News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


You obviously prefer the "pro-busienss" and "market-friendly" PO gang that gave Western big-money forces carte blanche to exploit and abuse Poland's economy and not pay their fair share of taxes.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Join the rabble-rousers and subversives!

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


Agreed! One of the "movingest" of English carols. And it only emerged in the
1950s or thereabouts.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1049]

Merged: Skierowanie?

Is there a nice word for skierowanie in English or is that strictly a communist-era concept? There used to be a skierowanie to a workers' holiday centre (free of charge) or to a physician. To this day you need a skierowanie to see a speciaist in the state health service.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]


Yes, Hryszko nad Gryszko are alternative versions of the same name, the H-version reflecting Czech, Slovak or Ukrainian influence. They trace back to the first name Grzegorz (from Greek Gregorious meaning fervent or vigilant).

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


On th first, second and 3rd days of Christmas, New Year's Eve and Day and the Three Kings and throughout the season alcohol flows freely in Poland. IT'S ONLY WIGILIA THAT'S SO SPECIAL, UNIQUE, TIME-HONOURED, SYMBOLIC AND SINGULAR. It would have to be to get a nation of boozers like Poles, even if it's only many or most of them, to lay off the tipple on even one night a year!

And Atch -- this is just a friendly exchange, an opportunity to learn how others view things without malice or rancour, perhaps with a touch of light-hearted banter but all within the bounds of the Christmas spirit!

TOBIE, ATCH, I TWOJEJ RODZINIE Z SERCA ŻYCZĘ MI£YCH, CIEP£YCH, RADOSNYCH I B£OGOS£AWIONYCH ŚWIĄT BOŻEGO NARODZENIA oraz OBFITYCH £ASK BOŻEGO DZIECIĄTKA PRZEZ CA£Y NOWY 2016 ROK! Translation: HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


Let them booze it up. There's no law against that!


Surely at the stroke of midinight they first went to Midnight Mass and then started boozing it up. In my wife's family it was common to come home from Midnight Mass to hot kaszanka (black pudding) in the coal-fired oven, and naturally it had to be washed down with a 50% tipple.

Next day it was morning Mass, also on the 2nd day of Christmas and St John's Day (27th Dec) which included the blesssing of wine.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


One thing nobody has mentioned so far is that the Wigilia gathering starts with the reading of St Luke's gospel about the birth of Christ, then Grace is said and the opłatek is broken and shared fromt he eldest down to the youngest.

All that enhances the uniquely solemn and beautiful aura surrounding this ritual supper and sets it apart from the nondescript run-of-the-mill booze-ups and pig-outs.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


But perhaps too much of the cheer comes out of a bottle?! Booze-ups are two a penny and Poles are certainly no teetotalers. But Wigilia is in a class all its own. It is not sombre but exudes a touch of solemntiy, something clearly lacking in the razzle-dazzle, whoop-it-up celebrations of the West, where most people have lost any sense of the sacred. This is not directed at the Irish but at America and the remaining devleoped West. As my former colleague Beranrd Marguerite ("Le monde", French radio et al) once told a Polish TV interviewer: "Paris is the most illuminated city in the world at Christmas. Dazzling cascading garlands of lights everywhere, people rushing to and fro, shopping, visitng bistros, cafés and restaurants, except for one thing. They don't really know why they're doing all that!"

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


You seem to have a hangup abotu the PZPR. What about Rzepliński -- at the forefrontn of the entire TK row -- or avid KOD supporter Kalisz, or industrial sell-off artist Balcerowicz, not the mention the late Kuroń and a host of others including the 30 ex-commie PO MPS in the Sejm.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


That wrongly assumes that the outside big-money forces want nothing more than a strong, financially sovereign Poland able to thumb its nose at Unicredit, Citibank,Satander, Auchan, Tesco, Praktiker, Leroy and other Western exploiters, because they've got their own far better options. You know that's not true. They want the most favourable terms for Unicredit, Citibank, Satander, Auchan, Tesco, Praktiker, Leroy, etc. -- not tough Polish competition but low or no taxes, very low Polish wages and unrestrIcted profit-transfer home. In other words: CONTINUED EXPLOITATION OF POLES REDUCED TO THE LEVEL OF MERCENARIES IN THEIR OWN HOMELAND.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Foreign financial markets are not interested in healthy Polish families, healthy Polish pride and growing Polish entrepreneurship adn eocnomic sovereignty. They want Poland to be "pro-busienss" and "market-friendly", nice-soudnign eupehemisms for a sucker nation duped by outside big-money forces. They want few if any restrictions and taxes on the expansion of foreign capital which should be catered to in every way.

Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]


KEDROWSKI/KĘDROWSKI: both extremely rare or on the verge of extinction; probably of toponymic or topo-patronymic origin.
For more info please contact: polonius3@gazeta.pl

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


POLISH & AMERICAN CHRISTMAS

Traditionally Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas season in America. But at shopping centers the first Christmas displays can be already be seen in October and early November. Also in Poland many people complain about rushing the holidays, when they see decorations go about right after All Saints and All Souls Day (Nov. 1-2). In America, some families put up their Christmas trees shortly after Thanksgiving, so they are sick of them by the time Christmas rolls around.

Much of American Christmas lore centers on Santa Claus, because that character is such a convenient marketing tool. Santa is portrayed as a plump, overgrown elf in a red suit who travels through the sky in a sleigh drawn by reindeer. He is said to slide down the chimney, fill stockings hanging by the fireplace with goodies and leave presents under the Christmas tree.

Christmas carols tell the story of Jesus' birth, while holiday songs talk about a white Christmas, snowmen, Santa, children playing and chestnuts roasting. Typical American Christmas symbols are Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer, sleighs, snowmen, elves, candy canes, holly wreaths and bells. Polish Christmas symbols include the Christmas tree as well as star of Bethlehem, Christmas cribs, hay and the white Christmas wafer. But due to high-powered marketing, all the alien Anglo-commercial Yuletide artifacts are increasingly seeping into Poland.

To most Americans that big Christmas dinner means roast turkey with stuffing and cranberry sauce, eggnog and fruit cake Poles mainly think of Christmas Eve supper, where they share the Christmas wafer and enjoy an array of traditional meatless dishes. These include beetroot soup, herring, fish, mushrooms and sauerkraut, stewed fruit and poppyseed noodles.


Here's the Beeb's take on Wigilia:

facebook.com/BBCSouthToday/videos/vb.153132638110668/951136071643650/?type=2&theater

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


No-one in Poland spells their name that way. But the Kinierski surname once existed, in fact there was a noble line amongst its bearers. For more info please contact: research60@gmail

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Some of what you say seems to make a bit of sense. Why don't you volunteer your services to PiS or the government as a PR guy or adviser?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


The rallies are on their way to fizzling out. Police estimate no more than 8-10 thousand at Saturday's rabble-rousing at the Sejm, down from 50,000 the week before. Except for firebrand fanatics of the Petru, Kijowski, Delph and lower-case jon ilk, most people soon tire of such street jamborees. Same with elections -- people do not like to be herded to the polls all that often. In private homes many people shake their heads when the TV news again leads with the street commotion.

News / Should Poland exit the EU immediately? [377]


Only proves your limited exposure to real Poles. Apparently you circulate in some circle of expats and/or hobnob with a fringe group of like-minded one-worlders WHO DO NOT REPRESENT THE FEELINGS OF THE TYPICAL POLE!

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

NATO HQ have made it plainly clear that the research unit was not a NATO organ but only cooperates with them. They added that the restaffing procedure was stricly an internal Polish affair. But the Schechrter bastard (not an insult but a factual generic descripiton) tried to whip up hysteria suggesting an attack on NATO. That's balanced, responsible journalism or tabloid-style sensation-mongering?

As for you, lower-case jon, don't you ever tire of anti-PiS trolling? Go out and take a walk. Get some fresh air, Drop into a church and say a ltitle prayer for more moderation and common sense. You need it.

