's probably online somewhere) is rather beautifully writen.


I suspect the people he was referring to were rather posh (or at least monied and pretentious). He certainly described their elegant clothes and their manners in huge detail.

Another famous quote was from someone (Quentin Crisp, also a writer) who used to look after Polish refugees in the 1930s, one of whom was an nationalist who had (as they often do) psychiatric problems. In his autobiography he covered this period of his life and wrote:

'Poland is not a nation, but an unsound state of mind'

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]

Some of the rest of the quote is less positive. He liked hearing the language, however wasn't much impressed by the people he knew who spoke it.

There's a quote that goes something like "I've never met a Pole that doesn't jump to conclusions". I wish I could remember who wrote it. I've met some who don't, and many many who do.

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]

Arthur Miller wrote this:

"There is one thing I like about the Poles-their language. Polish, when it is spoken by intelligent people, puts me in ecstasy. The sound of the language evokes strange images in which there is always a greensward of fine spiked grass in which hornets and snakes play a great part."

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

Isn't that someone very precious or prissy, a bit delicate?

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


The best way to do it. Sledzik often hs thinly sliced raw onions in. Or apple; I make it with both, and some lime or lemon zest.

A quick and easy meal (my invention) is to boil some potatoes, get a big jar of herring in oil -not matjas; that's too salty - btw, (there will be onion in the jar), pour a bit more than half of the oil away, cut the big pieces of herring into smaller ones, a bit bigger than you'd have in sledzik (scissors in the jar works well), drain the potatoes and put them on a very big plate, then pour the herring (the potatoes should still have steam coming off) over the potatoes, and serve. Great on a cold Warsaw evening.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


Frozen or possibly from big tins. The fresh stuff (we grow it at home in Warsaw) is lovely.


Not always. I worked for an Italian company and the canteen food was excellent. Even better in office canteens in Saudi and Qatar; no expense spared, all free.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]

same here; I'm not particularly fond of river fish except wild salmon and sometimes trout (so bony). Soused herring in it's various forms is one of the delights of Russian/Polish/Ukranian cuisine.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


There is no appetite in PL to loosen the current stringent rules in this matter.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]


The same. I'd only ever had it from a can like Popeye and hated it. The first time I had it wilted in a pan with olive oil and herbswas a different matter.

Food / What do non-Poles think about eating the following Polish foods? [1450]

A red line for me is the way carrots are often served in PL. Diced, luke warm and in a dreadful sugary gloop.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


Basically hypocrisy.

In reality terminations are very easy to arrange in PL.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

So in certain circumstances you're fine with killing:


Not that a cluster of cells with no consciousness is a 'being'.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

And if someone else 'spread her legs' against her will? Or if the foetus isn't viable, should she have to carry it to term? Or if her own health is at risk>


Non-sentient clusters of cells.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


Exactly.


Nothing 'phony' and irrelevant to Poland or any other country except the one whose courts made that ruling.

Life / Prejudice about Poles; Poland has changed [39]


When I was a kid in the countryside, we didn't even lock the door when we went out. Times have sadly changed...

Life / Prejudice about Poles; Poland has changed [39]

My experience is pretty well the opposite; very little nicked in U.K., a few more things nicked in PL.

Life / Prejudice about Poles; Poland has changed [39]


It could be circumstances. I've not had very much stolen in either country however perhaps I've had more nicked in Poland because a. I've spent much more of my adult life in Poland than in Britain, and b. I live in the capital where crime rates are higher than smaller places, and I didn't live in the capital in Britain.

What I can say is that I've never had anything stolen in the countryside in either Poland or Britain, however I've had things stolen in cities in both places.

History / Unforgettable quotes about Poland and Poles from Polish and world`s history and culture [99]

For a lot of people in PL, it's hard to think of that creep JKM without remembering the time he stabbed himself in a restaurant toilet and blamed it on a mystery (and presumably not very competent) 'Chinese Assassin'.

It's only outside Poland where his vile quotes (like the one about Poles being the n****rs of Europe) define him.

Genealogy / Which Polish first names are considered unpopular / obsolete in Poland? [124]


I know several Halinas who are actually Helenas trying to sound younger!