Love / Polish Pet Names For Girls. [156]

Hi, can anyone tell me how to say 'Little Elephant' in Polish? It's my pet name for my gf and sounds like it is insulting...but it isn't, she likes it! Maybe you could also write it phonetically so I know how it sounds? Many thanks!

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


I used to take it personally when a Polish female friend slagged me off behind my back despite the things I'd done for her but then I realised she and her friends do this to everyone....and each other. Now I find it funny.


Not here in the Uk when I've been to my g/f's Polish church. Jeans, t-shirts, denim skirts etc. are more common than smart clothes. Is this because they're away from Poland and feel under less scrutiny and because they have a much younger age profile in the church here than in Poland?

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


Accommodation, finding work, transport, a little financial help....purely platonic. But she just doesn't seem to see anything wrong with putting friends, workmates etc. down and spreading gossip. Now I just accept that's how she and her friends are and don't tell her anything personal. Her boyfriend's English and it drives him nuts that she can't keep her mouth shut! She creates problems with her 'honesty' then says: 'But I only tell the truth....Polish people always tell the truth to their friends even if it is painful for them.' After the first time of meeting my girlfriend she told everyone that she was 'ordinary' and 'couldn't be trusted'! I'm still with my woman and still friends with this girl....just, and on a much lower level than I thought we could be on. Ah well, live and learn.

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


It is very rude to disagree with people who make sweeping generalisations about a nation or a race. Please be more polite in future Charlie99.

UK, Ireland / "Strange " English language.. [255]



It is one of the things that I love about being English and British that there is such a diversity of accents and dialects in these isles. I have spoken to people from numerous countries, including some Polish friends, who say that regional accents are less identifiable where they come from which I find both strange and a little sad. You shouldn't view a regional accent as a negative thing or as being the result of a poor education. You will find that the vast majority of people are hugely proud of their regional accent and see it as part of their personal identity. I don't even think it is any longer much of a handicap in career terms as it once might have been as I believe that people are now judged on merit when it comes to recruitment. Even Oxbridge is full of regional accents as a result of positive recruitment of students from comprehensive schools who have achieved the required academic standards rather than having simply attended the right 'Public' (actually meaning private) school.

Most British people are fiercely proud of their cities and counties and a regional accent gives people a feeling of belonging and identity and the idea they could lose their accent as a result of some government-led homogenising of speech taught in schools is utterly laughable.

I know it can make understanding English more difficult for visitors/workers from abroad but you need to realise that what is an inconvenience for you is part of the British self. I hope it never changes.

UK, Ireland / "Strange " English language.. [255]

I never said that we Brits can understand each other any better than the foreigners can! Plenty of times I've been completely lost by something someone from my own country has said! But I wouldn't want it any other way. When I was 16 I moved about 30 miles (less than 50km) to the next county and had the **** taken out of me for my funny accent by my new schoolmates! By the way, don't get me started on whether we Brits should do away with miles and adopt kilometres...ha ha...never!

UK, Ireland / "Strange " English language.. [255]

Wroclaw Boy:

It's impossible to argue against using the metric system: more logical and easier to use in every way; however, it's this identity thing again. The younger Brits have grown up with the metric system and consequently, with the pressure of the EU for us to conform, the days of pints, miles, stones etc are numbered but I feel that just because something is easier and more logical it shouldn't necessarily be replaced as once again it is losing a little bit of history and identity from our everyday lives. If the UK is to fall in line with the Eurozone system of measurement (and I can see why it makes sound commercial and economic sense) why not apply this to other areas such as language? English is the world's lingua franca, so why not insist that it becomes the official language of Europe (and the world, perhaps) and systematically replace all other languages? Okay, I'm saying this a bit tongue in cheek, but why have languages with masculine/feminine/neuter and all of the subsequently crazy and seemingly unnecessary declensions when you can use a language which does pretty well without these things?

Also, I know it is logical to have a monetary system which is common throughout Europe but, economic and financial arguments aside, I miss going to other countries and using coins and notes that are different to the ones I use at home; it's part of the fun of being 'abroad'. It's a reason why I like going to Poland: it's own currency gives it a sense of identity lacking in other countries within the Eurozone; and it's part of the British identity too even though we have lost the shillings etc. and use a metric system, but at least the coins and notes are identifiably British.

Don't worry, all of us dinosaurs will soon be extinct!

UK, Ireland / "Strange " English language.. [255]


Perhaps 'better' in a BBC-newsreader or schoolroom English kind of way; but a language is a working tool which has evolved over perhaps thousands of years and can contain elements of other languages (Celtic, Latin, Germanic, Scandinavian in the case of Britain) which have left their mark to varying effect and impact in different areas. Why set out to systematically erase the resulting variations of language which exist within a country? To me, it would make Britain a poorer place to live. Would the British want to follow the example of the French where a committee decides which words are acceptable to include in the 'official' language; or perhaps imitate the Fascist model whereby people who do not speak BBC English are persecuted and forbidden to use it?

I accept that crude or lazy speech or speech which is the result of a lack of education are undesirable; but speech which is the result of the evolution of elements of a language within a regional area is a legitimate form of the language and the acceptance of such shows a tolerance and appreciation of history and human development which I for one would miss greatly.

UK, Ireland / "Strange " English language.. [255]

"You might not actually know this but very few Brits actually know how to speak their own language. You would have (taught) thought that with time the regional differences would disappear, but partly as a result of poor education policy this hasn't happened."

...or write it? Sorry, couldn't resist it. ;-)

Love / They seem nice, but could Polish girls be "gold diggers"? [196]


Both legitimate words which mean pretty much the same thing.

Food / Does beer have any "real" expire date? [39]

I've just drunk some Czech Budweiser which was 14 months old and it tasted fine. There's no such thing as bad beer.......

Life / Why Polish people should be proud of being Polish? [370]


Without wishing to get into a moral debate, isn't the lower divorce rate largely due to social, peer and religious pressure put on (predominantly) women to remain in a bad relationship regardless of their own wishes? I know this partly from the experience of my Polish partner. What is there to be proud of in an aspect of society which pressures women to continue living in misery with a violent drunkard, using religion as a weak excuse for turning a blind eye to their predicament? And surely the statistics for abortion are again down more to similar pressures already mentioned as well as legal obstacles rather than Polish people being inherently more moral thus making Poland a country to be proud of. I think perhaps you might be surprised how many Polish women/girls travel abroad for abortions, numbers that won't appear in Polish statistics.


I think you'll find that it has since been shown that Polish claims were somewhat exaggerated. However we Brits are genuinely grateful for what the Poles, Czechs, Americans, free-French and numerous other nationalities contributed willingly to the war effort. And yes, we were defending our own homeland but Poles (and others) were fighting to regain the homelands they's lost to the Nazis so the motivation was fairly evenly spread I'd say.

Poles do have much to be proud of and many of them have admirable character traits. I'm not being anti-Polish but perhaps looking at your country through rose-tinted glasses doesn't allow you to make objective observations and comparisons.

By the way, I'm probably the first to admit to my own country's failings but I don't have enough time or space to go into that now........