Language / Busha and JaJa [140]

By saying JaJa, she probably wants to say DziaDzia or "Dziadzia", the name for grandfather in childrens' talk.

As for Busia, the mystery remains unsolved; I would opt for this word having evolved in the language of Polish immigrants to America in the environment of English. Children who heard "babusia" could have been shortening it to "busia" in America and go on uncorrected, while in Poland they would be taught to say "baba" and "babcia" instead.

Life / Can no longer receive TVP Info Wrocław on digital DVBT [25]

So, congratulations to you! As this old Polish saying goes: all's well that ends well.

Life / Can no longer receive TVP Info Wrocław on digital DVBT [25]


You see? Didn't I tell you? To prove you know Polish, you have just used this common Polish colloquial expression and all the channels are suddenly back again! Ale jaja!!!

Life / Can no longer receive TVP Info Wrocław on digital DVBT [25]


Gone for ever. They will return once you say you know Polish.

Life / Can no longer receive TVP Info Wrocław on digital DVBT [25]


I wonder what you need them all for once you've stated in your profile that you don't know Polish. Are you a fan of silent TV (or rather "language-unknown TV")?

History / Poland's undying debt to Polonia [76]

Polonius

Everyone has some debt to someone these days. We all live in the age of enormous debt. The eurozone is endebted to the point that it may implode one day. The United States is hugely indebted to the People's Republic of China, but it's true, China keeps the list of the American debts in the same way as you keep the list of the debts of Poland to Polonia. But what can we say? Thank you, and with love from Poland minus the debt which the US incurred to Poland when hiring Kościuszko and Pulaski in their war against the horrible British who - as usual - tried to exploit the wonderful colonists of America as much as everyone else in the world in that sinful age.

History / What do Poles owe to Czechs? [89]

Oh dear, I have just forgotten to mention about Albania not taking part in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. So it is you who appear to be lying about me that I appear to be lying wheras I've completely forgotten about Albania just as if I would have forgotten to mention Belize having once been an important British colony.


As far as Czechoslovakia is concerned, it is as we have have never heard you yet telling a satisfatory (or any at all) explanation to an interesting question raised in the other thread:

History / What do Poles owe to Czechs? [89]

Liberated by the Red Army - is an expression that may be understood differently in Western and Eastern Europe. If the Red Army liberated, say, Poland or Czechoslovakia or Hungary in 1945, this was not the same as the Allies having liberated France, Holland or Belgium.

If it was the same, why should the Red Army come again to liberate the Hungarians in 1956 or come to liberate the Czechs in1968, and against which occypying power the Red Army came with fraternal help?

For all the (particularly British and Australian) prospective trolls who would come here to say that Poland joined the Red Army in the task of liberating Czechosloviakia of the dangers of the Prague Spring, I shall remind them that all Warsaw Pact members, with the exception of Romania, joined the Red Army in this action. In the eyes of those trolls, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe would certainly have enjoyed the same level of soverignity as the countries of Western Europe not having the chance to be liberated by the Red Army as the result of the Second World War.

Genealogy / Polish equivalent of William [16]

Who knows of which name the name "Kuba" is a diminuitive form?
Give is a clue? Here it is:

Pije Kuba do Jakuba,
Jakub do Michała
Pijesz ty, piję ja,
kompanija cała ...

But where is Wiluś in all that?
[C'mon, give us a clue! Here it is: Wiluś is getting ready to be crowned... when his father is... far away]

Genealogy / Polish equivalent of William [16]


Neither have I (nor, for that matter, have I met anyone in PL whose first name would be Adolf), but my grand-father used to call Keiser Wilhelm of Germany ironically "cesarz Wiluś".

Genealogy / Polish equivalent of William [16]

Wiliam the Conqueror - Wilhelm Zdobywca

Language / Your favourite Polish proverb? [16]


Cieszy mię ten rym, Polak mądr po szkodzie
Lecz jeśli prawda i z tego nas zbodzie
Nową przypowieść Polak sobie kupi,
Że i przed szkodą, i po szkodzie głupi

Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584), poet

Language / Niech będzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus - a religious greeting? [39]

If you wanted to answer Grubas with a proverb, Lyzko, the right proverb here would be:
Przyganiał kocioł garnkowi!
----------------------------------------
I remember that we used to greet a priest or a nun that way when I was a child. The answer was: Na wieki wieków!

Language / How to pronounce "y" in Polish? [28]


While I wouldn't agree with this,


I would agree with that.

