natasia
1 May 2012
History / The story about German- Polish reconciliation [194]
That's what I meant. It was artistic licence ...
Poland wants to be LIKE Germany.
That's what I meant. It was artistic licence ...
natasia
2 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
Well done. You noticed : )
Gosh, am I Catholic, then? Nobody ever told me (especially not the priest who christened me C of E).
Dogma ... there is also such a thing as medical dogma.
To be honest, I think this is surely only someone who has experience of being both uncircumcised and then circumcised can then comment on.
Dodgefan, you are getting yourself very worked up about this. You are adamant that you are right. You think anybody who thinks otherwise has absolutely no grounds whatsoever for their opinion. You won't accept that there is anything to be said for keeping something natural, that a baby has no choice, that there is any possibility that a foreskin could have benefits or a purpose at all apart from making people ill or dirty, or that we all might like foreskins not because of any religious doctrine, but because we thing it is horrific to cut it off a little baby and then for a guy forever to spend his life having to justify why he hasn't got what he was given ... why he has never ever had the experience of a foreskin. So I guess we all just have to beg to differ.
... but do listen to Modafinil, because he is a voice of reason (regardless of his religious affiliation or nationality).
You're kidding again, right???
Well done. You noticed : )
I don't expect that you will change your mind, or that most Poles will change your mind, because it is part of Catholic dogma and tradition
Gosh, am I Catholic, then? Nobody ever told me (especially not the priest who christened me C of E).
Dogma ... there is also such a thing as medical dogma.
your statement "There's more 'give' when erect, with a foreskin, without which the shaft skin will be taut and motionless like a plastic dildo" , is vulgar and medically incorrect
To be honest, I think this is surely only someone who has experience of being both uncircumcised and then circumcised can then comment on.
Dodgefan, you are getting yourself very worked up about this. You are adamant that you are right. You think anybody who thinks otherwise has absolutely no grounds whatsoever for their opinion. You won't accept that there is anything to be said for keeping something natural, that a baby has no choice, that there is any possibility that a foreskin could have benefits or a purpose at all apart from making people ill or dirty, or that we all might like foreskins not because of any religious doctrine, but because we thing it is horrific to cut it off a little baby and then for a guy forever to spend his life having to justify why he hasn't got what he was given ... why he has never ever had the experience of a foreskin. So I guess we all just have to beg to differ.
In the UK(nhs) it is a treatment of last resort
... but do listen to Modafinil, because he is a voice of reason (regardless of his religious affiliation or nationality).
natasia
2 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
I was really meaning those who feel the need to explain on here why they haven't got it ... because it seems they can't just say 'ok, in the States it is widely practised, but not in Europe, which is cool ... their choice' - rather there seems this (almost desperate) need to make everyone agree that circumcision is the best thing, and that anyone who doesn't have it done is an idiot. That's the bit I don't get.
Why is it not practised in Poland? Because they don't like the idea, and they don't have it culturally ingrained.
It isn't practised in lots of European countries.
It is practised in the States largely because of cultural influences.
It used to be practised in the UK, especially during and just after the war, because of cleanliness issues re: hot running water, etc, and particularly in poorer areas (eg, the mining village in Yorkshire where my father was born) ... but now that we all have lots of hot water, it is considered unnecessary and has died out to the point of largely being seen as an unthinkable act.
Could that be because they have not experienced the natural version?
i don't have it and i've never had to justify it to anyone
I was really meaning those who feel the need to explain on here why they haven't got it ... because it seems they can't just say 'ok, in the States it is widely practised, but not in Europe, which is cool ... their choice' - rather there seems this (almost desperate) need to make everyone agree that circumcision is the best thing, and that anyone who doesn't have it done is an idiot. That's the bit I don't get.
Why is it not practised in Poland? Because they don't like the idea, and they don't have it culturally ingrained.
It isn't practised in lots of European countries.
It is practised in the States largely because of cultural influences.
It used to be practised in the UK, especially during and just after the war, because of cleanliness issues re: hot running water, etc, and particularly in poorer areas (eg, the mining village in Yorkshire where my father was born) ... but now that we all have lots of hot water, it is considered unnecessary and has died out to the point of largely being seen as an unthinkable act.
american girls don't like it
Could that be because they have not experienced the natural version?
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
how do you know? isn't that a bit of a generalization? there are a lot of women in america ...
american women don't like how an unclipped shwantz looks
how do you know? isn't that a bit of a generalization? there are a lot of women in america ...
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
because the little green men haven't been circumcised and therefore can't think properly, what with all that bacteria swimming around in their backwards brains.
this is annoying me. I mean, what person with even 1% brain function would take Sex in the City as a guide to anything? (and Charlotte, of all little nambies, as an authority on dicks) ...
