Off-Topic / Random Sports News [855]

... a drink in one hand and Middlemarch in the other. And you would be able to read the book twice before the game finished.

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [855]


Try watching cricket :)


For us the entire idea of drafts seems very odd. And the fact that a team cannot be relegated or promoted from/to NHL, NBA or MLB is also a strange thing to Europeans.

Off-Topic / Random Sports News [855]


That's the idea.


From what I've heard 12 million euro yearly salary (plus bonuses) and undisclosed signing-on fee.


Yes. Most players signed by Ekstraklasa and Pierwsza Liga teams are free transfers but in better leagues it is also quite common. Lewandowski was a free transfer when he came to Bayern - his contract with Dortmund expired prior to the move.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


:D

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


KJV! Old school :) Are you quite sure you're an atheist?

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


Funnily enough - you joined in 2009 and made over 4k posts but I too hardly remember who you are. I suppose some people are just invisible to each other.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


You knew me under a different username and loved me with all your heart. I am the epitome of polishness, so they keep my clone in Sèvres as an international standard of a Pole.

You will figure it out.

But now excuse me - your mom has just called me to check her plumbing, and as a good Polish plumber that's exactly what I'm going to do. :) See you.

Anyway, so many people from the old days no longer here: Nathan, yehudi, ender, z_darius, Sasha, 1jola, isthatu, wildrover, Seanus, bzibzioh, Sokrates... espana's return brings back so many memories. :)

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]

Ha, ha. I missed you, espana. :)

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]

@espana

That's not what your mom told me last summer. Say hello to her from me. :)

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


Espana's is an old member - he hates everything Polish (despite being a Spaniard, so a member of our civilisation ha ha). He makes Putin and Lavrov look like a president and vice-president of Polish-Russian Friendship Association. :) He's OK.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


Yes, there is no system able to contain Crow. If Lusatian Sorbs win independece from Germany one day, Croatia applies to be incorporated into Serbia and Pope dissolves the Catholic Church and abdicates, I will know who's behind it, pulling all the strings.

Off-Topic / Funniest stuff said on PF! Please post the funniest convos, remakes, responses, name calling or whatever. [93]


Guilty as charged.

But, hey - this is a Polish board (at least in name) and mods are the authorities; there has to be some resistance and defiance towards the official authorities or it wouldn't be Polish at all!


Also, he sticks around for years on end, despite endless stream of abuse he's getting. Fair play to him :) If all Orthodox Slavs are that resilient, then we better start peace talks with Russia now, ha ha. :)

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Bratwurst Boy, @AntV

Cheers, guys. I knew I wasn't alone on this one. :)

@Novichok

You're not that bad either. Perhaps my "A" warning that I got some time ago was justified after all. ;) No hard feelings.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


As far as I understand from Bobko's and Velund's posts, from their point of view, the aggression was neither unprovoked nor the neighbour particularly peaceful. Regardless of whether we agree with it or not (I don't), they shouldn't be attacked for presenting their point of view. That's what internet forums are for, aren't they?


Unless you can point me to a post in which Bobko supports war crimes or "fantasizes about genocide", I will simply refuse to believe that.


Who of us can honestly say that he's a good person?

"And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.", Mark 10:18

...and anyway Bobko's not too bad. I like him. Sue me.

@Iron

I've heard about a poll where 75.5% Russians said Poland should be the next target of "special operation" but not about one in which 70% wanted to nuke us. Do you have any links to that?

@pawian

Again, please point me to the post in which Bobko "supports war crimes", as I don't recall anything like that by him.

Come on, guys. We are not United Nations, we are not NATO headquarters, we are not even Sejm. We are a bunch of random people posting on an obscure tiny board with about 25 regular posters. If we can't conduct a discussion without aggression, hatred and a modicum of common decency, then what's the point? What happened to us? Wishing people death? Not making even an attempt to understand the other side? Surely we are better than that? If we can no longer talk to one another, even to our enemies, in a civilised way, then maybe, just maybe, it is indeed time for the nukes to fly? :-/

Anyways... screw you guys, I'm going to sleep.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


... and there's that.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


That's what people do when their countries are involved. Sometimes it's denial, sometimes an effect of propaganda, and sometimes genuine belief that one's countrymen are incapable of such things. Nihil novi sub sole.

Off-Topic / MBTI. At Least Ten Characters. [15]



No, I am a PPSF-O (Person Paulina Secretely Fancies - Obviously). ;)

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Where? I must have missed that.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


I like your patriotism. It brings genuine smile to my face :) Something I can relate to. Pity we're on opposite sides.


Geez, Maf, why the aggression? The guy is in the United States and has nothing to do with the current Russian government (as we have nothing to do with our respective governments). He defends his country (even if the task is sometimes impossible) - what is he supposed to do?

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

Check out a book called Łacina w kulturze polskiej by Aleksander Mikołajczak, Jon. It has very well documented sources and mentions, among other things, diaries of foreign travellers who were shocked that the knowledge of Latin was so widespread in Poland that they were able to communicate almost anywhere during their travels without any knowledge of Polish.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Irrelevant.

