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Posts by Polonius3  

Joined: 11 Apr 2008 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - Q
Last Post: 9 Apr 2018
Threads: Total: 980 / Live: 115 / Archived: 865
Posts: Total: 12270 / Live: 4516 / Archived: 7754
From: US Sterling Heigths, MI
Speaks Polish?: yes
Interests: Polish history, genealogy

Displayed posts: 4631 / page 79 of 155
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Polonius3   
31 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

is nobody's business

If it develops into a social phenomenon then it's everybody's business and must be addressed.
Polonius3   
31 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

HETMAN

HETMAN: this is definitely a Polish surname -- it means military commander. It is an adpataiton of the German word Hauptmann -- literally headman but actually captain; in reference to Roman times -- centurion. Hetman went into Ukrainian as ataman.
Polonius3   
31 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

nobody else's business

An individual case is only that person's business if she/she are within the law. But when the number of such cases multiply and evolve into a social phenomenon, then it affects and concerns all of society. Whatever solution is proposed, it nearly always involves the taxpayer's hard-earned money. A growing number of unemployed unwed mothers, children from broken homes, substance-abusing drivers, speeders, school dropouts, burglars, etc. obviously impacts every country's social-welfare, educational and/or law-enforcement. system. No-one in his right mind can say "that is nobody's business".
Polonius3   
31 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

irresponsible misconduct

You have described situations where a mother would have to cope with adversity, so surely you don't regard that as irrepsonsible misconduct.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

She actually managed to do that

Congrats, Atch! I tip my hat! That was a clever stop-gap move, adn those are certainyl necessary. But does it not behoove people like yourself concenred about their fellow-man to ask: what can be done to demotivate people against getting hooked on drugs, drink and promiscuous behaviour. We are all born tabula rasa - so someone or something along the way must have encouraged such irresponsible misconduct. Who has failed in the educational and socialisation process: the family, the school, the Church, the media, society in general?
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

we should stigmatise

The ones who really should be stigmatised are the opinion-moulders, the entertainment industry, indivudal celebrities and media people who glamourise pathological situations. Unwed motherhood has been around for ages as an unfortuante situaition to all concerned, but now it is being glamourised and promoted as a trendy so-called "lifestyle option". Naturally the kids and often the mother eventually suffers because of it, but the promoter nonchalantly watches his bank account grow.

"Pretty woman" was na excellent example of glamoursing prostitution which caused a wave of attractive young girls from North Dakota, Minnesota and suchlike to head for big cities. They all wanted to find a millionaire admirer like Julia Roberts did. Instead they were, exploited, beaten and even killed.

Commercial popculture with its huge power of persuasion (or brainwashing) is one of the main causes of society's ills.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

evil households

Only jon is into such extremes. With him it's the other way round. He demonises hetero famileis as essentially evil and tries to normativise "otherness", counter-culture arrangements as essentially superior. In reality, each household is a separate entity and varies depending on a variety of factors. But research has shown what conditions are usually best to raise kids in. Those are ideal conditions which one can strive for, although achieving such ideals often poses a major challenge.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

oldest
writing style is Zaydowski

The oldest style may not be th4e morrect. The furtehr back we goi the higher the illteracy rate, and even parish priests and village scribes who basicaly knew how ot read and write were often semi-literate at best. Besides, with names there are few reuls and standards. Spelling varies not only from place to place but often within the same family. Why it chanegd from Zajdowski to Sajdowski is anyone's guess. Sajdowski could be derived from sajda, part of a weaver's loom. With names most anything is possible. Your family probably changed it to Zaydowski to make it closer to the original. Zaydoski would have been a better respelling.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

toxic and dysfunctional ones

You've sure got a skewed view of what is toxic and dysfucntional. According to to jon there are essentially two kinds of families:
1) Dysfunctional, i.e. hetero ones ones comprising brutal, drunken machos who beat their their wives and homo sons.
2) Functional ones: happy, well-adjusted, harmonious, loving homo households with adopted kids or test-tube babies, never plagued by substance abuse, domestic violence, STDs or break-ups.