I know it is nonsense and I should stop even reading it, but ... one last go ... who gives a fxxk what they think in America? Is it the most important country in the world? I thought Poland was.
"Why don't they take US$ on saturn?"
because the little green men haven't been circumcised and therefore can't think properly, what with all that bacteria swimming around in their backwards brains.
One of the most succesful, if not most successful woman targeted TV series of all time (i was always amazed at how many polish woman/girls watched this show) discusses this very topic in the second season.
this is annoying me. I mean, what person with even 1% brain function would take Sex in the City as a guide to anything? (and Charlotte, of all little nambies, as an authority on dicks) ...
I know it is nonsense and I should stop even reading it, but ... one last go ... who gives a fxxk what they think in America? Is it the most important country in the world? I thought Poland was.
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
yes, yes, yes.
I am not, for example, Charlotte, and nor would I react like her. And I think very very very differently to an American woman, on a host of very important details, I think. Not that this is about me ... but bloody hell, it's bad enough generalising that all women (or men for that matter) think the same, and then to say that all women think like American women, NO! NOT TRUE!
Fuzzywickets, you cannot tell me that I prefer (or would prefer) an uncut dick, because you are WRONG, and also completely unqualified to make that judgement.
You are not a woman. You are not a European.
(erm, just realised I am actually the only female in this discussion now ... ok ... so I have to stand up for our love rights or whatever it is ... and I did actually ask a few Polish female friends of mine their opinion, and they generally did NOT go for the circumcised option, so does that make them not women, or not American, or not normal, or what now? am totally confused ; )
It was kind of funny once, but became very silly, and especially the films ... couldn't watch the last one as was too stupid. Sorry. I guess that also makes me not a woman. Oops. Well, glad nobody chopped the end of my dick off at least ...
Eh its an American show, made for American women featuring the concerns and hang ups of upwardly mobile manhattan WASPS.
yes, yes, yes.
I am not, for example, Charlotte, and nor would I react like her. And I think very very very differently to an American woman, on a host of very important details, I think. Not that this is about me ... but bloody hell, it's bad enough generalising that all women (or men for that matter) think the same, and then to say that all women think like American women, NO! NOT TRUE!
Fuzzywickets, you cannot tell me that I prefer (or would prefer) an uncut dick, because you are WRONG, and also completely unqualified to make that judgement.
You are not a woman. You are not a European.
(erm, just realised I am actually the only female in this discussion now ... ok ... so I have to stand up for our love rights or whatever it is ... and I did actually ask a few Polish female friends of mine their opinion, and they generally did NOT go for the circumcised option, so does that make them not women, or not American, or not normal, or what now? am totally confused ; )
Something tells me the SATC obsession among women is not limited to just the USA and Poland, too.
It was kind of funny once, but became very silly, and especially the films ... couldn't watch the last one as was too stupid. Sorry. I guess that also makes me not a woman. Oops. Well, glad nobody chopped the end of my dick off at least ...
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I always think how horrible they look!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, don't want to be mean ... but no, no, NO! YOU ARE WRONG!
'See it for themselves' - as if looked at something marvellous they would love to get their paws on, or their chops around!! No again!
'See how it works mechanically' - ie, how it DOESN'T work mechanically!!
Nope. No way. Utterly unconvinced by any of your arguments.
me too - THANKFULLY.
I may not like Sex in the City, but at least i have the incomparable privilege of lying next to an entire male at night. Before this discussion, I hadn't considered quite how lucky I am - so thank you, Fuzzywickets, and Dodgefan, in particular, for highlighting that for me. : )
But they can go on the internet and see what it looks like, even see how it works mechanically, watch pûrn, etc. and see it for themselves. They all have done that at one time or another and the vast majority prefer it clipped
ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I always think how horrible they look!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, don't want to be mean ... but no, no, NO! YOU ARE WRONG!
'See it for themselves' - as if looked at something marvellous they would love to get their paws on, or their chops around!! No again!
'See how it works mechanically' - ie, how it DOESN'T work mechanically!!
Nope. No way. Utterly unconvinced by any of your arguments.
I know the answer...
me too - THANKFULLY.
I may not like Sex in the City, but at least i have the incomparable privilege of lying next to an entire male at night. Before this discussion, I hadn't considered quite how lucky I am - so thank you, Fuzzywickets, and Dodgefan, in particular, for highlighting that for me. : )
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
omg yes sorry you are so right. i had better quickly see what they all think about circumcision and immediately feel the same. thanks. my life is so much easier and happier now. : D
Maybe I hadn't realised that Sex & the City was the Bible before because of the ill-effects on my brain of my extensive exposure to an uncut Polish male. Crikey. Yeah ... give me the censored, squeaky-clean US alternative ... i'll soon have my thinking in line then, for sure. Gee, thanks.