News / Should Poland exit the EU immediately? [377]


But not the Brussels diktat. Poles want the EU to be a confederation of sovereign national states voluntarily affiliated to pursue mutually agreed objectives without bullying or coercion against those who disagree. That includes voluntary not coercive acceptance of the euro. The UK feel the same way. Except for the Michnikites and their anti-patriotic one-worldly ilk no-one wants a United States of Europe in which countries would have even fewer rights than the American states do.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


What did Maciereiwcz do that was illegal? His aides forsaw the option of not being admitted voluntarily, so contingency-wise they resorted to the least drastic way of circumventing the obstacle. The police are known to insert explosive charges and break the door down.

Most importantly, if PO had won the election, do you think they would allow this research unit to be staffed by hand-picked PiS cronies? Not on your life! SO where's the problem? There isn't any but when PiS-bashing ammo is running low, any excuse will do.

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


A cartoon seen in a Polish magazine a few years back:
A group of people seated round a food-laden table scarfing down msuhrioom soup, fish, pierogi, poppyseed roll and suchlike on Christmas Eve. Suddenly there's a faint knock on the door. "I'll go see who it is," someone says. "Who was it*" the company ask. "Just some small infant. I told him there was no room in the inn."

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Sooner you'll be out.... Logistics notwithstanding, MON had every right to replace the hastily PO-stacked research unit. PO thought they were pulling a fast one but were found out and their scheme got nipped in the bud. Hats off to Macierewicz for his vigilance!

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


All the nutiness is in the newsroom of the Kosher Gazette. Did you get a load of today's headline:
MACIEREWICZ ATTACKS NATO!
They forgot to mention whether he was using a lance or sabre. LOL!

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


Interesting point. Made me wonder to what extent our views are shaped by personal experience. Thank God I was fortunate to have been brought up in a very harmonious family. Oh sure, there was one distant uncle who usually had one too many and would fall off a chair and disrupt things, and there was even one divorce (horrors!) in the family. But no standing feuds, no-one coridally detested anyone and everyone got on really well. No fighting over estates either. My dad being better off than his younger brother readily gave up his share of the family home after my grandparents died.

Maybe that's why I'm so pro-family. Others on PF seem less so and I wonder if that stems from personal experience or other reasons. Maybe if I had had a drunken mum and abusive dad I would have viewed things differently. Whaddya think?

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Is that a word or did you make it up? What about car-shaming? Except that could work both ways -- either driving high (BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes, Alfa as in Kalisz's case) or low (Fiat Panda, Toyota Aygo, etc.).

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Saw a photo of a very well-fed Kalisz on FB next to his Jagaur and the caption: "Defending democracy" (antoerh PZPR type in the Petru-Kijowski gang). If I were computer savvy enough to transfer it here I'd happily share it. How do you guys post pix on PF? Is it where you hold down the left mouse and release it at the destination site?

Life / All Things Christmassy in Poland [332]


I wonder if others have expereinced something similar either in Poland or abroad. In many PolAm families the problem of where to spend Christmas was a problem. A kind of emotional tug-o-war sometimes occurred with the poor husband in the middle, torn between his own family and his wife's.

By sheer coincidence (or Divine Providence?) my childhood memories were conflict- and worry-free in that regard.
Wigilia was always on the paternal side, Babcia being the ideal Polish homemaker who attached great importance to time-honoured tradition. My maternal gran didn't do a big Wigilia -- only a short-cut one for her husband and 3 daugthers after closing her little beer wine & sweet shop at 9pm. But she hosted a big Christmas dinner the next day (shop was closed). Same with Easter -- right-after-mass Polish Easter breakfast was always at my dad's parents' and Easter dinner on the maternal side.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


In our circles...sounds like the confession of a conspirator. Better watch your step. All this will eventually subside, but the label of "foreign subversive" may be hard to live down.

Dunno what goes on among fellow-plotters in your conspiratorial circles but to the average Polish telly watcher and press reader PETRU IS THE FACE AND SPOX OF THE ENTIRE RUMPUS. Most Poles wouldn't know what that old hippie Kijowski even looks like.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


So you've stood at his side on the bus roof? Interesting. Somehow nobody recalls seeing you there.
Whether you liek it or not, Petru has become the face and voice of the movement -- everyone agrees on that. It's not PO's Neuman nor PSL's Kosiniak. IT'S PETRU!