Genealogy / Are Sorbs Polish? Does anyone know about Sorbish enthnicity? [62]


I'd say you are in a much better situation than the Austrians. Have you seen films showing the enthusiasm with which the Austrians greeted Adolf Hitler when the Fuehrer (who was Austrian by his origin) of the One-Thousand Year Reich decided to adopt them and their trivial tiny state into Germany in 1938? They were all shouting proudly and loudly "We are all Adolf!" on the streets of Vienna. Only the Jews and some intellectuals "were not amused" with this overwhelming mood of pan-Germanic unity. Are you sure that if Bundeskanzlerin Merkel went crazy and decided to build the Fourth Reich which would last another thousand of years, the Austrians wouldn't readily join her in that task shouting happily "We are all Angela - ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer!"

That's why the Sorbs may not be in such a comfort situation as they are at present in the longer run. I doubt if they manage to retain their Sorbian identity if they ultimately lost their native language. Maybe they will. It's all up to them and what they really want. But language will play an important part in maintaining their identity. There used to be various period in history regarding this now tiny nation. Martin Luther, for example, called them die schlechste aller Nationen (the worst of all nations) in his work "Tischreden", while in 1667 Friedrich Wilhelm, Markgraf von Brandenburg, ordered to destroy all Sorbian printings and put an end to using the Sorbian language in church.

Genealogy / Are Sorbs Polish? Does anyone know about Sorbish enthnicity? [62]


I don't think so. Just look at all those Scottish people who have lost their natural language to English. They are still Scotts and many of them even want independence! Will they ever want to learn Gaelic properly? I doubt it - ask Delph if you don't believe me.

Genealogy / Are Sorbs Polish? Does anyone know about Sorbish enthnicity? [62]


Genetically and linguistically. Upper Sorbian is closer to Czech, Lower Sorbian is closer to Polish.


That's a typical "what would happen if ..." question. Maybe yes or maybe not. Just think of the Pomeranians (Kaszubi) who had long resisted the attempts by the rulers of Poland in the Middle Ages to include them into the Piast monarchy. Pomeranians of the East who eventually found themselves within Poland and continued there until 1772 have managed to ratain their Slavic dialect now officially recognized as the Kashubian language.

Parts of Upper Lusatia (known as "Milsko" in the Middle Ages ) and parts of Lower Lusatia were incorporated into Poland as a result of the treaty of Budyšin of 1018 between Bolesław Chrobry and Henry II and remained Polish until 1031. The first Sorbian anthem Hišće Serbstwo njezhubjene by Handrij Zejler was inspired by the Polish national anthem: Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła. Polish historian Wilhelm Bogusławski wrote the first book on the history of Sorbs which was published in Sankt Petersburg (Russia) in 1864 and later in 1884 re-published in the revised version in Budyšin as Historije serbskeho naroda.

In the course of history Lusatia also formed part of the Kingdom of Bohemia and at one time parts of it belonged to a Silesian duke of the Piast dynasty (which one I have forgotten - there were so many of them!)


Do you speak Sorbian? Have you learned Sorbian at school? Have you heard of Domowina?

News / The dossier of TW "Bolek" - Poland's IPN assisted by police enters the home of the late general Kiszczak [306]


Who is Bolesław??? As far as I know, Kiszczak was baptized Czeslaw ... Wałęsa is Lech, Kaczyński is Jarosław. Jaruzelski was baptized Wojciech, so ...

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

You mean this Queen?

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]

Yes, she deserted Poland and she is proud of it! Why shouldn't she?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


It is not me who fails to mention the reason. It is Gazeta Wyborcza who failed to do so. And didn't I say precisely that they should put more emphasis on this rather than on the fact that PiS lost this tiny by-election.


-----------------------------------


I don't think it is fair to call them "the Jewish Chronicle". If you say so, it may imply they are a paper that mainly reports Jewish events which is not true. If you refer to the fact that mostly Jewish people are behind it and so it is this "Jewish connection" which has to be considered first in Polish politics, you should comment on the fact that Jarosław Kurski is the deputy-chief of GW while his brother Jacek Kurski is a well-known PiS fighter which has recently been nominated to the position of public TV chairman.

Personally I prefer to call them "Gazeta Wybiórcza" as their reporting is pretty far from being objective and balanced.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


The result of this by-election is completely irrelevant at the national level. First, both candidates had their proper election committees and were only supported by PSL and PiS respectively. Second, the number of votes for the candidates concerned :

Renata Chrobocińska - 131 votes
Hanna Kuźniewska - 68 votes

is so tiny that you can only see this election as a small local one with people voting not for a political party and their programme, but for the candidtate they or their family personally know.