Ok, finally out of this morass of nonsense is emerging a new thread:
DOES REPEATED EXPOSURE TO POLISH MEN CHANGE THE CHARACTERS OF FOREIGN FEMALES?
I think it might do. Or maybe repeated exposure to nitwits on Polish Forums ...
What would you know, Sex in the City is the Bible
omg yes sorry you are so right. i had better quickly see what they all think about circumcision and immediately feel the same. thanks. my life is so much easier and happier now. : D
Maybe I hadn't realised that Sex & the City was the Bible before because of the ill-effects on my brain of my extensive exposure to an uncut Polish male. Crikey. Yeah ... give me the censored, squeaky-clean US alternative ... i'll soon have my thinking in line then, for sure. Gee, thanks.
Ok, finally out of this morass of nonsense is emerging a new thread:
DOES REPEATED EXPOSURE TO POLISH MEN CHANGE THE CHARACTERS OF FOREIGN FEMALES?
I think it might do. Or maybe repeated exposure to nitwits on Polish Forums ...
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
I was talking about Polish women because I thought this was a Polish Forum?
No, of course not - not like the accuracy of your views on how the whole of American womanhood prefers the look of a circumcised male, and lives according to Sex in the City ...
but it actually has nothing to do with what I've been posting recently. I've been talking about what American women prefer....so why are you telling me what your Polish friends prefer? I seriously just don't get you.
I was talking about Polish women because I thought this was a Polish Forum?
not that your little poll you just took would be indicitive of Polish women's actual opinion whatsoever
No, of course not - not like the accuracy of your views on how the whole of American womanhood prefers the look of a circumcised male, and lives according to Sex in the City ...
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
I don't think I am inventing anything. Is this not you saying that you think it highly unlikely that any woman (American or whatever) would prefer an uncut one?
And is this not you saying for definite (not even that you think ... probably ... maybe ... in general) - that American woman (so, all) don't like them?
er, please see above (your own words).
In your honest opinion, how many of the 10 women, after "close examination", are going to say at the end, "Yeah, I think I prefer the one with the skin sheath thingy that covers the end."
I don't think I am inventing anything. Is this not you saying that you think it highly unlikely that any woman (American or whatever) would prefer an uncut one?
You will simply have to get over this: American women don't like an unclipped schwantz.
And is this not you saying for definite (not even that you think ... probably ... maybe ... in general) - that American woman (so, all) don't like them?
er, please see above (your own words).
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
because Charlotte apparently found an uncircumcised one very distasteful, and this is an indication of what all women think, because all women are like the women on Sex and the City, and that is why all women watch it, talk about it and envy the women on it their lifestyles.
Not sure what sex in the city has to do with all this
because Charlotte apparently found an uncircumcised one very distasteful, and this is an indication of what all women think, because all women are like the women on Sex and the City, and that is why all women watch it, talk about it and envy the women on it their lifestyles.
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
you gotta read back the previous posts from f.wickets to understand my comment ...
you gotta read back the previous posts from f.wickets to understand my comment ...
natasia
3 May 2012
USA, Canada / Living in Poland - prospects for Alabama guy ... need some advice! [146]
Actually, I would highlight quite a few bits in her story that are almost exactly what I have also experienced.
That whole thing of the family falling upon her things and sharing them out ... is, I'm afraid, something that really does happen. Especially with the toys. Any objects that come into the family realm are seen eventually as booty to be divvyed up. And if Sister Act left them somewhere for months ... well, the excuse would be that she obviously didn't care about her things, and didn't need them, and therefore didn't deserve them.
The main point of her story is 110% true, though: Poland is cool if you have enough cash, great if you have more than most people, and particularly sh*t if you don't have enough.
So, Jasono: absolute bottom line: make sure you are totally financially covered, independent, and ok. And if your wife already refuses to tolerate your mother, make sure you have your own separate emergency cash reserve, in case things get worse. Sorry to be so blunt, but ... it is my honest advice.
Having said that, if you haven't tried it, you really must. You might love it.
Sister act`s story is complete bullshyt. It doesn`t hold water at all for Polish reality
Actually, I would highlight quite a few bits in her story that are almost exactly what I have also experienced.
That whole thing of the family falling upon her things and sharing them out ... is, I'm afraid, something that really does happen. Especially with the toys. Any objects that come into the family realm are seen eventually as booty to be divvyed up. And if Sister Act left them somewhere for months ... well, the excuse would be that she obviously didn't care about her things, and didn't need them, and therefore didn't deserve them.