It's a free country so there's no law against believing and spreading such twaddle.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

I googled "gay boys brought up by wife beating intolerant homophobes?" and guess what? Your PF post came up. If interested in the subject, try googling a more clearly and specifically phrased topic.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Zaydowski

ZAJDOWSKI: you're probably right -- -owski ending surnames are usually of toponmyic origin so Zajdy in Masuria would be an obvious soruce. But there is also a locality called Zajda in Hungary. It could have also been derived from the Polonised version of Seide (German for silk). A silk merchant nicknamed Seide in Poland would eventually have his name respelled Zajda and the son he fathered could well have been known by the patronymic nickname of Zajdowski.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

Stigmatising single parents

Focusing solely on paretns or single mothers diverts attention from the most important people involved: the children.
This is not to suggest that single mothers or cohabitating couples should be banned or penalised by the law, only that such arrangements are on avergae damaging to the youngsters involved.

For children, the differences between cohabiting and married parents extend far beyond the lack of a marriage licence. Compared to children of married parents, those with cohabiting parents are more likely to experience the breakup of their families, be exposed to "complex" family forms, live in poverty, suffer abuse, and have negative psychological and educational outcomes.

One of the major sources of inequality between cohabiting and married parenthood is that cohabiting couples tend to split up at higher rates than married couples. According to the 2013 National Marriage Project report, Knot Yet, children of cohabiting parents in their twenties are three times more likely to experience the dissolution of their family than children born to married parents. The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW), meanwhile, finds that "nearly half of parents who are cohabiting at the time of their child's birth break up within five years, compared to only 20 percent of married parents."

family-studies.org/for-kids-parental-cohabitation-and-marriage-are-not-interchangeable
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Off-Topic / Are Polish Christians here? [144]

Merged: ...And God created Poland...

When God was creating nations, he endowed the Poles with a land rich in iron, copper, silver, sulphur, amber and other natural resources, breath-taking mountain scenery, a beautiful seacoast, lush woodlands full of game, lakes and rivers teeming with fish, fields of golden grain, strong handsome lads to harvest it and lovely, flaxen-haired maidens for them to marry and have children with.

WItnessing all this a little angel asked God: "Aren't the Poles getting too much of a good thing?"
God only smiled and said: "Wait till you see who they get for neighbours!"
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

DUZEN: No-one in Poland uses this surname at present. There is a German verb duzen which means to be on a first-name basis with someone and address them as du (you - 2nd person singular).

Conceivably duzen could have been the phonetic polonisation of the French douzaine (dozen). That incidentally went into German as Dutzend and Polish as tuzin.
Polonius3   
30 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Lobdowski?

£OBDOWSKI: root-word probably łoboda (archaic/dialectal for lebioda = lovage, a herb); most likely origated as a toponymic nick from the village of £obdowo in northern Poland's Kujawy region.
Polonius3   
29 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Gornia

It might have been. There are numerous surnames starting with Górnia including Górniak, Górniaczyk, Górniakowski, etc., but it's pure speculaiton which of them it could have been.
Polonius3   
28 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

Orcikowski

At present, no-one in Poland uses the Orcikowski surname. A 1990s census showed one person in the Bydgoszcz area surnamed Orcikowski.
However over 600 people now sign themselves Orczykowski. At present none of them live in Masuria. The largest concentrations are in £ódź and Radom.
Polonius3   
28 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

ORCZYKOWSKI or ORCIKOWSKI: You have listed what kooks ot be a Gemmanised spelling of this Polish surname. Its root-word is orczyk (the wooden bar which connects a horsecart to the horse). However, the adjetcival -owski ending is a dead give-away that this is a surname of toponymic origin. It would have origianted to identify a resident of such places (now in Ukraine) as Orczyk or Orczykowo (Polish spelling).
Polonius3   
28 Jul 2015
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4500]

CZYŻ: siskin (bird species); definitely Polish, not Lithuanian. The siskin in Lithuanian is called alksninukas. Someone named Czyż in today's Lithuania might get his surname modified to something like Čižius.
Polonius3   
28 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

it only brings misery to all

The word "only" is typical of a simplistic black and white approach ot things. Life is too rich and varied to fit into the "only" mode.

