Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

Yeah... don't like those.... I kind of like 'do a Houdini' but it's a bit dated....

A novel I read set in Ireland with some traveler characters the term 'crush' was used which I like a lot, but I don't know how widely that's used.....

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1756]

to flee, to run away I like the British expression 'to do a runner' though I probably wouldn't use it.....

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


That's a distinction without a difference.... how can you be in favor of the people that support putin without supporting putin yourself?

There is no evidence that there is any real opposition to putain in russia.... even russians who leave don't protest russian policy and tend to do crap like harassing Ukrainians.

putain = russia

how is that wrong?

News / PiS candidates are losing positions in EU Parliament. Will they keep power in Poland? [358]


How much of Kонфед's gain is PiS loss. I've been assuming that probably at least 2-3 percentage points. I saw a poll last week or so that revealed PiS was no longer the party with the greatest degree of support and I can't think of anywhere else that disaffected piss3rs would go....

I too would like PSL to return to the roll of peasant swing vote but they'd need to get (and keep to) some principles first.

News / Polish coal will be back [141]


Good! It's crap technology makes buildings uglier, have a limited lifespan and create waste when they have to be changed (or thrown out).

Language / Why is the Polish language so difficult? [353]

An idea I once heard years ago were that the high incidence of sibilant (s, z etc) and affricate (c, dz etc) sounds in palatal (sz, cz etc) and palatalized (ś,ć etc) variations were adaptations for a forest environment (something about how sound carried).

It's a nice idea (like the prevent spies idea) but ultimately... that's not how languages work. There can be overriding influences that shape elements of a language (Australian aborigene languages tend to lack fricatives (s, h, f, th etc) and some link that to hearing loss patterns.

Life / Polish church music versus African-American gospel [29]

American gospel music came in two flavors (though the two were a bit mixed until the 1920s)

White gospel music was similar to country (but group oriented and with more percussion) a pretty typical 1970s example might be the Happy Goodmans

youtube.com/watch?v=PY6GN5tXd2s

Black gospel music came from spirituals (which originated in the period of slavery and which deal with a longing for freedom and/or heaven and/or alienation).

Later these mixed with secular music like ragtime, blues and jazz.

Arizona Dranes was something of a precursor.

youtube.com/watch?v=83VydN-q8e0

By the 1940s gospel music was firmly established among African Americans with stars such as Brother Joe May

youtube.com/watch?v=h7ExcTBYpBU

The integration of elements of gospel music with rhythm and blues produced Soul Music (many performers of which began in gospel like Gladys Knight)

youtube.com/watch?v=iwivWKsL65c

By the 1960s white audiences where listening and gospel performers were making appearances on mainstream tv...

youtube.com/watch?v=VrrlU2Njt7I

Aretha Franklin recorded a double album in church in the early 1970s and by the early 1980s a pair of theatrical documentaries (gospel and say amen somebody) brought the music to wider secular audiences.

At the same time the line between white and black began to blur and some white churches adopted some black gospel songs (and some performance practices)

it should be noted that part of the role of churches for African Americans has traditionally been stress release.... worshippers give themselves up to their emotions and vent them freely during church and then go back to business as usual Monday.

Also it should be noted that almost all African American culture is based on dialogue (which is the basis of the call and response pattern found in black churches).

There are choirs in Poland that perform gospel music (both on stage and in church) though call and response or emotional abandonment are not traditional Polish practices.

Gospel music has almost universal appeal both to the religious and to non-believers. It's no surprise that some in Poland like it.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Cause I never get an answer.....


He's probably the smartest politician in the region (the potato moose shtick is an act).... help him go straight for stabbing putain in the back.... not easy and not good for queasy stomaches but probably doable.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


An unsustainable process that only increases = social collapse (or leveling to the point where socially and materially life in Germany = life in Congo).

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


I don't hate them and have some sympathy for them. But they have no legal right to enter Polish territory and I'm fine with using force (up to lethal force) to keep them out.

Every migrant let in is a signal to 10 back home that maybe they should try their luck too..... how is that sustainable?

I always ask migration/migrant supporters how the current model is sustainable and there's never an answer.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


If you mean the governmental policy of letting people in and/or letting them stay when they have no legal or moral right to... yes, weak and feckless politicians have done tremendous damage and continue to do so. There's no reason for Poland to follow that particular lead.


Both are solidly capitalist societies.... socialism refers to government ownership of the means of production.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Socialists usually institute travel restrictions....


Andrew Hammel recently mentioned an interaction in a German class for newcomers he was in. An arrival (from Pakistan IIRC) could not understand the concept of welfare benefits.... to the extent he did understand them they were something to take from the stupid state. He was no more prepared to understand the complexities of a modern technocratic state and social safety nets and high trust socieites than a dog would be....

Western civilizaiton is a sublime, yet fragile, creation and cannot withstand the arrival of ever greater numbers of people who at the end of the day are mostly looking for handouts and who despise the values of the country.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


They have agency. They can stay and try to fix their countries or they can go to Europe and try to drag Europe down to their standards (like the Afghan who stabbed a police officer to death in Mannheim Germany). His asylum claim was rejected 10 years ago and he was somehow still in Germany and made the choice to attack people he disagreed with and to kill a policeman. I am going to hate on him as much as I can.


Let's all try to avoid responding in kind. His overly personal attacks on anyone who disagrees with his open borders policy are a tacit admission that he can't win on facts and arguments.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

Let's stick to the issue here. Belarus began weaponizing migrants (and putain has followed suit).

There's no reason for Poland to cooperate in this and there is no way that allowing any of them into the country serves Poland's interests.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


How is what you want not unrestricted... that is, if you were in charge of Polish (or British) migration policy who would you let in and who would you keep out (and how would you keep them out and what would you do if they got in anyway)?