The main point of her story is 110% true, though: Poland is cool if you have enough cash, great if you have more than most people, and particularly sh*t if you don't have enough.
So, Jasono: absolute bottom line: make sure you are totally financially covered, independent, and ok. And if your wife already refuses to tolerate your mother, make sure you have your own separate emergency cash reserve, in case things get worse. Sorry to be so blunt, but ... it is my honest advice.
Having said that, if you haven't tried it, you really must. You might love it.
natasia
3 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
Penn Boy, where were you when we were trying to fight the barrage of medical 'evidence' thrown out earlier in the discussion? : ) Thank you ...
So there really are no reasons to do it ... apart from cultural ones ... which is the whole point ... but won't be accepted by a few out there, for sure.
since there are no medical benefits to having it don
Penn Boy, where were you when we were trying to fight the barrage of medical 'evidence' thrown out earlier in the discussion? : ) Thank you ...
So there really are no reasons to do it ... apart from cultural ones ... which is the whole point ... but won't be accepted by a few out there, for sure.
natasia
4 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
oh yes that thing guys do ; )
(joke joke joke) (yes of course i work very hard) (just had a few hours of light relief posting nonsense on sites designed to bring out the naked skiver in all of us ...)
oh yes that thing guys do ; )
(joke joke joke) (yes of course i work very hard) (just had a few hours of light relief posting nonsense on sites designed to bring out the naked skiver in all of us ...)
natasia
4 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
Ok. We have to sort this out once and for all.
You, Fuzzywickets, yourself, brought up SATC. You brought it up because you first asked another poster to 'face it', that 'American women don't like how an unclipped schwantz (??) looks'. I said 'How you do you know?" and you said ...
So you brought it up, citing it as your source for the 'fact' that American women don't like uncircumcised ones.
We all then said that SATC was a load of bull, and no self-respecting woman would reflect the views there. You then launched into a defence of SATC as some kind of bible on female opinion, and as the one TV programme in the world that all women adored. Some of us (well, actually just me, as the only female in the discussion) then said that was also bull. You didn't like this. Someone else then said SATC was written by a gay Jewish guy. You really didn't like this.
So ... you did actually use SATC in your argument as to circumcision being better, because you said Charlotte recoiled in horror from an uncut one, and clearly preferred cut ones, and that American women - and Polish, and women in general worldwide - had the same views.
So you said, effectively: Women are horrified by uncut dicks and prefer absolutely to have them snipped.
You also gave a million examples of why it was verging on the reckless and dangerous to not circumcise.
And I say: bollocks.
Lots of women love the real thing.
And all that nonsense about disease and cleanliness is just that.
So Poland is not backwards. In this.
inaccurate. SATC was brought up for an entirely different reason. but there they go again, making up fictional posters and fictional posts.
Ok. We have to sort this out once and for all.
You, Fuzzywickets, yourself, brought up SATC. You brought it up because you first asked another poster to 'face it', that 'American women don't like how an unclipped schwantz (??) looks'. I said 'How you do you know?" and you said ...
So you brought it up, citing it as your source for the 'fact' that American women don't like uncircumcised ones.
We all then said that SATC was a load of bull, and no self-respecting woman would reflect the views there. You then launched into a defence of SATC as some kind of bible on female opinion, and as the one TV programme in the world that all women adored. Some of us (well, actually just me, as the only female in the discussion) then said that was also bull. You didn't like this. Someone else then said SATC was written by a gay Jewish guy. You really didn't like this.
So ... you did actually use SATC in your argument as to circumcision being better, because you said Charlotte recoiled in horror from an uncut one, and clearly preferred cut ones, and that American women - and Polish, and women in general worldwide - had the same views.
So you said, effectively: Women are horrified by uncut dicks and prefer absolutely to have them snipped.
You also gave a million examples of why it was verging on the reckless and dangerous to not circumcise.
And I say: bollocks.
Lots of women love the real thing.
And all that nonsense about disease and cleanliness is just that.
So Poland is not backwards. In this.
natasia
4 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
... presumably because it was perfectly designed to work like that.
Ok, another question:
Why did Nature provide the foreskin in the first place? What is it there for? So if you remove it, what do you lose?
ps
It was of course a joke, in SATC - Charlotte, earnestly Jewish, and additionally squeamish, coy, and quasi-virginal, sees an uncircumcised dick and reacts as if she has just seen the devil. That is the joke. Samantha, on the other hand, was probably licking her lips.
it's more pleasurable
... presumably because it was perfectly designed to work like that.