Language / Polish language would look better written in Cyrillic Script? [212]


Why do you think that Simplified Chinese looks better? In my view, traditional Chinese characters look better.

Genealogy / My ancestors from Poland were ethnic Jews [10]


Possibly Nowogródek (in Poland before 1939). There is also the big Russian city of Nowogród, not that far from St. Petersburg (or Leningrad under the Soviet Union).

Language / Polish language would look better written in Cyrillic Script? [212]


It would. But the only reason for that is that we are not used to Polish in Cyrillic script. The same would apply to Bulgarians or Russians; they're not used to Latin script, so it will look stupid for them.

But if we one day decided to start teaching all our children the Polish language in Cyrillic script, Polish in Cyrillic would not look stupid for them once they grow up.

This happened to the Belorussians who once (in the times of the Grand Duchy) used Latin script for their language, then changed to Cyrillic script under the pressure of Russia who put her hands over almost the entire Grand Duchy after 1795 (anyway, these days Lukaszenko wants to srape off the Belorussian language altogether and replace it with Russian).

Language / Polish language would look better written in Cyrillic Script? [212]



Technically, this sentence is perfectly correct! Even if a native speaker preferred to choose a slightly different version here, one cannot challange anyone on this sentence.



Either the last one or: całkowicie się zgadzam.


Both the Polish and the Czech people were very close to starting writing down their languages in Cyrilic. The two giants of Christianisation of the Slavic people, the Greek people Cyril and Methodius, knew the Slavic language (as used around Thessaloniki in Greece at that time) and were sent with their first mission to Moravia, today part of the Czech Republic.

Rastislav, prince of Great Moravia, is said to have expelled missionaries of the Roman Church and instead turned to Constantinople for ecclesiastical assistance and, presumably, a degree of political support. The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius. The request provided a convenient opportunity to expand Byzantine influence. Their first work seems to have been the training of assistants. In 863, they began the task of translating the Bible into the language now known as Old Church Slavonic and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it. They enjoyed considerable success in this endeavour. However, they came into conflict with German ecclesiastics who opposed their efforts to create a specifically Slavic liturgy.

For the purpose of this mission, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavic language. Its descendant script, the Cyrillic, is still used by many languages today.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


The explanation might be very simple, and may be heard in the further confessions by the said tycoon to the BBC "Week-ending" programme:

- I'm usually too busy at the casino ...

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]

Do you suggest that the returning Polonia may be like this British tycoon once depicted in the BBC satirical programme "Week-ending" as saying:

- Most people do not care about the disabled, the handicapped or the chronically-ill, and I amno exception! ?

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


That would be an interesting survey to conduct, just to count them and to find out what country they are from. But, it would be extremely difficult to reach a consensus on the definition of a "Poland's hater". Take Harry as one example. He stresses that he doesn't hate Poland, yet very many people on the forum are inclined to accuse him of it. Where's the truth? Take Fuzzy as another example. He had got so frustrated with Poland that he decided to leave for America. Is he a "Poland's hater"? Even if he is, he may be easily and rightfuly justified as Poland did not live up to his dreams, so he left having no other choice as one's dreams for hapiness isn't something you are able to revert easily.

As to reasons why many people here should "hate" Poland, I disagree with you that it is a financially motivated "hatred". Many ex-pats in Poland are very well-off by Polish standards. I think a main cause would be the difference in mentality between Poland and Western Europe which is still very big. Some would like it, some would pass over it judging it obvious and natural. Many, however, would be extremely annoyed by it. Notice that some Polish people dislike some other Polish people, too. Take Father Rydzyk, for example. Even some Catholics in Poland would call him insane. But they - unlike foreign people in Poland - are used to this kind of priests, so he wouldn't annoy them, they would simply laugh at him rather than be spreading hatred about Poland because of him.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]


Fuzzy is a genuine American patriot (not to be mistaken for that famous American "Patriot" rocket!) rather than a troll. But his views are very one-sided: the more he's ready to appraise things about America, the less he's ready to admit that Poland has something positive about her. He's too young to have ever had the chance to experience the reality behind the Iron Curtain, but believe me: the way he talks about Poland somewhat mirrors the way the communist junta in Poland used to talk about the US.


This is an interesting case showing that citizens of every country should monitor what their governments do, and also showing that freedom of press is essential. The story mentioned by Delph ended in the Polish security service quickly abandoning the case against antykomor.pl just because the press and other media in Poland much publicized their action. President Komorowski of Poland followed suit in announcing that he never had any intention to make the antykomor.pl site closed down, neither did he make any attempts to alert the security service about it.

