Law / Hiring a Polish Worker - Pros and Cons [107]

I think at the end of the day it supports capitalism to bring down the wall and flood England with yet more cheap labour. It keeps the British working class in bay by threatening them with 'if you do not want the job I can get 10 poles to do the same job for half the money'. America would not have ended Communism in Europe unles it benefited us in some way. The Poles can work hard but only in doing simple jobs. They tend to overestimate their abilities. We have some bad experiences of their work in house electrics-nearly burnt down the house! They will say 'yes I know how' in order to get the contract but in practice they can not. They would be good in a warehouse where they just sort things but I would not allow one under the bonet of my car!

Language / It is not possible to translate names into English or Polish! [52]

You can get very thorough lists of names in the back of good dictionaries to convert from one language o another. It is unusual to translate names from one language to another though. Who would call Alexander Solzenitsin Alex, for example. Juri Gagarin is always Juri NEVER George. Iljich Lenin is always Iljich. How can you change such proper names to another language? John Major would never be Jan Major in Poland!! At least Albert Eistein can get away with his name, though.

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

The Polish are not used to taking responsibility and I think that they are unhappy because they know that their jobs are unimportant so they have no motivation. They always blame someone else. It is always the fault of the Russians or the Americans or failing that Churchill. To twija wina-Churchil sprzadal Polske do Stalina! I have heard this saying more often than their national Anthem. A very sad country with so many dishonest people.

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

Rich people can be dishonest too not only poor people as those in Poland. Wealth does not guarantee honesty either. However, as an example, I know of a man polish man living in Denmark returning home by train through Poland with presents. He went to the tioilet and returned to his seat. His drink had been 'spiked' whilst out of the compartment and he later woke up in his underpants! Everything had been stolen so a warning to the travelling public in Poland-never leave an opened drink and then return to it later-you never know what you will find! Of course, I can not say if the guilty were Polish or just using a Polish train. Ask the poor man in question if I am 'spewing garbage' when he woke up and was at first arrested as they (the police) believed that he was drunk. A very nasty situation.

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

How do you know that a wealthy man has earned his money through honesty and hard work? Does a rich man necessarily deserve to be rich? Does the man Abramowich (if I have spelled his name correctly) who owns Chelea Football Club- how has he earned 11 billion pounds? Working the land or down a coal mine? Are rich people always honest and how much money does a rich man deserve. These are two different aspects Like paul McCartny of the Beetles, does he need or deserve 800,000,000 pounds? Did he earn that money or did he receive that money through royalties? Someone can be honest and rich or poor and be dishonest-there is no guarantee either way. Is it too difficult to understand this point? Has this got anything to do with sad Polish faces, which was the theme of the discussion anyway? These is no thesis on my part. The end of this discussion, please.

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

I am always miserable and never smile so I do not know the difference.

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

Quoting Puzzler, who lies and says he/she is Polish? Is this a comment addressed to me? I do not know if I am to answer this or is it addressed to someone else?

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

Yes, I agree, they say that a sense of humour and a laugh once in a while is a good antidote to the stresses in life.

Miranda, nothing in Poland is for free!!!

Life / Why are Poles always so miserable? Why do they never smile? [512]

Thank you, Miranda, you have made my day.

Travel / Photos from Poland [258]


Yes, I know it well. My wife comes from Czestochowa and this is not very far away at all. Nothing much there to see, mind you, though the countryside is nice. Best of all is to go down towards the Czech border.


For me, the best place in Poland, probably as it is the only place I know in that country which does not look like Poland!

Travel / Photos from Poland [258]

Actually, to tell you the truth, I think it is an awfull place and visit it as little as possible. Obviously, I do not have that 'personal touch' with the place though as your family comes from there then that is a different story.

Travel / Photos from Poland [258]

Actually, my wife's family comes from a little village called Skrzydlow, which is a fair drive from Czestochowa.

Travel / Photos from Poland [258]


June and early July can be nice. It can be very hot in the summer time. The world is a big place, why Poland? There are many other more interesting places than Poland to visit. Even Prague in the Czech Republic 'knocks the socks off' anything in Poland.

Travel / Photos from Poland [258]

Yes, you can sit under a tree and have a nice cold Polish beer. I used to like the Polish beer when I used to drink alcohol.