And citizens who don't want to be on the hook for supporting an ever increasing number of economic deadbeats...

How is this sustainable?

unherd.com/newsroom/dutch-study-immigration-costs-state-e17-billion-per-year/

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Are you saying the NGOS that work with the traffickers are conservative?


When asked to name real benefits of diversity most people's lists begin (and end) with food.... Ethiopian food is nice but lots of nice ethnic restaurants =/= successful integration or meaningful argument in favor of unrestricted migration to Europe by people with no real hope of ever being anything but a tax burden.....

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


Because it's progressives that are doing everything they can to keep them up and running..... if you support it (either in word or deed)... you own it.


Which should not be Europe's problem....


How wonderful for them and how wonderful that progressives have new fast food options!!!!

How does letting them in to the UK help turn Ethiopia into less of a sh7thole?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


They're not desperate.... or at least they weren't desperate before falling into the clutches of the human trafficking networks so beloved by progressives....

And I repeat.... migration from low income countries in the middle east and Africa to Europe is a known quantity... there's lots of data, tons and tons and almost none of it is good.... there is probably no MENA immigrant group in Europe that actually pays its own way (rather than relying on public monies and/or petty crime to survive).

There are some welcome individual exceptions but the overall trend is dire. No country in Europe has found a way to make it work and there's no indication Poland would be any different.

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]


So... you blame the Polish government more than the migrant that killed a border guard?

What's your solution? Let them in?

News / What should Poland do with the problem of Belarus? [1800]

Today two big new stories regarding weaponized migrants on the Belarusian border.....

First - a couple of Polish soldiers facing aggressive migrants throwing rocks and spears at them fired warning shots into the ground and over their heads.... they were arrested by Military Police and are being prosecuted and most soldiers are furious about it.

Second - a Polish soldier stabbed by an aggressive migrant trying to enter Polish territory illegally has died....

This is very bad timing for those who make excuses for aggressive weaponized migrants.....

Polish soldiers _must_ be allowed to use force against violent migrants.

News / Coronavirus in Poland - part 2 [599]

First leak in the dam.....

crappy covid vaccines 'may' be linked to excess deaths plaguing countries with high vaccine acceptance....

x.com/Telegraph/status/1797931943411007679

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [67]


English suppression of Irish was far more harsh and ruthless than attempted suppression of Polish. But (gross simplification incoming) by the time of the Great Famine about half the population still spoke Irish. But the Irish speaking areas were especially hard hit by the famine (and the English weren't so.... eager to help them) and massive emigration greatly reduced the number of speakers (and the geographic spread of the language).

Still the language wasn't (and isn't) too far gone but there's just not much interest in actually using more (and most policies aimed at 'promoting' it aren't..... good.....

And... the language is now under further pressure due to the Irish government's obsession about moving 'asylum seekers' into Irish speaking areas....

A true policy wanting to increase usage would give priority to creating and maintaining irish speaking areas.... rather than importing in a bunch of people with no relation whatsoever to the country.

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [67]


not inherently, no. In the 19th century Polish was less attractive because of the far more practical value and high status of German and russian....

outsider utilitarian ideas of attractiveness are only part of the picture


ironically widespread use of English internationally makes it less.... special (language serves a lot of purposes.... one of which has to do with group cohesion and specialness of the group - hard to do with English now unless there's a local variety that's very distinct and has high status locally). Unfortunately for Scottish Gaelic and Irish there are local standards of English that are both distinct and which have high local status (much less the case for Scots which is why it has it's weird liminal status between weirdo dialect and separate language).

Welsh English on the other hand, which distinct in some ways, maybe doesn't have the status of Scottish or Irish English so that means maybe Welsh has more room to be a marker of local identity (though only for part of Wales).

It's certainly possible to make Scottish Gaelic and Irish more attractive and the fact that policies that could do that aren't being followed is revealing.

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


and corruption? You can't spell Srbija without 'corruption'....

News / How will Poland be affected by WW3 which has now started [559]


He's like PiS but over 10 times worse - his loyal voters look back in fondness at not having to make decisions and don't even care that he's destroying the country's future (young people are leaving in droves).

Similar case with Fico....

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [67]



I tend to not believe in "we tried so hard! it just didn't work!" arguments. I think the occam's razor version is that heaven and earth have been moved to make sure that any interest remains small scaled and niche....

I remember seeing articles and seeing all kinds of major tactical mistakes... that I thought anyone serious about increasing and modernizing usage would realize were mistakes and would change... but apparently either increasing usage was not the goal or those trying to increase usage have no idea about how to go about it....

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [67]


Is the purpose to spread the language or to suppress it.... I assume that policies regarding Scotts Gaelic (and Irish for that matter) are specifically aimed at keeping the language small and unattractive.

Languages grow when they are supported by a middle class. So-called "elites" and working or lower classes or peasants don't really keep languages vital (or create living traditions).

The regional/minority language that's doing best in Europe at present is Catalan (which has a middle class behind it).

Not a minority language technically but Maltese is very healthy because a middle class uses and propagates it.

The middle class doesn't support Scots Gaelic or Irish as far as I can tell... what about Welsh?

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [67]


No problem if that's the case, it's just that mostly the claim is asserted rather than backed by evidence....

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [67]


Is there any real evidence that that is something most Silesians want?

USA, Canada / Why Americans don't allow men to be in briefs at the beach/swiming pools? [92]


No, but naturism (nudism) is a thing and naturist sections of beaches is very far from rare in Europe. I remember wandering by (by mistake) the naturist section of the beach in Slanchev Brjag in Bulgaria....

And toplessness doesn't scandalize Europeans the way it does Americans and sometimes women go topless on beaches and somehow the world doesn't fall apart.