Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]


Ok, well that's one person - any more? ; )


Er...I know. I was trying to draw a parallel with Zeti's example.

Another one: "It's all Greek (or double Dutch) to me" meaning difficult to understand.

I wonder what the Polish version is?

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]


Ha ha - I like it! same meaning as "having egg on your face" maybe?


Yes really. Every time the subject of idioms comes up with my "students" this one rears its head.

It's kind of the standard example of how odd idioms can be I suppose but I can quite confidently say that I have never once heard an English speaker say this though.

I reckon it's probably of my grandmother's era - earlier maybe (she is 92 by the way)

Nice link Wroclaw!

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]


I like it!

I thinking "throwing the baby out with the bath water" is identical by the way.

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]


Makes sense alright.

And while we're on the subject of idioms, note to all, virtually NOBODY uses the phrase "raining cats and dogs" !!

Never mind what your teacher might have told you : )

Language / Differences in Polish and English idioms [69]

Might be better if you checked out a list of English idioms and advised her of their Polish counterparts - or near equivalents - first.

There are many that are identical but obviously quite a few differences.

One that sticks out for me:

To die

(Eng) "kick the bucket"

(Pl) "Kick the calendar"

Both equally nonsensical really

Life / Rate Poland (Life Quality / Culture and People / Food): 1-10! [232]


Not this old chestnut.

The impression of very few would be more accurate.

Less than the US and UK maybe but by average European standards, Poland is far from "fattie" free.

Love / True Tales of POLISH WOMEN "A tale of true beauty" - (The LTB Book) [22]


If she didn't pick up her towel and run a mile after hearing something as creepy as that she is off her head.

Food / Do you call it kiszka or kaszanka? [55]


It's great!

I wonder how many Pol-Ams actually like kaszanka/kiszka?

Not many I'm guessing - I think blood sausage generally is almost unknown in the US.

UK, Ireland / Should I worry going to Ireland as a Pole? [32]

Since they say "as a Pole" I assume they think their nationality might be a problem - it won't.

As Smurf says, a minority of thugs and a$$holes that you get in every country but no real issues. I have Polish friends who have been living in Ireland for the past 7 or 8 years. No problems or concerns. In fact, a few of them say that they now prefer it here to Poland.

Love / Making My Polish Girlfriend Feel Like She Is At Home At Christmas [83]


WTF ?!?!


Really? Is that a kind of commonly accepted date for this?

Not in Ireland anyway. I don't know anyone who has their stuff up yet. I think maybe the 8th might be a bit of a date for that but it's not nationally observed or anything.

Might put our tree up some time over the weekend.

Life / Polish (in comparison to English and Indian) have amazing culture [71]

And?

You say that like it's a bad thing! : )

Love / Making My Polish Girlfriend Feel Like She Is At Home At Christmas [83]


LOL - how romantic!

Love / Making My Polish Girlfriend Feel Like She Is At Home At Christmas [83]


Err...anyone else think there is something wrong with this statement?

To answer though, as Harry said, a visit to a Polish shop and a meal would be nice.

Life / Welcome to winter in Poland! (-19C tomorrow) [64]

Here's something for you: -8 and -9 ish during the night now in Ireland. That is cold for Ireland yet it is a dry cold on this occasion, which it is isn't usually - almost no wind and low humidity. It doesn't feel that cold to me.

Poles I know here say they usually feel colder during typical Irish winter temperatures of -2 to
+2C than they do in a -20 in Poland because of the biting, penetrating moisture and wind.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Where did Spielberg get his inspiration for ET? ; )

Seriously, not sure. I'm not saying there were absolutely no jews - but very few.

An estimated less than 2000 today, although in Joyce's time there were more - perhaps 5-6000.

Maybe it was decided that Bloom should be jewish precisely for the exotic factor?

Off-Topic / Simple Things One Guy Wants.. (Parody.) [23]


I want to put that to music AJ. Really.

Kind of like the anti-sunscreen : )

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Yes, fair enough. And I did mention unfair bias too.

But the examples I mentioned I have experienced myself - recently.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


I meant credit in the sense that we won't get paid!


Difficult to give actual examples without being too specific but I'm talking about being asked to post or predate documents, being asked to classify products so they will attract less customs attention, things like that.

Actually Convex, I think we are talking about slightly different things anyway: you about doing business in these countries, me about doing business with these countries.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]

Well, could be mere bias on my part, and perhaps a little unfair, but 20 years in a commercial environment and advice from those more experienced than I am has led me to believe there are likely to be problems re for example, credit and/or attempts to bypass regulations if dealing with:

Central/South America
Former Eastern bloc countries
Africa generally
Italy
Greece

Others too obviously but they have tended to be irrelevant, business wise, as far as we are concerned.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]



Well I never said that but I would have reservations, yes.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


Sounds like damning with faint praise to me.


LOL now that's really damning with faint praise!


Nestling alongside countries like Costa Rica, Cape Verde, Lithuania - no, I would not call that reputable.

Look, I'm not criticising but let's not get carried away that corruption levels in Poland are low enough not to be concerned about if doing business.

Top 20% globally certainly isn't terrible, but still.

USA, Canada / Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture" [568]


In European terms, it's still bad though. Not exactly sharing reputable company around those rankings.

Genealogy / Polish looks? [1410]

Whatever "face" she may have - it's certainly a nice one : )

Life / I saw Polish nationalism today [249]

Just on the "how can Poles believe in Nazi ideology" thing - quite easily.

Depends on how you look at it. Just because Poland has been a victim of the ideology it doesn't mean that these nutjobs don't, in their tiny minds, still think that the ideology is a good one in general terms.

Extreme far right groups will aways face this irony. Take the likes of the BNP in England - on occasion, when it suits, they will align themselves with other European far right groups even though in practice often they would not want those same members anywhere near their own country.

The imagery is probably just for shock factor, nothing more.

Life / Class system in Poland - does it exist? [90]


I think this will always seem a little strange to many English speakers as despite what many would like, "proper English" isn't as clear cut as language use in other countries.

Imperfections, different syntax etc are all kind of accepted as variations. Bascially very few people speak English correctly, enunciating every sound etc.

Newsreaders for example have obvious regional accents on British TV. There used to be the notion of RP (received pronunciation) as being "proper English" but this idea is pretty much laughable these days.

Life / Class system in Poland - does it exist? [90]


See what the rest of us have to put up with? : (

Life / Class system in Poland - does it exist? [90]


I'm pretty sure this rivalry of the capital V the rest of the country happens all over Europe. Certainly in Ireland to an extent and most definitely in France for example.

Life / Class system in Poland - does it exist? [90]

Certainly the "mountain people" do not seem to be highly regarded by city dwellers in my experience - as to whether they considered to be distinct from villagers generally, I'm not sure.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]


Almost completely absent from Ireland ...

...probably only because jews were almost completely absent from Ireland too.

Genealogy / Jewish Roots of Poland [638]

C'mon Europe in the 20s and 30s? Almost everywhere was antisemitic and/or generally racist to some extent. I'm not excusing it, but Poland was not unusual.