Language / Old Polish Vs New Polish [29]


I'm not anglista myself, but I recall reading some 14th and 15th century stuff. Usually five verses of old poem are accompanied by a page-long explanation and footnotes. It's not particularly comprehensible I must say. Reading it loud is another story, as written Polish is just an approximation at best of how the language used to sound like. Some vowels and consonants are not being used any more (and you may find it quite hard to position your tongue properly). So called "yers" (jery) still affect the declension and spelling of some words but are not present in today's language.


I was taught that Maryja relates only to the mother of Good, you were not supposed to name your child like that. Maria (very rarely Marya) is just a name.


1960s-1970s? It wouldn't change much.

Food / How to cook Frozen pierogi? Boil or Fry? [90]

Boil if frozen and uncooked.

But once they are boiled they are absoultely delicious if fried with onion :)

Travel / Polish Architecture [147]

Great topic, I do not have much time at the moment but I have to bookmark it and take a closer look at all the photos here :)

BTW: have you tried a simple and free software called Irfanview? (irfanview.com)
It's a great and extremely simple tool for resizing and optimizing photos, only ImageReady which used to come with Photoshop up to CS2 version could beat it.

Travel / Polish Architecture [147]


On one of the photos you can see the black sculpture on the pedestal outside of the church. That's Piotr Skarga, one of many modern, ugly things which seem to be put in random places, among old buildings, without paying any attention to the way the public space is used by people. Usually the sculptures depict John Paul II, (you might see samples here:

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomniki_papie%C5%BCa_Jana_Paw%C5%82a_II
and next one is probably going to be thrown onto Wawel hill.
That's one of the dark sides of Polish town planning.


First two show an art nouveau palace of the Associaton for the Friends of Art, the next two show the theatre. There is also great modern gallery there, called Bunkier Sztuki (Art Bunker).


Soot is not the biggest problem of Kraków buildings, more harm is being made by the acid rains.


That actually depends of the region. The north of Poland has been deeply influenced by German construction style (the typical for the North brick nogged timber wall is even called the Prussian wall):

(yes, I know it's quite similar to the British half-timbering :) Gorgious samples can be seen in Gdansk, the old city there looks like old Anntwerp. Or Brughes :) )


You got it right the second time. Robert Konieczny :)
He was also nominated for the World Architecture Festival Award worldarchitecturefestival.com/whatson_shortlist_crits_gallery.cfm?projectCategoryId=17 (the houses category featured the Irish Sleeping Giant as well, too bad none of them won).


Canaletto's (Bernardo Bellotto's) :)
Warsaw old city looked like that:
There is a nice exposition showing the old / new Warsaw called Miasto Feniksa - War*Saw Eyerything, the shots taken in 1944 during Warsaw Uprising were merged with the present views of the same streets:

kultura.wp.pl/gid,10208859,galeria.html?T

I don't even know where to start on Polish Architecture, I will need to come back to this topic in some spare moment. With the photos of medieval castles, Polish noblemen's manors (they are copied everywhere across the country and the results can be absolutely great - or truly miserable). With the old and new bridges - I totally love this one:

Warszawa, Most Świętokrzyski
... with Kraków I love, with Kazimierz nad Wisłą, with industrial £ódź and good and bad examples of rural houses...

Travel / Polish Architecture [147]

Try to edit -> resize the photo and then go to "save as" and play with the quality slider to the right, it can save you a lot of disc space. Also, do not save any additional data, eg EXIF, it's a few kb less as well.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [512]

Born in Kalisz, lived here and there in Poland, from the very north to very south, and as Krakow is my favourite city I spent half of my life there.

Currently in Dublin.

Off-Topic / What's your connection with Poland? Penpals. [512]

Great.
I've been here for slightly over 2 ys now and haven't thought about moving out yet, which is a good sign because I generally move a lot.

I suppose I'm just a lucky person. Always with the right people, in the right places etc.

Language / Short Polish<->English translations [1033]

These are the initials of three Wise Men / biblical Magi: Kacper, Melchior and Baltazar ( K+M+B, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar), written with the blessed chalk above the door on the day of Epiphany (6th Jan). It is supposed to bring the good luck and Lord's blessings to the house.

Love / Should a marriage proposal to a partner from Poland be done in private or public? [27]

Do you want to marry him? If so - how disturbing the stage design can be?
If not - it's not the stage design that stops you from saying "no".


It's an ultimate compliment you can get from another person / man. To spend the rest of his life with you must mean you are the most amazing person he has ever met.

Forgive me any possible vagueness/ obscurity, it's not easily to explain the reasons for marriage having 6 beers before :D

Life / Tips on tipping in Poland [45]


Surely they do :| Especially having in mind that their salaries are generally kept low because it is assumed they will make some money out of the tips. Pretty much the same way as everywhere else.

Hairdresser / taxi would be the cases when I wouldn't feel guilty leaving without tipping. Still, I tend to leave some change. Pizza guy should definitely get a tip, usually the bill is round up.

Generally tips are expected but so many people are not leaving them for many various reasons (from being tight-arses to simply not having any spare money) that it won't surprise anyone when you just pay a bill with no tip at all.

Love / POLISH WOMEN ARE PROMISCUOUS? DISCUSS. [153]


You can learn a lot from material lust and the dark temptations. Putting them into some kind of dark chamber of your mind, to watch them suffer in chains of rules is like watching your children wither. It's part of you, worth to be accepted, embraced, experienced. The desire to hide them and curb them is usually the result of fear and diffidence. And fear is the mind killer, Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.


