Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


That always feels more Hanseatic to me than Eastern or Central European. Worth remembering that in great chunks of Northern and Western Poland, many people are no more than a couple of generations away from places much further East.

That population movement does have an effect on the way people look and the general gene pool.

Feedback / Member warning system to prevent abuse / spam / off-topic posts [145]


Indeed. As I remember I was on a painfully slow satellite connection way out in the desert and didn't even realise :-)

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

Not very. I know a few, including someone with jet black hair who refers to it as Ciemny Blond...


So you've never been to Warsaw, Bialystok, Lublin, Suwałki? Have you guessed about the group of businessmen example? It was really noticeable...

News / When will Poland take on the EURO? [47]


By 2020 I suspect we'll either be in the Euro or negotiating access. The problem is certain politicians who think Poland should go in at a 1 EUR = 1 PLN rate - comical, given the economic base of the country.

Feedback / Member warning system to prevent abuse / spam / off-topic posts [145]

Sort of, but the flaw is "statistical bias". If you post a lot, you expose yourself to going off-topic, especially if you sometimes take a while to write your reply (while doing other things) and don't notice that a mod has commented on someone's previous post - that happened to me. Plus technical issues - I was once accused of deleting a mod's comment - maybe he/she thought I have magical powers.

And of course some posters only ever seem to flame and abuse, especially but not only in random. They get away with it with impunity and whoever responds gets into bother.

No system is perfect though, but sometimes the faults are glaring.

Getting suspended for off-topic posts is less likely than for Abuse or Trolling.

News / When will Poland take on the EURO? [47]


Yes, and the Mayor in question is highly respected - probably the most respected of all Polish politicians right now.

News / When will Poland take on the EURO? [47]

Prices always do creep up after a currency change - shopkeepers rarely miss a trick. They certainly rose in Holland when the Euro arrived, just as they did in the UK when decimalisation (ugh) came in in 1971. And in Poland when PLZ changed to PLN.

And in Poland, there's a history of price rises but never decreases.

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

Looks like you're deliberately trying to misunderstand. Read up on Planoccipital skull shape - it's a trait that dominates in certain regions of the world, including Eastern Europe.

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


Nah, I'll lift them of the internet, so you can see the things scientists see.

No reply to my question about the besuited businessmen? It's blindingly obvious and very much a physical trait....

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


I think probably yes - if not, it certainly feels like it. When I've got a bit of time, I'll find a couple of pics - I think you'll agree when you see them.


Next time, observe closely - you might be surprised.

To go off the head thing but still on topic, I remember seeing a group of businessmen between about 45 and 55 in age, half of them Polish and half of them English who were at the Warsaw Marriott for a conference. All near-identically dressed, none of them slim. Without looking at the faces/heads, it was easy to tell who was from which country. The suits were identical. Can you guess how? :-)

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


Geneticists say it's a 'Dinaric' trait. That could also include people in Greece. The exact term is planoccipital. If you go to Africa, you hardly see it at all, however in Poland it seems to be quite common.

Have a look next time when you're in a mixed group of Poles and Brits. I think you'll see the difference in the back of people's heads.

Life / Bribery and corruption 'fact of life' in Poland? [152]


This is spot on really. This is a "between a rock and a hard place" situation.

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


Syndrome?

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

So you don't think that the back of the head being flat is more common in Eastern Europe than Western?

News / When will Poland take on the EURO? [47]


You mean publicly tradable shares and other tradable securities? Papiery wartościowe?


Indeed, however the best time to ask that question was before the EU accession vote - an issue that was hotly debated before going to the polls and agreeing to it.

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


The cheekbones are well enough known, however there are exceptions to every rule.

One commentator wrote (in a very good article) about angular faces.

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


Duda couldn't really be anything else - The same with Kwasniewski.

Though Leszek Miller (if we're taking politicians as examples) is different. There's are always exceptions to everything and Silesia (historically, linguistically and culturally different) is quite a big one.


Yep. Check this out.


Perhaps you never noticed when you lived there - Silesia, wasn't it? Brachycephalic heads are a Slavic trait.

