Language / Polish names without a nickname (or less frequently shortened) [61]


I like the name. There's also someone I know slightly called Kordian. I'm guessing Korduś? I also once met a Gniewomir, maybe Gniewek?

Are there any diminutives of Wiktor other than Wiktorek?

Polish has very few one-syllable names. Of the top of my head, Lech and Jan come to mind.


Hilary was my local MP for a short while. I never met him, but did meet his parents a few times prior to that. Beverly Nichols is the only male Beverly I can think of. He lived long enough to have seen Abigail's Party.The town A really nice place - I could easily live there. Good races too, providing you don't lose too much ;-)

Language / Polish names without a nickname (or less frequently shortened) [61]

That's what I thought.

Hyacinth does exist as a woman's name, but I've never met one. Incidentally Hilary can be a man's name in England too. Beverly can be both.

Wasn't there a Tuwim poem about a Hilary who had glasses but couldn't find them?

I know a Mira and a Ksawery - maybe Mirka (though I know a Miroslawa who is called that) but what about Ksawery?

Language / Polish names without a nickname (or less frequently shortened) [61]

To a point, Po3, and that point is largely historical since Hyacinth has not been used for men for a very long time. It does have a sort of High Victorian ring to it.

I have an acquaintance called Kacper. I always call him Kacper. What is the diminutive of that?

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


Read the Harvard study that the post is linked to. It isn't too difficult for someone of average intelligence to understand.


Quite. Plenty of nice ones in Poland too.


The last person who did that is serving life. What's your IP address?


I doubt anyone who is genuinely heterosexual spends much time thinking about that. The ones who do spend their time thinking about it - well, how many times have you just mentioned gay sex in writing?....

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


Exactly. It's always confusion and contradiction based on individuals' own 'issues'. Poland is no exception.

It would be funny, if it hadn't caused so much damage over the years. And they always focus on the sex thing, because that's precisely what they're thinking about in the back (and not always the back) of their minds even though they'd rather not.

youreadygrandma.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/harvard-study-reveals-that-all-homophobic-people-are-gay/

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


None of your business. If someone holding hands or kissing upsets you because of gender, just stay in a darkened room and the world won't upset you as much.

I think there are very few people, whatever their sexuality, who live their lives according to the wishes of the most conservative in society.

Poland is no exception to that and you may be interested to know that LGBTI people are, in the main, far more thick-skinned about the idiotic prejudices of the insecure.


This, Ziemowit, is a very good point. Patriotism is not predicated by ones sexuality or that of ones forebears.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


You can see that and much more on Polsat every night.


You'd need to go to the beach for that. Or maybe watch Polish MTV

Essentially,mvery few people in cities, whatever their sexuality, live their lives according to the wishes of the most conservative in society - essentially people who are offended or pretend to be offended by anything that upsets their prejudices. And really nobody cares about upsetting people like NocyMrok - most LGBT people are very used to dealing with screwed up individuals who project their own insecurities about their sexuality on to others.

Language / Polish names without a nickname (or less frequently shortened) [61]

I suspect Gniewomir can be shortened to something or other, but what about Ildefons and Seweryn?

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]

Fidel Castro and lowlifes like Fortuyn and Mugabwe have no connection with life in Warsaw or societal attitudes in Poland

Interesting though that studies show that all homophobes experience same sex attraction. When people hate some thing or obsess about it, the reason generally lies within themselves. Fortunately, most people are not consumed with hatred or obsessed with other people's sexuality, fringe politics, Muslims, immigration etc. and most people take loud mouthed bigots with a pinch of salt.

In urban Poland, life is fine for people regardless of sexuality. In the countryside and small towns, there is an exodus of people anyway.

The OP should not worry if he or she is coming to Warsaw.

By and large, most people don't feel the need to mention other people's lives unless there are unresolved issues in their own. And Poles, the better educated ones anyway, are very used to making their own minds up about things.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]

I'd add that Poland has experienced a lot of changes over the past few decades and as a result of political instability some extreme voices have appeared in the national political dialogue as well as outspoken religious figures having political influence deriving from the Church's role during communism.

Poles do like to argue, and some of the arguments are loud, hence rhetoric involving homophobia being well publicised. The reality is that people just live their lives. In cities at least, do not feel much need to conceal their sexuality or live in a way that the most conservative in society would want them to and Poles on the whole, despite political, rhetoric are very good about making their own minds up about people's character.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


In what way is this not on topic? The thread is about attitudes to sexuality in a society that the OP perceives as conservative. My point is that it isn't actually that conservative, especially in cities and that bigotry is generalised. The problems that 'Levi' faced may have nothing to do with sexuality at all.

I don't see anything in that post which is in any way off-topic.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]

How would you define "displaying your sexuality in public"? Does it mean a woman can't walk down the street in dungarees and with a crew cut?

And if someone "called your attention" whatever that means when you were kissing someone in the street, that suggests you were either in the middle of a Good Friday procession or really giving it some since people kiss all the time. Perhaps they were disturbed about a Polish woman and a person from a third world country. There are bigots everywhere.