Ok, another question:
Why did Nature provide the foreskin in the first place? What is it there for? So if you remove it, what do you lose?
ps
It was of course a joke, in SATC - Charlotte, earnestly Jewish, and additionally squeamish, coy, and quasi-virginal, sees an uncircumcised dick and reacts as if she has just seen the devil. That is the joke. Samantha, on the other hand, was probably licking her lips.
natasia
4 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
nice pictures ; )
Protection.
Lubrication.
Pleasure.
All seem like pretty good reasons for keeping it, to my (admittedly fairly one-track) mind ...
nice pictures ; )
Protection.
Lubrication.
Pleasure.
All seem like pretty good reasons for keeping it, to my (admittedly fairly one-track) mind ...
natasia
4 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
I'd better not start going into my preferences, or this thread really will need to be closed for cleaning ...
(I knew this discussion was going to de-generate at some point ; )
its about preferences on both sides ;)
I'd better not start going into my preferences, or this thread really will need to be closed for cleaning ...
(I knew this discussion was going to de-generate at some point ; )
natasia
4 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
goal : )
i did ; )
Heads. Best removed from some people.
goal : )
nobody said its perfect
i did ; )
natasia
5 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
just like this fact?
if a complete idiot posted, "getting bit by a king cobra is bad for your health," it would still be true, because it's a fact.
just like this fact?
yes, yes i believe it does because i know for a fact that millions of women across the country nodded their heads during that episode in agreement
natasia
6 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
I think we should invite the male members of this site to post themselves, as it were, and then we females can have a good butchers (perhaps not the best choice of idiom) and say definitiwnie which we prefer ... this may lead us to a sensible conclusion as to why circumcision is not generally practised in Poland ... (practise being, of course, with an 's') (said the schoolmarm)
I think we should invite the male members of this site to post themselves, as it were, and then we females can have a good butchers (perhaps not the best choice of idiom) and say definitiwnie which we prefer ... this may lead us to a sensible conclusion as to why circumcision is not generally practised in Poland ... (practise being, of course, with an 's') (said the schoolmarm)
natasia
6 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
Well, I guess that what you (plural, all males) think about what we (plural, all females) think about your dicks is ... something that sometimes does cross your minds? In the same way that we probably wouldn't want to do something to our bodies which made us less attractive to you.
But as I imagine you know, I was just joking.
Everyone should just go and read up on the history of circumcision around the world on Wiki. I know we are supposed to express our own original opinions here, but we do also need to get our facts from somewhere, and that's as good a source as any.
Some interesting titbits. For example, the Greeks didn't like circumcision at all, because they felt that a man was only truly naked when the foreskin was pulled back, and if you cut it off, then he was always on display. A view reflected here quite strongly in this discussion. And the reasons for circumcision or not were always cultural, the medical/cleanliness arguments always having only been to give validity to often religiously-based practices. There is stacks of myth about all of this - that circumcision was a rite of passage in some societies, or a punishment in others, or something done because apparently a snipped dick is less good at producing sperm that will thrive in all women, so good to have a hubby with one ... i.t.d.
I just thought it might be fun to look at everyone's dicks, that's all. Remotely, as is. Thought it could be so presented as to be relevant to the topic ...
Well, I guess that what you (plural, all males) think about what we (plural, all females) think about your dicks is ... something that sometimes does cross your minds? In the same way that we probably wouldn't want to do something to our bodies which made us less attractive to you.
But as I imagine you know, I was just joking.
Everyone should just go and read up on the history of circumcision around the world on Wiki. I know we are supposed to express our own original opinions here, but we do also need to get our facts from somewhere, and that's as good a source as any.
Some interesting titbits. For example, the Greeks didn't like circumcision at all, because they felt that a man was only truly naked when the foreskin was pulled back, and if you cut it off, then he was always on display. A view reflected here quite strongly in this discussion. And the reasons for circumcision or not were always cultural, the medical/cleanliness arguments always having only been to give validity to often religiously-based practices. There is stacks of myth about all of this - that circumcision was a rite of passage in some societies, or a punishment in others, or something done because apparently a snipped dick is less good at producing sperm that will thrive in all women, so good to have a hubby with one ... i.t.d.
I just thought it might be fun to look at everyone's dicks, that's all. Remotely, as is. Thought it could be so presented as to be relevant to the topic ...
natasia
7 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
well, the simple answer is, not wrong enough in this case ... or, as some would have it (me among them), perfect and not in any way wrong, so totally no physiological or aesthetic grounds for its removal.
Fuzzywickets, stop this nonsensical defence that the foreskin is 'not automatically perfect just because Nature designed it' and that that therefore somehow justifies cutting it off ... please ... circumcision is not based on medical or hygiene grounds. It is to do with deep-rooted cultural/religious 'notions'. And Poland is on the 'what? No way!!' side of the argument ... (omg i am so impressed with my constant referral to the original question ... no wonder I am so good at exams ; )
like how "wrong" is wrong enough to cut it off?
well, the simple answer is, not wrong enough in this case ... or, as some would have it (me among them), perfect and not in any way wrong, so totally no physiological or aesthetic grounds for its removal.