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [450]

Ha ha!! I was in France in La Rochelle recently on holiday and it is a nice town with a lot of history. I thought that it was strange as I had not seen any homeless people until I walked in to the centre of town and there, by the main statue, was a group of young men who looked homeless with big dogs twice the size that they were. One young lad had a huge dog to keep and feed and I mean HUGE!! As I passed by I could hear them talking and the first word I heard was the Polish word 'kurwa' and I realized that already I was once more back home!!

Genealogy / Are all Poles blue eyed and blonde? [450]

Most of my wife's family have brown eyes but my wife's eyes are blue.

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


Pala is also a term for a fail grade after an examination.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]


Because the word Holland only technically refers to a few states within the country. Nederlands is the official word. Where you you live? Waar woon je eigenlijk? Ik woon in het nederlands, I live in Holland. But a dutchman is a nederlander. Ik ben een nederlander-I am a Dutchman.

Further as P.S. Ik spreek nederlands-I speak Dutch. The lowlands is the correct version of the country as it encompasses all the provinces.


People from Holland are called Dutch. This is because people, mainly the English, could not differentiate them from the Germans, i.e. the Deutsch folk, hence the word Dutch.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]

Most people know them as 'the Poles'.

Genealogy / Want to find a person [762]


The trouble is that now that the borders are open the Polish have become so transient she or anybody can be anywhere in the world by now. Mind you, I was in Czluchow in about 1989 and met an old man who's brother was living in England since the war and he wanted to make contact. I looked through directory inquiries after I returned home and there were two in the same town but both were ex-directory so it did not help. Later, last year with the advances in computer technology, I was able to trace both address and send him the information. His brother had since died but he is now in contact with his brothers son. It all goes to show that miracles do happen from time to time and in my case a brief chance meeting with a man in Czluchow working as the janitor of the little local castle did the trick in passing on the information to me. If it is a person living in Poland it might be worth finding the local church as that person may be in the local congregation. There might be local Catholic new letters where you may be able to have a plea for information printed-just a thought.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]

A Pole is someone from Poland. What is your problem? Have you invested your life savings in stocks and shares in Polish vocabulary building or something? Technically speaking, Polish is an adjective so it would be a Polish person but a Pole. He/she is a Pole. Who says he/she is a Polish?

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]

I went to the A3 car boot this morning and their was a stand run by Poles selling all sorts of things-wooden Russian babushka dolls as well as Second World War German swaztika badges. When I asked him that I thought that the Poles hated the Nazis yet you are selling their memorabila for £12." He replied "It is not me it is the English I am selling them as it is the English who love to buy" What an idiot. One minute they hate the Germans and then want to profit from such sales.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]


No, I was not saying that. I bought some stuff, so called German war memorabilia and I was later told that it was fake back in England. I bought it in a market in Szczecin many years ago, it did not cost very much about £10 or so so I would not have lost much. If you are interested in memorabilia you could try a car boot even, you may pick up a bargain.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]

No, I agree, you can not generalize about any one race at all-that would not be fair. In fact, I have just come back from the Welsh border and I found the people very nice indeed yet the English always have a certain 'thing' about the Welsh and I do not know why.

Language / "Poles" or "Polish people" - which is better to use? [200]


Ecactlly, I have already ponted out somewhere that Holland technically only describes two provinces in the centre of the Netherlands. Wij zein nederlanders omdat we in de Nederlands woonen!

Classifieds / Asian community in Poland [113]

Indians may be coming to Poland to study. I would have thought that Poland may still be quite a cheap place to live and study. I was in Sydney not long ago and I did not see many Indians in that city though there does seem to be quite a lot of people from South Est Asia though geographically that is to be expected. Maybe that is why Australia keeps its points system to keep people out?

Classifieds / Asian community in Poland [113]

The new changing face of Poland. It will seem quite strange in the future to meet Polish speaking Indians!

Off-Topic / Are Polish Christians here? [141]

Nobody in Poland is strict catholic because everybody in Poland steals so that is one of the Ten Commandmants out of the window for a start!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

Polish people can be very rude indeed, especially the women!

Life / Do you think that Polish people are rude? [951]

I am sorry if I am offending Polish women but my God, in my time, I have met some real cows!