The most interesting thing in an GW article on that, however, is that the by-election was held because it turned out that the candidate winning the seat in 2014 was not eligibile for starting in the election (jeden z dotychczasowych radnych stracił mandat z powodu braku posiadania biernego prawa wyborczego w dniu wyborów przeprowadzonych jesienią 2014 r.). This in itself seems to be the most scandalous thing in the whole affair and if "Gazeta Wyborcza" wanted to be a truly high-quality paper, it should put most emphasis on the fact that a councillor had been in position for more than a year without having any legal right to it. But instead the paper is ranting endlessly about how significant this victory of PSL over PiS was.

plock.wyborcza.pl/plock/1,35710,19630204,wybory-uzupelniajace-w-drobinie-znaczace-zwyciestwo-psl-nad.html#ixzz40KjGFB00

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


Et voilà ! This very precise answer has been given in the PWN on-line dictionary:
1. pomieszkiwać «mieszkać gdzieś nie na stałe» (to dwell but not on a permanent basis)
2. pomieszkać a. «mieszkać gdzieś przez jakiś czas» (to dwell for a while)
[b. potocznie «spędzić jakiś czas w domu, nie wyjeżdżając lub niewiele wychodząc»]


Maybe there exist a similar expression in Irish Gaelic which the Irish people transferred into English?

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


Thank you for your kind words. Nevertheless, I often struggle with English on this forum searching for proper word(s) or expression(s). And I sometimes pick the wrong one up which I realize only some time after the editing time for the post is over.

Someone said my English is stiff or something. It may be so, but you must realize that if you permanently live immersed in a Polish-speaking environment, your language will never be comparable to the language of someone who lives immersed in an English-speaking one. My spoken English is indeed very rusty simply because I don't use it. My written English is much better since I frequently use it on the PF and not only there.


Possibly true, but if you sincerely did your homework many times about the articles, it's fairly unlikely. I would compare using them to the use of a Polish verb in the męskoosobowy and niemęskoosobowy gender of the plural. A friend of mine, a long-time Russian resident in Poland who speaks perfect Polish, once failed her exam to become a European Commission interpreter from English to Polish because she said (together with several other minor mistakes) "dzieci poszli" instead of "dzieci poszły". Now, that is the kind of mistake that a native Polish speaker wouldn't make even if they were very upset. Maybe this Russian lady didn't do her homework well just as Poggy hasn't done his with the articles of English.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

It'sme:
"its theme is a function of living in a shelter and as such it attains qualities attributed to living under some kind roof whether it be a paper box or street pavement and the organisation related to this king of living".

"Living under some kind of roof" could indded be pomieszkiwać if it is living under the shelter of a distant family or friends temporarily, for example, "pomieszkiwał kątem u znajomych" or "pomieszkiwał u rodziny w Poznaniu". But living in a paper box or on a pavement is not that, it will be: "mieszkać na ulicy". I would never describe such living as "pomieszkiwanie" and if I did, it would only be when someone lived there on and off which is really exceptional since people tend to live on the street permanently.

I bet It'sme is just another incarnation of our suspended dear friend poganin since his not too perfect English gives him right away ("to the one idiot", "forum rules reflect credibility of an imbecile" or some others).

Isn't it that

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Yep, I'd say it is "to live somewhere now and again"

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


You can quickly do the é which is perhaps the most frequent diacritic of French. Holding down the left "Alt" press "130". Lycée! With this one only you will achieve a much better visibility of the French text. For the cedille it is Alt + 135 - comme ça!

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]



Hey, I was alluding to this famous mistake made by Iron which Atch corrected:


You're another speed reader, Roz :-)

English is the hardest language in the world to learn!

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


Poganin, haven't you heard Atch saying:


?
So, there is no need to examine her Polish. End of !!! (Or is it: End off !?)

News / Let's protest censorship in Poland's mainstream media! [90]

The film "Comrade General" was shown on public television (TVP1) channel on the 1st of Febuary 2010. The website of TV Republica does not mention it which reminds us once again that they are not exactly as impartial and reliable as they would like to. About 3 million people watched the film in 2010. Wojciech Jaruzelski, SLD and Gazeta Wyborcza said afterwards they were "not amusued" with this film. The public TV has indeed kept it shelved ever since, neither showing it again nor selling anyone the licence to show it.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


A quick-witted response which shows us that Lyzko is neither a dickheaded twat nor a Republican...