Yes, to varying degrees family pressure may be unberable to some. People differ as to their bearability. In some cases however, admonishment to finally grow up and settle down may save a girl or boy from falling into bad company, running afoul of the law, overdosing, becoming an alcoholic, dropping out of school, etc. Young people are not always the best judge to what to decide.

people choosing or staying with the wrong person

Once again, people may be pressured by their fa,milies to choose and stay with the wrong person, but nowadays indivduals are pretty good at choosing and staying with the wrong person all on their own without any family pressure. Egocentrics may say their love has burnt out and it's time to move on -- who needs an old wife and a bunch of screaming kids?! Less egoistic types in a loveless marriage may decide to stay "for the kids". There are as many variants as there are people, but propagandists (either paid or the volunteer variety) only pick and choose those exampels that fit their preconceived notions.
Polonius3   
27 Jul 2015
History / Polish and other Slavic nobility in our time [71]

Jaruzelski

Interstingly his family crest was Ślepowron (which sounds like "blind crow" in Polish), and that was not lost on the Solidarity opposition. WRON was the name of the Military Council of National Salvation, his martial-law authority.
Polonius3   
24 Jul 2015
News / Poland's PiS party members and crime [346]

crimes committed by members of PiS?

Why just PiS? In the embezzlement department the Platfusy are the leaders, and the ex-commies of the SLD are not far behind. Both are good at covering their tracks and destroying evidence.
Polonius3   
23 Jul 2015
News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]

such contracts basically do not exist

Reputable Polish economist say up to one-third of Poles work on umowy śmieciowe. You know better?

walk the dog.

Dog-walking ain't putting bread on your table, nless your exercising other people's dogs for a fee. You must have some other soruce of income. Only in songs can people live on love as in "I can't give you anything but love, Baby!"

Wprost says garbage contracts do exit and 3.5 million Poles earn their livelihood that way:
wprost.pl/ar/352730/35-mln-Polakow-pracuje-na-umowach-smieciowych
Polonius3   
23 Jul 2015
News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]

good for Poland

The question is: would eliminating garbage contracts entirely (by legislation as some are now proposing) wouldn't scare off foreign investors who mainly came to Poland as a cheap manpower and lucrative consumer-market country? Maybe the EU should finally do something worthwhile (rather than just promoting toxic light bulbs and perversion) and ban them bloc-wide?
Polonius3   
23 Jul 2015
Food / What Polish foods and brands do you miss when you go to other countries? [216]

coffee

Anyone know what ever happened to mała kawa or mała czarna? That was a roughly 4 ounce cup of fair-strength coffee out of an espresso machine. Now they don't even have such cups in most cafés. It's either the tiny espresso cup or the oversized 6-7 ounce cup. Americano is a bit too weak for my taste. The mała kawa was roughly midway in potency between today's espresso and Americano.
Polonius3   
23 Jul 2015
Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

Til Death Do Us Part

You're quite right about the selfishness and egoism. A good article on marriage appeared recently in the Detroit Free Press. Its author Mitch Albom wrote:

"We've taken it from an institution designed to create economic stability to one in which 'I want half' is a common phrase. We've morphed it from fostering children in stable, loving homes to a nation's worth of bitter custody battles and kids who celebrate four Christmases in a single day. We've moved it out of the church into Las Vegas and out of family photos of reality TV."

Please keep to the topic about a single Polish mothers.
Polonius3   
23 Jul 2015
News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]

Poland's junk capitalism (śmieciowy kapitalizm) has created an amoral monster which will sweep away all norms of decency, opines Toruń University professor Andrzej Szahaj.

wyborcza.biz/biznes/1,100897,18402261,smieciowy-kapitalizm-w-polsce-oplaca-sie-granie-nie-fair.html#TRNajCzytSST

My question: The Polish ocnstitution reportedly describes the Polish economy as a "social market economy". Does it live up to that description? Which countries in your view come closest in that regard?
Polonius3   
22 Jul 2015
Food / What Polish foods and brands do you miss when you go to other countries? [216]

Polish mass-produced food

Let's face it, most of the industrially produced food in Poland, Canada, Britain, Germany, the USA and most everywhere else is highly chemicalised crapola designed to deceive the palate. A food technologist form Scotland once explained to me that nature-identical ingredients are the same as natural ones since in the lab all the atoms balance out. The food industry is interested in maximum yields and maximum profits, and qualtiy is the loser.

But traditonal, natural food is so pricey that only the well-to-do can afford to make a steady diet thereof.
As for the missing, I don't miss any Polish foods when in the States because they are now available in Polish supermarkets and delis in all larger cities with a significnat Polonian community.