Belonging to a certain civilisation is not about somebody else giving or not giving a **** about it. It's about a set of rules and a system of values. It's about things like approach to individual freedom, human rights and functioning of state institutions (corruption, rule of law etc.). Poland, since middle ages, remained under the influence of Latin civilization - there was a time when you could travel throughout Poland and communicate with people in Latin (not only with noblemen but also with merchants, artisans and even some peasants). Until partitions Latin was an official tongue in Poland (język urzędowy). The role of catholic church was definitely substantial in that but also dynastic ties with France and Italy, so with time it shaped our culture the way it did. It wasn't for nothing that Stalin called Poland "a Latin thorn in a healthy Slavic body". :)

There has always been this awareness of our civilisational roots among educated classes; that's why any occupant who wanted to root out Polishness always had to strike against Polish intelligentsia (and they did - with a vengence!). During partitions we resisted the attempts at both germanization and russification precisely because we belonged to a different civilisation than either of our oppressors.

These days, unfortunately, Polish intelligentsia is a dying out species. Formal education has become devalued and universities no longer reproduce intelligentsia as a class - they became places where peasants and city dwellers (so, basically, peasants in 2nd or 3rd generation ;)) learn interesting things and get their diplomas and degrees to the joy of their grandparents who didn't have such opportunity. I don't have anything against it, mind you, peasant education is in general a good thing.

Also, what you wrote about there not being a thread of understanding between Poles, the French or Italians is not entirely true. When I was younger I used to travel a lot, thanks to my father who is a generous man, and whenever I was in France or Italy I found it exceedingly easy to mingle and communicate with educated people, and found that we share very similar values and approach to life. But of course you are right that it's different with peasants. So, in your sentence that I quoted, if we replaced "person" with "peasant" or "average citizen", I would tend to agree. And of course you are quite right that a Polish peasant, abroad or at home, is more likely to find this thread of understanding with a Russian peasant with whom he shares a similar language as well as culinary and artistic tastes. :)


Which we indeed appreciate and return the genuine brotherly curiosity, albeit with a certain degree of caution.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Similar languages, similar levels of tolerance to spirits and similar Slavic souls that come to the surface after the degustation of said spirits. :)


We always had difficult relationship with the French (all in all I think it was a mistake on our part to teach them how to eat with a knife and fork), we are Sarmatians so Italians with their military exploits don't incite enormous respect in us, and Spain is just too far away. But there's no denying that culturally we are a Latin civilisation country (with a genuine Slavic feel on top of that :)).

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]


My apologies. Should I address you as sir? :)

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]


Since when are you an expert on girls, jon? ;)

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


Germans are much better as archetypical nemesis - they are more different from us than you and speak an incomprehensible tongue, hence the very name - Niemcy. Of course, we have been allies for about 30 years now, but what's 30 years compared to a millenium of Polish history? :)


There is no such "motivation". Poland compares herself to countries from our cultural circle of Latin civilisation: France, Italy or Spain. When we are in our Slavic mode, we look to Czech Republic or Slovakia for comparisons, or to a wider Intermarium area where there are countries of similar historical experiences to Poland. Comparing Poland to Russia wouldn't make sense... the very idea seems odd. You are just this, on the one hand, dark and ominous force looming somewhere on the horizon and, on the other hand, a country whose music, language and literature speak to us in a strange and fascinating way. I think I said this before, and I would risk a statement that such sentiment is quite common among Poles (as you could see in the video I linked a couple of weeks ago), an average Pole would find it rather difficult to genuinely hate Russia as a country, like a lot of people hated Germany after WW2. There just isn't this level of hostility.

Of course this might change, should Vlad the Conqueror redirect his invading hordes further west, but at the moment that's how it is.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]


I can imagine it's a very difficult situation when it comes to family relations. During WW1 we had Poles in Russian uniforms and German/Austrian uniforms fighting each other, often members of the same family, but it was different; independent Poland didn't exist back then, so we could just consider ourselves to be caught in the whirlwind of history and thrown against our own fighting for opposing superpowers. With Russia and Ukraine it's different - they both have similar culture, languages and history, and one conducts a full scale invasion of the other, leveling cities to the ground and killing civilians... I can only imagine the kind of hatred it sows in people's hearts. Civil (or quasi-civil) wars are always the worst ones.

As for the question of "nonexistence of Russians", it could be argued that from genetic point of view there isn't such thing as a typical Russian (or a Pole for that matter), but people are more than just genes. We are not animals. There is culture, history, language and identity to consider and when we take these factors into account then we must admit that Russians do exist.


Somewhere in Poland in 1961...

- Panie majster! Panie majster! Ruskie w kosmos poleciały!!!
- Wszystkie?
- Eeee... nie, no... tylko jeden.
- To co mi dupę zawracasz, szczeniaku, podaj cegłę.

... ;)

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]


I see what you're getting at - as a father of two I am still below the replacement birthrate of 2.1. True. I am, however, way beyond Poland's average of 1.42. Also, don't put a cross on me yet, I can still have more children - remember that Janusz Korwin-Mikke had a child when he was 71, so I still have 30 years or so and I am way more handsome and charming than he is, so who knows? :)


Et tu, Brute? *slowly reaches behind him to take out the dagger sticking out of his back*

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]


"Że tu jesteś - że istnieje życie i tożsamość
Że sztuka trwa i także Ty dopisać możesz wers."

lubimyczytac.pl/cytat/286022

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]

Geez, it was just an example (maybe not the best one, I admit) - all right, all right, early education teachers and galactically important! But there is also no denying that overwhelming majority of women are doing jobs that they would be very much inclined to give up if: a) they could afford to b) the entire popular culture wasn't telling them that motherhood is less important than "career" (the same applies to men).


Thank you. One does one's best to make oneself immune to modern "wisdom and knowledge". :)

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]


Very well. As we all know words can also change meaning.

Damn, sometimes it is really difficult to be a forerunner of lexical change. People just don't understand those who are ahead of their time. *sighs*