Life / I saw Polish nationalism today [263]

well, I haven't deliberately look for news about that day's developements - but two things reached to me as I was watching TV and later reading some stuff on the salon24.pl which is a political blogging site - the first things from the main TV news was that some 30 people (not 100 per cent sure) people were arrested on the spot or the next day thanks to filming the action, for assaultin police officers - and most of these were anarchists and other 'antifascist' including Robert Biedroń, one of the most active leaders of homsexual political movement (I have later heard from people on a chat that he claims to have been beaten by a policeman on the way to a police station)

the other story I have read about was the assault by some masked 'antifascists' armed with hammers and battons on a group of people travelling by train to attend one of the marches in Warsaw (there has been several from a spectrum of organizations) - as the article on salon24 claims there was a mention on the attack in some TV news but there was no mention of who made the attack and who was the target

Genealogy / Auberzinski family name [18]

aubergine is oberżyna in Polish which is definitely derived from the French version of the name of the plant - there is also a different name used in Polish to describe the plant which is bakłażan which is I guess Turkish in origin

UK, Ireland / Warning to British people visiting Poland!! Don't get drunk and smash the place up! [453]


it's not the thing - the thing is called 'izba wytrzeźwień' ('sobering clinic') -most of these have gone but some cities kept them - I think Kraków is one of these

Language / IS "MURZYN" word RACIST? [686]

in my personal ears 'czarny' meaning simply black is more offensive when talking of people than Murzyn or murzyn - which are (or at least were until not long ago) scientific terms for people originating in Black Africa

the most neutral word for a black person is perhaps 'czarnoskóry' literally 'black-skinned'

like czarnoskórzy biegacze - black-skinned runners

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


ok agreed - let's assume it comes from some Urindoeuropean root which evolved differently in Germanic languages and Slavic languages - this sounds pretty plausible, Slavic languages probably then retained the more archaic version (remember k- h change in proto-Germanic)

yes you are right that phonetically there could not be change from *ho/ur to kurew - all other borrowings from Gothic dialects attest that Geramnic h/ch were retained in Slavic as ch (see chlew, chleb - I know these examples)

having said all that I am not a professional linguist


i doubt it is collectivum in this case - in my eyes it just seems shortening of Lietuva - I doubt Lithuanians borrowed the name of their country from their Slavic neighbours - it is however true that the word Litwa acted as a collectivum in Slavic languages

never heard of Tatarwa collectivum but I guess you didn't make it up

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


it is of course jeździć - not jeżdzić (the softness comes from the vicinity of soft dzi)

and so is jeździsz - (softness as above)
but jeżdżę - (no softness here - both ż and dż are hard (soft - hard consonant are Polish terms for the phenomena - don't know English counterparts)

you have pairs of consonants

c - ć
dz(dż) - dź
n - ń
s -ś
z(ż)- ź

the right column are hard the latter soft

there used to be other soft consonants which now is only attested by some dialects (Kurpie dialect which has several unique sounds to it - some are a bit similar to th (theta) sound )

Language / The meaning of some Polish Diminutives [28]

Semsem


-yk does not have any meaning in itself - it only conveys the idea that this rain (or some other thing) are small, light and similar

btw diminutives existed also in English(till sometime in the Middle Ages) and, behold, the ending that acted as diminutive maker was -ock, like in bollock, Bullock and some other

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


neither of these etymologies makes sense marqoz - kurwa is the root word in Germanic languages - (k changed into h or wh in Geramanic history in some half of vocabulary - and you have now whore and eine Hure)

-ew (later changed into -va) was an ending that defined the feminine in a number of words (stągiew, panew, łagiew and kotwa, pochwa - are all feminine)

as the word is shared by Slavic and Germanic languages (Romance languages have different words) the most probable possibility is Slavs have borrowed it from Gothic folk when they were neighbours (and they were close neighbours in the history for quite some time)

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


there is a number of exceptions from the rules but the number is quite low

Life / Polish home remedies for cold, stomach ache, migraine? [49]

a sore throat or light lung conditions are treated with hot milk with a spoonful of butter in it and one chopped piece of garlic sweetened with either honey or sugar (this will also get you to sleep pretty soon)

a cold is treated with hot beverage made with raspberry juice (or raspberry jam in case you haven't got juice) (homemade products are prefferable)

another remedy for a cold (or a fever in general) is lime tree blossom tea (you can buy lime tree blossom tea in herbal remedies stores)

