Genealogy / How common was Polish-Jewish intermarriage? [21]

The number of assimilated half-Jews in pre-War Poland was indeed small, yet produced some renowned poets, writers and musicians, such as Jan Brzechwa, Jan Kiepura, Jozef Hofmann, along with many others:-)

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

In some respects, the US has started to resemble Poland. You folks still control abortion and our Supreme Court merrily voted down Roe v. Wade!

Rightist fundamentalist ignoramuses in states such as Georgia, Alabama, and Montana want to monitor 24/7 what our kids watch, read or listen to on social media.

The difference is merely Poland's nearly hundred percent Catholic majority as opposed to America's ever waning (if forever battling) vocal Protestant Fundamentalists.

Life / Nightlife in Poland [16]

Thanks, jon. 'Scuse the typo!
lol

Life / Nightlife in Poland [16]

Does there exist a bar/night club in Warsaw known as "KROKODIL"?
I understand from a Polish friend that it has been around for many, many years and was extremely popular during the Communist period.

Po polsku / Piszę po polsku - ludzie zmieniają się pod wpływem pieniędzy [34]

Tak jest.

Po polsku / Piszę po polsku - ludzie zmieniają się pod wpływem pieniędzy [34]

Tak, juz ma sens!!
Zupelnie mozliwe jest, byc rownoczesnie Polakiem i Zydem.
Tylko patrz na Tuwim, Brzechwa, Jan Kiepura, Roziewicz itd.
Oni byli dumnimi Polakami oraz Zydami:-)

Genealogy / I have Jewish DNA, but only know of Polish ancestry . [120]

@Milo, according to Dr. Leakey homo sapiens DO indeed have their origins in and around the Oldawai Gorge in Africa:-)

Genealogy / I have Jewish DNA, but only know of Polish ancestry . [120]

"Jewish" refers BOTH to historical "nationality" as well as religion!
Technically, the Jews belong to the Caucasian race, along with other Semites, Hamites, Cushites along with Hindus.

Po polsku / Piszę po polsku - ludzie zmieniają się pod wpływem pieniędzy [34]

Zydzi sa Amerykaninami tez, Rysku:-)

Life / Is there any English ToastMasters clubs in Poland? [5]

Do let us know too how you're making out:-)

Genealogy / I have Jewish DNA, but only know of Polish ancestry . [120]

Rich, they mean "Middle Eastern Jewish background"!

History / Recommended Poland's history books [191]

I'd be curious as to whether there's a book out there outlining cultural peculiarities/idiocincracies about Poland similar to Susanne Steiner's "These Strange German Ways" etc. The volume could be in Polish or in English!

Po polsku / Piszę po polsku - ludzie zmieniają się pod wpływem pieniędzy [34]

Tak jest, Rysku. On takze byl Amerykaninem, czy nie?

Po polsku / Piszę po polsku - ludzie zmieniają się pod wpływem pieniędzy [34]

"....ludzie zmeniaja sie pod wplywem peniedzy"

...Przede wszystkim w Ameryce!
:-)

Love / What happens when you marry into a Polish family... [19]

Probably not much less than you, Milo!

Love / What happens when you marry into a Polish family... [19]

Yes, I heard the same thing, I believe.
None of this, "Mother Smith!" or "Father Smith" as was once the practice here in the US, oh, fifty or more years ago.

Life / Is there any English ToastMasters clubs in Poland? [5]

An excellent opportunity for you to practice your English with native English speakers, auezzat!

Good luck,
Mark

UK, Ireland / How do the Polish and People with Polish Ancestry feel about British Royality [61]

Rich, stop splitting hairs for heaven's sake and take a look at the facts!
Did you read #56 before you posted me?

UK, Ireland / How do the Polish and People with Polish Ancestry feel about British Royality [61]

It all goes back to Eddie & Wally, both royal disgraces to Crown and Country,
MY country as well, since Wallis Simpson was an American.

Edward VIII was a bonified Nazi sympathizer, along with Moseley, the Mitfords and Lord Hawhaw etc.

Elizabeth thankfully took after her father, George I, not the other side of the family:-)

Love / What happens when you marry into a Polish family... [19]

True, yet a summer DOES consist of certain elements which remain nonetheless constant from year to year:-)

When I was teaching a group of Polish students in my ESL course a number of years back, I noticed that solely the Polish students reacted by fighting back such tears, that I had to actually stop the class for a five minute pause in order for everyone to compose themselves!

The NYT had printed numerous articles maligning the Poles regarding Poland's alleged complicity in WWII and the presence of "Polish Concentration Camps" which of course turned out to be a gross inaccuracy.

Other nationalities might have reacted to such slights with humor or uncomfortable laughter, angry lashing out or simply rationalizations.

The Poles' reaction however was singular in my experience.

Love / What happens when you marry into a Polish family... [19]

The great silent screen actress Pola Negri aka Apolonia Chalupiec wrote in her autobiography that even after over fifty some years of living in Hollywood, she still admitted she would become weepy and self-pitying at the drop of a hat, derided as she was by her Anglo-American counterparts.

Her thoughts, not mine.

Love / What happens when you marry into a Polish family... [19]

I grew up next door to a Polish family, actually in the apt.building diagonal to ours, and what I remember after all these years is the rock solid solidarity which Poles show for other Polish family members!

Poles are similar to the Southern Italians in this way, I think. Even if a Polish family has some mega-successful, wealthy relatives, if certain others are merely common average Joes, EVERYBODY, at least in my observation, gets treated at the same dining room table as equals, not as second-rate interlopers as can often occur among W.A.S.P families.

Emotions though can run high. Frequently, the tendency of many Poles (men and women) to wear their heart on their sleaves, cry openly, and emote uncontrollably, will be tough to take if someone is not familiar with it and more used to an Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture of restraint and repression.

Genealogy / Easy way to find out which Polish coat of arm/Clan you belong to. [105]

Don't forget about Chelm, jon.
:-)

History / Not proud of my Polish heritage [110]

Many people make a conscious decision not to return to their native country out of protest!
After WWII, scores of Germans left Germany for distant shores, (mostly for the US, Jewish refugees, often choosing Israel), in a majority of cases never to return, even in extreme instances, to visit ill or impovrished relatives back home.

The parents of some friends of ours only agreed to see their parents on neutral territory but wouldn't set foot on German soil.

Life / Stubborn Polaks, anyone knows? [77]

And Americans AREN'T judgmental too??
Often submental is more like it LOL

Life / Stubborn Polaks, anyone knows? [77]

Lot of stereotypes to me!
Let's get off it already and by the way, as concerns the Poles vs. the Irish, the former have a good deal of Celtic background, you know.

Work / Moving to Poland, Working for a UK Company [34]

Get a handle on some of the language though FIRST, prior to moving over!
Best of luck to you.

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

@GefreiterKania,
Like it or not, Brussels is for all intents and purposes the capital of Europe, being the primary impetus of the Euro, after all.

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

Correct, jon!
Continental law is Napoleonic and the American concept of "interpretive" amendments to the national Constitution is essentially foreign to non-Common Law thinking.

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

@Joker,
The present Scholz administration may well be long on talk, as you suggest, but don't let's for one moment think that hesitance in moving forward necessarily means unwillingness to act!

Scholz is a Merkelian at heart and often mistakes long gestation periods of considering for "pragmatism".

Germans in mainstream politics often seem skittish and deathly afraid of jumping the gun.