Anyone upset with kissing should get a life. stay on topic please.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


In a word no. Plenty of it in the Arab world and people being thrown from the roof only in war zones where life is very very cheap anyway, and where trolls like yourself are far far more likely to meet their maker at the hands of religious conservatives.

In Poland there really isn't an issue.

Like anywhere else, you choose your friends carefully.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]

Pretty well true. People in Poland tend to be decent and don't get worked up about their neighbours etc. In villages that can be different as it can anywhere and about anything that makes you stand out.

I honestly haven't noticed much difference in that respect between Poland and the U.K.

Life / Can someone tell me about the reason behind being gay in Poland being wrong [148]


It's just like most other places. If people have a strong opinion against other people's personal lives then that tends to come as part of a package with all sorts of other baggage.

Educated urban people tend to hold different views to less educated people with a more parochial outlook. Same everywhere.

Language / What computer keyboards are in use in Poland? [34]

Setting shortcuts is for the techie among us. With OS X you just click and bob's your uncle.

Once you've had Mac, there's no going back...

Language / What computer keyboards are in use in Poland? [34]

It would improve my quality of life if you could switch between Polish and English on an iPad with just one click, certainly.

I like my Macbook - they last for years and in fact I got mine second-hand through Amazon Marketplace and have had it for a while now. One reason to use them is that if you have an iPhone and iPad, all three sync beautifully.

About the keyboard in Polish, I find the Macbook one is much better than Windows. Relatively easy to switch from one to another (I have to do this a lot) and the basic Polish keyboard is much less hassle than either of the ones that come with Windows.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]

Exactly. Though far rarer in Poland. More common in PL as a surname, in fact.

Given that it was during the war and in that particular region, it's hard to imagine there isn't a German connection if it is his first name, though the gentleman's mother's name does not suggest that.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]

Bogusi seems an odd one. There's Boguś, short for Bogdan and there's Boguslaw (both first names). Also a couple of rarer variants. Gottlieb as a first name doesn't sound quite right either. If his surname's Dębski (the male surname equivalent of Dębska) then it isn't so easy, being a common name. Having your grandfather's name is far less likely (though anything's possible, just about). Jadwiga isn't a surname.

Maybe in the morning someone will see it and have another suggestion for Bogusi.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]

A pleasure. Finding people actually in Poland is very hard sometimes. The surname Gottleib (assuming it was never changed - this did happen with some German names) is rare, so a look on Facebook etc (even if he doesn't have a page, there may be a family member who does) could bear fruit.

There are people-tracing services in Poland, but I've never used one so don't know how much they cost or what information they need.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]

If there's a connection to the camp, there may be records connected to that. If they came to the UK, perhaps the Federation of Poles in Great Britain could point you to whatever organisation (there are many in the UK) may have a record of arrival/immigration.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Poles_in_Great_Britain

Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]

Were they handwritten maybe, or written by someone who didn't write well in Polish? The names are fairly obvious.

Do you know where the people came from? Unfortunately Dębski is a very common name (like Oakley, Oaksey, Oakworth in English) but Gottleib is much rarer in Poland.

History / Time for Slavic Commonwealth around Poland as center [223]


Since none of their other projects have ever worked, we have no reason to expect that this nonsensical comment will bear fruit.

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

See ya later alligator, basically.

But maybe a bit more affectionate. Literally it means kisses breezeblocks. If you're a Canadian or American or whatever, you probably call breezeblocks by a different name, but that's irrelevant since the meaning is unimportant. The breezeblocks bit's only there (like see ya later alligator) because it rhymes and sounds funny.

Don't read anything into the kisses bit either. As I say it's just a funny expression that rhymes.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [777]


Jadwiga Dębska?


Boguś (Bogdan) Gottleib?

Jadwiga is a lady's first name. Dębski is a common surname (Dębska is the female version - in Polish the last letter changes).

News / School shooting in Sweden. Should Poland be worried about a copycat? [24]


That's something, I suppose. I won't say "good", just "less bad".

It happens in America and it's on the TV news everywhere within the hour. Evil spreads quickly and the most dangerous sort of people are suggestible.

It happened in Norway too. I hope these things won't increase.

History / Royal Family still in Poland? [79]

Quite, and long may the Third Republic endure. None of the above constitutions allow for a royal family.

News / Duda invited to march in Poland's Independence Day parade [182]

Yes, and the idea of Duda in the parade is an odd one. He certainly wouldn't be joining the nationalists ripping up and throwing paving stones or setting fire to TV vans - amusing though that would be to watch.

You are probably unique in holding that view, Crowie. Rather as thinking that Duda turning up for a photo-op at the official bit of the Independence Day parade somehow involves Serbia is also unique

Everyone, stick to the topic please

News / Duda invited to march in Poland's Independence Day parade [182]


Exactly. People rarely mention those places except to criticise from time to time Serb butchery during the 90s; they are not part of the national consciousness.

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]

It's the name of a nursery rhyme which starts something like W krainie kredek żył sobie Edek (Teddy lived in the land of chalks).