Fuzzywickets, stop this nonsensical defence that the foreskin is 'not automatically perfect just because Nature designed it' and that that therefore somehow justifies cutting it off ... please ... circumcision is not based on medical or hygiene grounds. It is to do with deep-rooted cultural/religious 'notions'. And Poland is on the 'what? No way!!' side of the argument ... (omg i am so impressed with my constant referral to the original question ... no wonder I am so good at exams ; )
natasia
7 May 2012
Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]
hate to be boring but wasn't all that what this whole discussion is about?
funny that you can't just say 'i have my opinion, but others are of course entitled to theirs ...' You just got us all going when you kept saying the foreskin should be removed because it is imperfect and going to give us all cancer or something else unpleasant, and that all women prefer circumcised ones anyhow ... but thanks, it was fun : )
I couldn't give a rat's a$$ where it came from. I also couldn't care less what "side" Poland is on.
hate to be boring but wasn't all that what this whole discussion is about?
funny that you can't just say 'i have my opinion, but others are of course entitled to theirs ...' You just got us all going when you kept saying the foreskin should be removed because it is imperfect and going to give us all cancer or something else unpleasant, and that all women prefer circumcised ones anyhow ... but thanks, it was fun : )
natasia
7 May 2012
USA, Canada / Living in Poland - prospects for Alabama guy ... need some advice! [146]
please don't tell him that ... it really isn't true ... it just depends on your natural facility with languages. OK, so I guess for some it would be insanely difficult. But for others it is cool, fine, not really such a problem.
I will never forget the excruciating embarrassment I used to feel, aged 22, standing in one of the tiny, packed general store-type shops that there were on every residential street corner almost, and going through in my head the combination of endings I needed for the accusative version of whatever I wanted, possibly plural, possibly involving quantities, and the dread of that moment when I got to the front of the queue and, like in a ski lift, had to jump in quick or would be run over by the impatient old bags who would have had me up against the wall and shot in a second just for my stumbling ... The little room would stiffen with astonishment as I gingerly tried out what I thought it was that would get me that loaf of bread or bag of flour or whatever it was ... sometimes the things were on the top or near the front, and I could point at them, but God forbid if they were on those shelves way back behind the counter ...
It was a prickly kind of misery that I can feel now, years later. And I still vaguely feel it, even though nowadays people just think I'm Polish, such is my integration. BUT, and this is it the whole thing - that is the excitement, challenge, joy of breaking through to someone else's world ... the thorns do scratch, but it's amazing when you get there. You re-invent yourself, and everything, by that segue into another culture. Personally I think it is very cool, but an open mind is the absolute prerequisite to success, and also never ever thinking it is impossible, because ... like learning to drive, it might feel totally counter-intuitive and awful, but you will get there in the end.
well, there is somewhere, in Europe, where everyone speaks pretty much the same language as you ... and it's only a couple of hours from Poland, so only like living in Boston and her parents being in NY ... and there are lots of Poles for her to befriend ... and you could then still keep learning Polish ... and there's an amazing free health service, and all sorts of other useful facilities ... and you would have your independence, in all sorts of ways.
Oxford has quite a lot to recommend it : )
do to it's insane difficulty
please don't tell him that ... it really isn't true ... it just depends on your natural facility with languages. OK, so I guess for some it would be insanely difficult. But for others it is cool, fine, not really such a problem.
I will never forget the excruciating embarrassment I used to feel, aged 22, standing in one of the tiny, packed general store-type shops that there were on every residential street corner almost, and going through in my head the combination of endings I needed for the accusative version of whatever I wanted, possibly plural, possibly involving quantities, and the dread of that moment when I got to the front of the queue and, like in a ski lift, had to jump in quick or would be run over by the impatient old bags who would have had me up against the wall and shot in a second just for my stumbling ... The little room would stiffen with astonishment as I gingerly tried out what I thought it was that would get me that loaf of bread or bag of flour or whatever it was ... sometimes the things were on the top or near the front, and I could point at them, but God forbid if they were on those shelves way back behind the counter ...
It was a prickly kind of misery that I can feel now, years later. And I still vaguely feel it, even though nowadays people just think I'm Polish, such is my integration. BUT, and this is it the whole thing - that is the excitement, challenge, joy of breaking through to someone else's world ... the thorns do scratch, but it's amazing when you get there. You re-invent yourself, and everything, by that segue into another culture. Personally I think it is very cool, but an open mind is the absolute prerequisite to success, and also never ever thinking it is impossible, because ... like learning to drive, it might feel totally counter-intuitive and awful, but you will get there in the end.