It's been discussed already and despite that you've made this deplorable mistake - dickheadEDness, please, and not 'dickheadness'. If you go around Łódź one day, repeating 'dickheadedness' rather than 'dickheadness' aloud, you'll soon earn the reputation of being truly perfect in English in that ancient industrial city of Poland.


His English is not erroneous, it is sometimes a 18th century English. Moderator Pam (together with Harry) once ridiculed such a language of his on the PF. I disagreed and replied in a post that followed that everyone was entitled to use English of whatever century on the PF as this isn't forbidden in the forum rules. Moderator Pam, however, disagreed with this opinion and as a result moved my post to the off-topic bin (she left hers saying otherwise). The freedom of speech was very much abused then on the PF through such a disgusting act of censorship.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


That's exactly what I thought of it as well. For a Slavic learner it is just a minor mistake, but for the native speaker of English such an omission must stand out in a rather "unpleasant" way. I myself didn't realize that until I began to engage myself in a continous article-spotting exercise. From then on, the lack of an article makes me scream, too.

At the time t attended school, Polish teachers did not make their students pay much attention to it. Such practice continues, I'm afraid ..

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1050]


Indeed, Helene Vondrackova sang it together with Maryla Rodowicz at the Sopot Festival once and they held a blue walking-stick while singing it.


Never heard of this meaning before.


It's one of the current theories.

Laska means "miłość" in Czech.
Milost means "łaska" in Polish.

Wasza miłość --> Waszmość in old Polish was a way of addressing high-rank people meaning "Wasza łaskawość" (in other words: "Łaskawy Panie/Łaskawa Pani")

News / Poland -- 23rd most innovative country [8]


But what does it have to do with the subject of this thread "Poland - 23rd most innovative country"?

News / Poland -- 23rd most innovative country [8]


So it means that under PO(O) things had not been as bad as you tend to portray them?

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


Just as in this joke from Podlachia:

- Czy jest mięso mielone?
- Mielim.
- To poproszę pół kilo.
- Wczoraj mielim [ty głupia pało, co to nic a nic nie rozumisz]!

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


People are simply used to their orthography and not only Polish people. This is not a big issue, anyway. Everyone can learn it at school, it is not rocket sience or quantum physics. Besides, with such a reform that you suggest for English, the bond between the present and past generations will have gradually been lost as all that was published in the older version of English will be increasingly seen as "foreign" by the newer generations who will be taught the "modern" version of English at schools.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


You really exaggerate with this bonding between PiS and the Toruń institution. There have been real differences between them not quite a long time ago and last time PiS have won the last elections without any explicit support of Father Thaddeus. I am sure JK realized that the mohair brigade would vote for them irrespectively of the fact whether Toruń support PiS or not. Those "Toruń" voters simply had no choice to vote otherwise.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]




The sooner you discover the techniques that the Brit Bullies use to discuss certain things (I repeat: certain things) on this forum, the better you will be prepared to reply to them, young man. I should only advise you now to be extremely careful as they are indeed the masters of the "manipulating when conversing" techniques.

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


Czech is also difficult for Polish speakers exactly because it bears so many similarities to it. When I have recently started to get some linguistic insight into Czech (mluvitecesky.net - multilingual website to study Czech), I have soon discovered that I'm forgetting the proper Czech pronounciation of words as soon as I leave the website. This is because my learned Polish pronounciation of a very similar, almost identical, Czech word immediately takes over the Czech one.


This may be so for an English speaker. When I listen to ř as an isolated sound, I can hear a light "r" followed by ž which ž is perhaps pronounced a bit lighter than the Polish "ż". But when they start to pronounce ř in words and phrases talking at a normal speed, this light "r" tends to disappear and what I can hear is pure ž.

Notice that in Polish the sound of "rz" was also different to the sound of "ż" several centuries ago. That's why we have the two different spellings of what is now the identical sound "ż".

Notice also that the Polish spellings cz, rz, sz were originally Czech invention which the Polish imported, but which Jan Hus, reformer of the Czech ortography got rid of in Czech, replacing them with č, ř, š. Those mediaeval Czech spellings, however, have survived in Polish.

Feedback / Is it Polish forum or foreign forum? [159]

This is an Anglo-American forum about Poland.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


I concur. Wałęsa said so many stupid things in the past that one more or one less doesn't really matter. The most famous one is "I am for it and even against it". Another one is "puszka z pandorą" and yet another one is "plusy ujemne i plusy dodatnie".

Only the Brit Bullies on the PF believe that Jaro is gay. And it comes naturally that they do since they are well-known PiS haters. And it's part of their Stalinist propaganda they engineer on the PolishForums ever since I have joined.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]



It's 18 million and it is not "every business".