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

Particularly noticeable in Eastern Europe, including Poland. It is perhaps a Slavic physical trait. Brachycephaly is much more common in Eastern than Western Europe. It is a genetic thing. Though yes, not everyone in PL has is. But most do.

Worth googling - there have been a lot of studies on this

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]

I'm still puzzled by these so-called 'Polish physical traits'. Apart from the flat head backs, not unique to Poland, there aren't any traits that are unusual all over Europe.

Looking at the OP's picture, he (if he were a European) could be from many places, not especially Poland.

edit

USA, Canada / Grace Pianka case - Injustice to Polish Citizen [66]

Surely if there's so much doubt in the case, there's grounds for an appeal?

Genealogy / Do I have any Polish physical traits? [48]


Ancestry.com isn't a scam, but it doesn't give you the answers on a plate. Sometimes they have special offers.


There aren't any traits as such, except perhaps those characteristic of Central and Eastern Europe as a whole. It's more complicated than that.


Don't confuse nationalism with patriotism - they are two very different things. And never trust anyone who describes themselves as either.


Trust your own judgement rather than your cousins'. They might actually be very nice people - alcoholics often are, and poverty is nothing to be ashamed about.

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

It means that Carlos and Sadiq Budaqli haven't paid. Therefore their results haven't yet been published.

Language / What are the hard aspects of Polish according to its learners? - home essay [21]


It's normal - in every language people make mistakes. It just depends on whether you want to concentrate on fluency or accuracy.

Travel / Poland or Philippines? Which is better for a vacation? (sex tourism) [39]

Completely true. There are websites in Poland where people can hook up for 'sponsoring' - sounds seedy, but then again some people need the cash.

One of the saddest things I ever saw was in a notorious bar in Bahrain, with crowds of young and beautiful Chinese girls (who unlike the customers have to pay admission) clustering round really fat old Beer Belly Bob oil drillers from Texas with leathery desert faces over for the weekend from Saudi - really repulsive and wallowing in the attention before choosing a couple to take to their hotel. I just felt very sorry for the girls. The same when I see those tirówke by the side of the main roads in Poland.

I heard that the place foreign tourists go in Warsaw is the Hotel Victoria. Probably expensive and they all have pimps taking the money :-(

Travel / Poland or Philippines? Which is better for a vacation? (sex tourism) [39]

I do see what you're saying fstop, and also think JohnnyReb is being rude to him, though from the tone of the OP's post, this bit's the problem. He could go on a cruise, a trip to the Alps, an activity holiday, all sorts of places where he could meet a single lady. Here he just sounds like he wants notches on his bedpost from (invariably younger) and financially desperate women. Plus boasting about his (frankly unexceptional) salary. Nothing wrong with a holiday romance, even if a brief and promiscuous one - I bet plenty here have done it. Going away for a month to pay young very poor women in the third world (which Poland isn't anyway) just sounds so sad.

Having said that, I've heard Cambodia can be a bit of an 'anything goes' place - and Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. Better food and drink too.

Travel / Poland or Philippines? Which is better for a vacation? (sex tourism) [39]

I've never been to one myself, but I was told (and this was a few years ago) that in the cheapest establishments with the roughest staff it starts at 300-400zl and can go a lot higher. The ones a foreign holidaymaker is most likely to find are the rip-off places.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]


If anything, euthanasia is taking the decision into one's own hands. Nothing to object to there. The same with terminating a pregnancy. Evidently you prefer backstreet abortions.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

Absolutely. And the sad thing is the number of women who become ill or even die because they are denied access to a medical procedure that most of the rest of Europe has no problem with.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

Yes, and those who can afford it or have connections will just get a doctor who'll do it discreetly or pop over the border. Sheer hypocrisy.

News / Abortion still under control in Poland [2986]

There was that poor lady (her name's well enough known in PL) who has 3 or 4 kids already, had a serious eye disorder and was told that if she carried to term, she'd go blind. Birth control failed and she and her husband found they were expecting another child. She actually had to go to the European court - the state in Poland did't want her to terminate the pregnancy; they'd have preferred her to lose her sight. A very sad story.