I have personally treated some serious lung condition eating several cloves of garlic at a time two three times a day for a couple of consecutive days

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]


why not translate it as cienias - it doesn't always fit but does fit in many usages

Language / Declension of town names in prepositional phrases in Polish [22]


it's Waga -> Wadze waga is feminine (note a in the end)

Wag - Wagu - Wag is a river in Slovakia and the name is masculine (same in Polish and in Slovak) - they call it Wah we call it Wag

so you get tama na Wagu - a dam on Wah (looks interesting in English, ain't it ;)

Language / Etymologia łuny [8]

Lorenc I don't think it is a cognate - it's rather a borrowing maybe through other Slavic language - I don't think *leuksna will give luna and łuna in Proto-Slavic and then Polish - still I am not a linguist (not a professional one or educated one) - so take my word with some caution - (I am just an etymology freak ;)

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

luvapole


smaczniutki????

very tasty (tongue tickling way) ;)

Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]


yes there was one - but not very extensive - in the 30's - it made Jakub of Jakób for example can't remember any other examples

Jakub is a counterpart of James or Jacob in English (King James II Stewart is król Jakub II (drugi) Stewart in Polish)

Travel / 5 days in Poland [19]

april is not the best time to travel to the countryside I guess - I would definitely go for the mountains (Tatra is the best thing) but it is not adviseable in April (the best time is the other part of summer)

still there are a couple of places worth visiting in Dolny Śląsk (Książ castle, świdnica area, and some mountains perhaps like in Karpacz) - or the Kłodzko region

Love / Polish Pet Names For Girls. [156]


maybe it is but the only Polish miodek use is when the Pooh says about her (in Polish version his) favourite delicacy

cukiereczek doesn't hold the nicest connotations too but it is used by some (some find it nicer than others)

Love / My husband is Polish and I was wondering why he drinks all the time. [66]

salsa - if you are a religious person pray for him - it won't do any harm even if doesn't visibly help - pray for yourself too

this is the most practical advice I can give

Love / My husband is Polish and I was wondering why he drinks all the time. [66]

binge drinking is a downward spiral - it is in a way self-propelling - it is only possible for a an individual to get out of the vicious circle if he is determined to do so (because he finds something better in his life than numbing himself - you can't really help him out if he doesn't want to

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]

you forgot about kurwica - Jak patrzę jak oni pomalowali te ściany to mnie po prostu kurwica bierze. I get so fucking pissed off when I see how they painted these wall.

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]

kożuch nie pasował bo był za mały - this is pretty obvious for a Polish person from the sentence

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]


neither has the exact meaning of życzliwość Fuzzy
actually neither is near in meaning


te buty na ciebie nie pasują - those shoes don't fit you
kożuch po dziadku nie pasował na niego (bo był za mały) -

so it's not tobie/ci nie pasuje but na ciebie nie pasują

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]


translate życzliwość into English if you will ;)

History / What Was Happening in Poland around 1905? [73]


I haven't read any Norman Davies's books but I think it is the best thing you can go for for learning about Polish history - God's playground is the most thorough thind I presume

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

onequickquestio

I'd say it is too much of a compliment if you really have crush on her - if you just like her then it is all right - though then she can get hmm interested in you more

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]

don't tell a girl she's fascinating - stay a bit reserved (even if you have to pretend that) ;)

Life / If I could introduce something from my country into Poland, I would.... [175]


why would anyone who adheres to no religion want some particular religions in Poland

Life / 3 reasons why you hate Poland. [1049]


you don't have to buy presents for name days - it's enough you buy flowers and bring some booze/and or food

History / Polish military in 1939 in pictures. [107]

well he was one of the top Polish air aces - second in the confirmed air victories tally during the whole war (although he didn't fly combat missions for the most part of the war)

well it was his personal skill of course - but I think much can be attributed to how pilots were selected and trained in the pre-war Poland

Life / Why Do You Love Poland? [907]

Seanus - there was no Stalinist style indoctrination in Poland from the 1956 onwards - during my school times the indoctrination was very subtle - so it was in the TV - I think western style commercial media have a huge impact on the population setting unrealistic goals and standards (and expectations) and eventually perhaps even society degrading ones