I ain't about to shack up somewhere where NEITHER of us can speak the language and be understood.
well, there is somewhere, in Europe, where everyone speaks pretty much the same language as you ... and it's only a couple of hours from Poland, so only like living in Boston and her parents being in NY ... and there are lots of Poles for her to befriend ... and you could then still keep learning Polish ... and there's an amazing free health service, and all sorts of other useful facilities ... and you would have your independence, in all sorts of ways.
Oxford has quite a lot to recommend it : )
natasia
7 May 2012
News / What should Poland do to solve the population crisis? [101]
Come up with a specific incentive package to encourage some of the young ones to come back ... but then again, there isn't enough cash in Poland to look after the sick and old, so cash to bring back the young is non-existent. Better to rely on the hard cash the young send back, to look after their own sick and elderly. Isn't that the system?
Come up with a specific incentive package to encourage some of the young ones to come back ... but then again, there isn't enough cash in Poland to look after the sick and old, so cash to bring back the young is non-existent. Better to rely on the hard cash the young send back, to look after their own sick and elderly. Isn't that the system?
natasia
7 May 2012
USA, Canada / Living in Poland - prospects for Alabama guy ... need some advice! [146]
It depends how easily you pick up languages. I don't work hard at it and I am sh*t hot at Polish and I don't find it difficult ... that is not anything for me to take credit for, as it just sinks into me by osmosis. So ok, yes, Polish isn't the easiest, but how hard or easy depends to quite some degree on the learner. Granted, we don't know what he's like at language learning. So it might be horribly difficult for him. But if so, I also think he'd be sh*t at French, even after 10 yrs ...
They should move to England. No doubt.
But OK, let's get his hopes up and tell him that "it's not that bad" and "if he works hard at it" and "at least you have your wife to translate!" or some other crap like that.
It depends how easily you pick up languages. I don't work hard at it and I am sh*t hot at Polish and I don't find it difficult ... that is not anything for me to take credit for, as it just sinks into me by osmosis. So ok, yes, Polish isn't the easiest, but how hard or easy depends to quite some degree on the learner. Granted, we don't know what he's like at language learning. So it might be horribly difficult for him. But if so, I also think he'd be sh*t at French, even after 10 yrs ...
They should move to England. No doubt.
natasia
7 May 2012
USA, Canada / Living in Poland - prospects for Alabama guy ... need some advice! [146]
English is my native language.
I have had 2 years living in Poland in my early 20s, my first husband was Polish, but we spoke English, and I had a break of 6 years, and now have had 5 years speaking Polish with second husband, who hardly speaks English. So yes, I have had, one could say, 2 yrs in the country (although mostly among Brits), then 5 years intensive exposure. Our child is totally bilingual; I only speak English with her.
Ok, so I did have a patent for language-learning. I did Latin for 10 yrs (now that IS difficult, as no living language to help), French & Italian at school, and then lived in Greece and picked that up very quickly (much easier than Polish, despite the slight difference in alphabet).
Sh*t hot to me is that Poles think I'm Polish. Ok, maybe been living in the UK for a while, but still undoubtedly Polish. Am only saying that because it is an example of how it is possible to learn Polish. Without doing much apart from sleeping next to someone ... as I said, by osmosis.
BUT I have to say that when I was among Brits in Poland, most of them were completely useless at Polish, despite their best efforts. But they did try, to their credit. I knew an American girl - lovely girl - but struggled worse than any Brit with it. I wonder whether it's to do with openness of mind, on some deep level, or something ... who knows. Not something one can really generalise about. V much down to the individual.
Oh - and for the English tongue, French is MUCH harder than Polish - takes far more effort to pronounce convincingly (easy to speak hilarious English-style French, though - hard to be good at).
You just need to be there. It has a very strong, very distinct music ... the cadences and intonations are not dissimilar to those of some Southern European languages. Poles are also rather fiery. I say they are the Italians of the North.
Thank you ... and no, not really a brain-box ... just seem to drink in languages. I still feel the unease and the shame, though, like poor Pushbike, even now - it is like stage-fright. I used to try to work sentences, etc, out in my head, but have found that the instinctual, musical response generally works better, and is more accurate. We are taught to put languages together like building blocks when we are at school, but the artificiality of that approach falls down so often, in so many ways. The thing I was reminded of most as my daughter acquired language was how repetition is the total key. Blind repetition of tiny elements of language. Like sticking bits of tissue paper to a frieze. Once they are on, they are there forever, but catching those butterflies in the first place is the trick. You will only do it by repeating the same action a thousand times.
