Life / Polish Classical Music [101]

Yes, exactly!
And yet his piano music is what separates much of Chopin from the rest.
The late Harold C. Schonberg, erstwhile chief music critic for the NYT, once put it like this: "Mozart taught the piano to dance, Beethoven to feel, Schubert to emote and Chopin to sing."

Think that rather sums it up, don't you?

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

Geopolitically, perhaps you might explain why Sweden and Finland joining NATO would be to Poland's advantage.

History / What makes you feel Polish? [167]

Polish antisemitism's about as old as the Church in Europe itself.
It all stems naturally from the misreading of Scripture and the alleged crucifying of the Christ by the Jews, rather than the Romans!
The latter did the deed but the former took the blame and not until the first Polish Pope did the Vatican "exonerate" the Jews.

As the Church strictly forbade the Christians from any type of money lending, that thankless task fell to the Jews who were stuck with the role of tax collectors and later pawnbrokers. This created the Frankenstein's Monster into which the Jews were forced through no apparent fault of their own, if only for their sheer survival.

Life / Polish Classical Music [101]

You said it!
Attended a function at the General Consulate of Poland quite a few years back and I almost got a rush when I entered the main reception hall: Elegantly appointed tables loaded with kanapki, several varieties of wodka and beer, a coffee urn....... and of course, a gentleman seated at the piano playing hours of Chopin amid all the requisite hand kissing and traditional European formality.

Genealogy / Mothers maiden name - Gladys [17]

Gladys is normally a woman's given name, but today is considered quite outmoded.

Life / Polish Classical Music [101]

I never saw the movie.
However, Chopin as background music has graced more than a handful of Polish films, and very effectively.

Language / Does rz and sz have the same pronounciation? [7]

Ya got me that time, Alien!

Language / Does rz and sz have the same pronounciation? [7]

"W Szczezbrzynie chrzaszcz brzmi w tcicinie" is still excellent practice for foreigners trying to learn Polish pronunciation with humor.

Language / Does rz and sz have the same pronounciation? [7]

Good example.

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Sounds right to me.
Thanks again, jon!

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

I do know that homophones are also called "sound-alike" words, whereas I recall that homonyms also look the same or similar,'yet sound different and mean different things.

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

On the whole, I'd say that's about right.
Yet, I did encounter quite of number of brown-haired, dark-eyed Swedes while I was in Goeteborg/Gothenburg.
However, those I spoke with confessed there might have been some Lapp or Saami ancestry way back when.

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Homonyms then. Same spelling (with only a single significant variant), totally different meaning?

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Right, Paw!

There are numerous other "dangerous" homophones in Polish, f. ex. "kat" vs."kat" with a cedilla bellow the "a" in the second word, the latter meaning an edge or corner:-)

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Nice one, Pawku.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Tacitus, you must also not forget that for centuries, Austria was the buffer state, so to speak, between the Muslim Turks who'd been successfully driven back by the Poles under Jan Sobieski in the 17th century, and Western Christendom.

No surprise therefore that Austria, in particular Vienna, had also served as the sort of Black Market way station right after '45, learning to deal literally with the Allies and the Communists.

Nowhere in my opinion has the "Austrian Dilemma" been so skillfully depicted as in Graham Greene's THE THIRD MAN!

Incidentally, how come you haven't responded to my private posts over the last year or so? Just wondering

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

Being sarky once again, Bobko old man?
Some of us might take serious issue here.
Then of course, I trust you weren't serious:-)

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

Ahemm, Boltzmann, Schroedinger along with many other Austrians helped usher in the atomic age, for better or worse!

And where would the entire field of genetics be without Gregor Mendel? Don't blame him 'cuz Adolf got his grimy mitts all over that area and began preaching the Gospel according to Dummkoepfe LOL

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

Kindly too distinguish between dyed vs. natural Blondes.

History / POLISH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDSHIP WILL LAST FOREVER [513]

@Bobko, I figure you're only being sarcastic in your latest post.
Putin's no Metternich, and Lavrov's sure no Gentz, so let's not kid ourselves.

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

@Boboshku,
New York ain't America! What goes or doesn't go on along New York City streets is not nor has ever been a barometer for what's happening throughout the rest of the country.

'specially round about the time Marilyn was in her heyday, it was the common wisdom that "Blondes have more fun":-)

Love / What cities have most blonde girls? [26]

Nearly every guy's got the same fixation!
We Jews call it "schicksappeal":-)

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

It does though capture the sense of duration.

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Looks good for first-time learners at that age; no English and lots of visuals:-)

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

Most assuredly.

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

Interesting here that "sztuka" can mean both art as well as drama or play, depending solely on the respective context.

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Thanks, jon.

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

Walt Whitman in Polish. Just about as tantalizing as Mickiewicz in English. Oh, it's been done, but it's almost like reading a different author, no?

Language / Best books to self-study Polish? [30]

Not certain where in the UK you live at present, but if it's London, I believe there's a bookshop called Dillon's (near Charing Cross Rd.?), if it still exists, and they have or used to have a wonderful and detailed selection of language learning books!

The second or perhaps it was the third floor of the old Foyle's Bookshop had about the best serious selection of linguistics and scholarly-type books I'd ever seen, but this was thirty-some odd years ago:-)

So sorry, I meant Hachette, NOT DIllon's.LOL

Life / Poland's birthrate on the decline [480]

Does Poland support the use of abortion if only in order to protect a woman's life?