Recently I have seen several American films on the Viasat History channel showing how the US security service controlled US governments and US presidents in the 1960s and 1970s. The former chiefs of these services left no doubt about it: such things would continue to happen in America in the future. Therefore, the essential thing is to have free press and media to be able to talk about it aloud.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]



So, Nomen, you've got what you wanted. You are not in line with the general policy of most of the forumers here, so take your semiautomatic rifle with you, and off you go to America to search for happiness in the Wild West.

Life / What's wrong with Poland? I don't see anything. [121]



With his 34,000 zloty a month job, he is not obliged to get on a tram.
Voilà - 34,000 zloty a month, that's what America does for him and yet he despises America

[Nomen, don't ask what America may do for you, just ask what you may do for America!]

Genealogy / Common surnames in Poland NOT of Polish origin ? [89]

C'mon, tell us at least ten most common names in Poland.

History / Cult Poland PRL TV Ads and Cars [12]

The big chain EMPiK which sells books, music etc. Several shops in Warsaw, I saw this collection in one of the EMPiK shops, at WOLA PARK, Górczewska Street, but I'm sure they must have it in the EMPiK of Marszałkowska Street, opposite the Palace of Culture and Science, on the east side of it.

Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

That's a strictly European thing of the Middle Ages; you've certainly never had a chance to have it in America. "Feud" is something on which the more commonly known adjective "feudal" was formed, but my English is too poor to explain the word itself.

Both the Principality of Prussia in 1525 and the Principality of Courland until 1795 were dependency territories of the Polish Commonwealth with their own administration, currency etc.

Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]


What comes to mind is that this title is a polonised version of the title of graaf which is proper to Germanic countries.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Of the original ten Rutheno-Lithuanian families with the title of duke (książe) acknowledged to them officially by the Seym in 1569 (the so-called "old noble descent"), there exist only four today: Sanguszkowie, Czartoryscy, Czetwertyńscy, Radziwiłłowie. The other six families died out between 1592 and 1744. Other noble stock (the so-called "new noble descent") are: Lubomirscy (since1682), Poniatowscy (since 1764) and Sapiehowie (since 1768); members of these families still live.

There are more types of noble stock of which I will name the so-called "royal descent" (members of these families once became kings): Sobiescy (since 1674) and Leszczyńscy (since 1705), and the still living families of feud dukes: Hohenzollern (in 1525 became Duke of Prussia), and Biron (in 1737 became Duke of Courland).

History / What do Poles owe to Jews? [593]


You are new to the forum, so you do not understand yet that some people do need those **** discussions as fish needs water. For most part the discussions engage no one else but themselves, so my advice is pass onto those posts or occasionaly read them for fun, just as I do.

The reality in Poland (and I have always lived in Poland since birth) is quite different from the one presented by some extremists here. When discussed, the complicated Polish-Jewish relations should not be brought onto this level of shameful rubbish as it is being done here by some posters. I sometimes have a say in the problems of Polish-Jewish relations, but if you click my name to explore my posts further, you will see that one might discuss difficult things in a calm and friendly tone. What some posters post and the way they do it, is more the matter for psychological investigation and diagnosis than for anything else.

Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]


That's true. In the Kingdom of Poland only one noble title existed and it was the title of szlachcic (one belonging to the gentry). Hence the popular saying of the time: Szlachcic na zagrodzie równy wojewodzie, which meant that a modest person of the gentry (na zagrodzie) was equal by formal legal status and title to a very powerful and influential person occupying the high administrative position of wojewoda. However, in the Act of Union between The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania signed in Lublin in 1569, the Lithuanian princes or dukes (książe) were guaranteed to retain their original titles of dukes of the Grand Duchy. From then on, you would have wealthy Crown families without the title of a duke (like the very potent Potocki family), and also not the less wealthy Lithuanian families with the title of duke (like the Czartoryski family).

Later on, the Seym ocasionally granted some Crown families the title of duke in acknowledging their merits and deeds for the country. The only name that comes to my mind now is the Poniatowski family, hence the title of książe for Józef Poniatowski (also called "książe Pepi" by the king Stanislas August, family and friends) whose monument is situated just in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.

Other noble titles to the Polish nobility were granted by the partitioning powers Russia, Prussia and Austria after 1795, of which the title of hrabia was, I think, the most common.