Well look at me, waxing lyrical. I am enjoying expressing myself in my first language for a change ; )
English is my native language.
I have had 2 years living in Poland in my early 20s, my first husband was Polish, but we spoke English, and I had a break of 6 years, and now have had 5 years speaking Polish with second husband, who hardly speaks English. So yes, I have had, one could say, 2 yrs in the country (although mostly among Brits), then 5 years intensive exposure. Our child is totally bilingual; I only speak English with her.
Ok, so I did have a patent for language-learning. I did Latin for 10 yrs (now that IS difficult, as no living language to help), French & Italian at school, and then lived in Greece and picked that up very quickly (much easier than Polish, despite the slight difference in alphabet).
Sh*t hot to me is that Poles think I'm Polish. Ok, maybe been living in the UK for a while, but still undoubtedly Polish. Am only saying that because it is an example of how it is possible to learn Polish. Without doing much apart from sleeping next to someone ... as I said, by osmosis.
BUT I have to say that when I was among Brits in Poland, most of them were completely useless at Polish, despite their best efforts. But they did try, to their credit. I knew an American girl - lovely girl - but struggled worse than any Brit with it. I wonder whether it's to do with openness of mind, on some deep level, or something ... who knows. Not something one can really generalise about. V much down to the individual.
Oh - and for the English tongue, French is MUCH harder than Polish - takes far more effort to pronounce convincingly (easy to speak hilarious English-style French, though - hard to be good at).
I can't figure out Polish's music, and it definitely has one. It SOUNDS more lyrical than French even, but it's rhythms elude me.
You just need to be there. It has a very strong, very distinct music ... the cadences and intonations are not dissimilar to those of some Southern European languages. Poles are also rather fiery. I say they are the Italians of the North.
Excellent prose, and good advice. You're one of those scary-smart people, huh? The shop horror mirrors Pushbike's unease at sitting deaf and mute at the supper table, the dread of always being "the other".
Thank you ... and no, not really a brain-box ... just seem to drink in languages. I still feel the unease and the shame, though, like poor Pushbike, even now - it is like stage-fright. I used to try to work sentences, etc, out in my head, but have found that the instinctual, musical response generally works better, and is more accurate. We are taught to put languages together like building blocks when we are at school, but the artificiality of that approach falls down so often, in so many ways. The thing I was reminded of most as my daughter acquired language was how repetition is the total key. Blind repetition of tiny elements of language. Like sticking bits of tissue paper to a frieze. Once they are on, they are there forever, but catching those butterflies in the first place is the trick. You will only do it by repeating the same action a thousand times.
Well look at me, waxing lyrical. I am enjoying expressing myself in my first language for a change ; )
natasia
7 May 2012
USA, Canada / Living in Poland - prospects for Alabama guy ... need some advice! [146]
Really? Are those things free? I don't think so, or at least, what you get 'free' always needs supplementing.
Sorry but I can't believe you think that having to buy your kid's pens and books for school is a rip-off ... Don't mean to sound so astonished, but really? They don't cost much. And Polish state schools, in general, are so so much better academically than UK ones, and there is much more uniformity of standards. OK, maybe you have to buy the pencils and textbooks, but ... what's important here?
I think the Polish school system is something worth being there for. Ok, the health system all costs, and things are pricey, and if you are on a 'native' salary you will not be able to do anything. But you speak English as yr first language ... there must be something you can do. Even if you spend 2 weeks working in the UK then come back with yr salary for the remaining 2 weeks in Poland ; ) ... I don't know. Teacher's salaries aren't bad, and you can supplement easily and well with private students, can't you?
But this has nothing to do with Jasono and his choice, apart from to say 'don't be put off by the schools - they're good' ...
Really? Are those things free? I don't think so, or at least, what you get 'free' always needs supplementing.
Sorry but I can't believe you think that having to buy your kid's pens and books for school is a rip-off ... Don't mean to sound so astonished, but really? They don't cost much. And Polish state schools, in general, are so so much better academically than UK ones, and there is much more uniformity of standards. OK, maybe you have to buy the pencils and textbooks, but ... what's important here?
I think the Polish school system is something worth being there for. Ok, the health system all costs, and things are pricey, and if you are on a 'native' salary you will not be able to do anything. But you speak English as yr first language ... there must be something you can do. Even if you spend 2 weeks working in the UK then come back with yr salary for the remaining 2 weeks in Poland ; ) ... I don't know. Teacher's salaries aren't bad, and you can supplement easily and well with private students, can't you?
But this has nothing to do with Jasono and his choice, apart from to say 'don't be put off by the schools - they're good' ...