I recommend Lakoff & Mark on that. Our minds have been shaped - or rather mutilated - by metaphors ever since the day we were born. They determine the way we think in creepy, because almost uncounscioss and unnoticeable, way.


And again I read this kind of generalization. I am abroad. I've been here a while. I knew one girl back in Poland who was sleeping with a guy who was not white (they've been together for about a year, did not work out) and I've met one here (they are getting married in March). Out of curiousity: how many of this "stupid Polish girls" have you met and where? I assume I must have been in wrong places all the time if I hadn't met any yet.

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]


Generally "second you" - "ty" shows surprise / annoyment / sometimes happiness. "Co robisz" is just a regular question, shows that you are interested in someone's actions, you may ask that for no particular reason ("what are you doing tonight?", "whassup").

"Co Ty robisz" often indicates emotional nuance. That's something a husband could say to his wife on his early return from business trip :D

From grammatical point both sentences are correct and acceptable.

And "kurwa" can be put almost anywhere in the sentence and will work fine there.

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]

kurcze, kurka, kurde

or "cholera" - damn

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]


It would :) It wouldn't be natural only if you were raging angry, you do not use mild replacements then of course.

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]


Not at all, the sentence would have to start with "Kurwo" / "Ty kurwo"...

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]


It seems that you might know Polish females who barely speak Polish but read extensive passages written by divine marquis...


Oh crap, you may be pretty damn right, pardon my French :D

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]


cmoknonsens :D

Language / Word order and swearing in Polish [44]


Kiedy chce się psa uderzyć kij się zawsze znajdzie.
When you want to slap a dog you will always find a stick to do it.
This just might be a handy excuse for this short-tempered women but it really does not have much in common with the colloquial speech and the way word "kurwa" is perceived.

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

piździ jak w kieleckim na dworcu (na bahnhofie is from German and not so commonly used)

Most children would use it with no hesitation at all.

Language / Interesting Polish tongue twister. [50]


Konstantynopolitańczykówianeczka :D

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


And the answer is: children are using it without hesitation. It's very colloquial and presently does not implicate anything vulgar or indecent. The "polite" society does not use colloquial language at all or does it very rarely. It really depends on how touchy are the people you are talking to and to what extent they pose. Children are generally at ease with the informal language and their connotations are fascinating and flexible. Some adults tend to think that kids should not be addressed in informal way ‘cause it would derogate the status of the elders and children are supposed to know only the language which allows them to address others in respectful manner. If you are amongst old-fashioned people who identify respect / manners with elaborate, literary style – I would not use “piździ”. Otherwise you are fine, regardless of the fact if there are children present or not.


In Silesian, maybe.
That still means that is not as common as the first version which is used more or less everywhere in Poland.

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


Actually it is much older than "pizda", it simply changed its meaning with time. "Piździć" (and "pizgać" as well) used to mean "to grumble". Nothing to do with pussy, but I'm sure Mr. Freud would write a nice elaborate piece on this type of connotations :D

Language / Interesting Polish tongue twister. [50]


Chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie w Szczebrzeszynie,
W szczękach chrząszcza trzeszczy miąższ,
Czcza szczypawka czka w Szczecinie,
Chrząszcza szczudłem przechrzcił wąż.

And famous movie quote:
Grzegorz Brzęczyszczykiewicz, Chrząszczyrzewąszczyce powiat £ękołody.

I've just found a good one:
pl.wikiquote.org/wiki/%C5%81ama%C5%84ce_j%C4%99zykowe

Rozrewolweryzowany rewolwerowiec z rozrewolweryzowanym rewolwerem rozrewolweryzował rewolwer rozrewolweryzowanego rewolwerowca :D

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


I would say it's all down to the fact that Poland is (relatively) poor. Relatively, because paying Western European prizes for global brands with your Central European salary makes you feel like a beggar. Quite often you can get local equivalent and great quality goods for half the price (if not less) - and that could make you feel like a rich man, able to afford sooo much (hence the "relativity").

But.
Cheaper goods from local company cannot confirm your social status. This one is getting validated by a pair of shoes with a logo - and on this precious little brand sign you spend half of the Polish minimum wage. The same pair of shoes in most of eurozone countries cost you the equivalent of half day - maybe a day work. Nothing to brag about. Runners are therefore for tracks and jeans for casual afternoon, not for social validation (also, funnily enough, Polish prices on global brands are often higher than prices of the same goods in UK, Germany or Ireland. All because the companies know very well that they are selling not only the product, but the prestige so they bump up the price. Not too much, they still want to sell after all). If you add to the equation the fact that the big flashy brands were like a holy grail in pre-'89 Poland you almost get the picture. Tacky, yes. But for ages dreamt of and also seen as the social norm "everywhere else".


Partly agree...
Only partly. Too many 2012 registrations seen in Dublin today on the way to work. This is not necessarly Polish thing :D

Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]


I do not consider any of these "essential", sorry :D


Naaaah. It's totally not like I had to take a small loan to pay for my first mp3 player :D
Your mum might have been delighted with Hilfiger prices in US because they will be significantly higher in Poland. Bargain by comparison. Still crazy expensive when compared to an average salary in Poland.


Agree.
There are also rural areas with 90% unemployment rate and if you are lucky enough to eventually land a job you get a great salary of 1,200 - 1,400zl (and spend 500 on petrol / tickets / commuting to the nearest city). I also personally know white collar workers earning similar money in well-established international companies. I actually know PhDs in biology working for less than that (in Kraków, to be precise, not in Białystok).

(having said that I also know white collar workers earning easily five-digit figures monthly. They do exist, however rare they are).

News / Should countries be boycotted for offending Poles? [60]


We, the (Polish) people dare to disagree with your statements.


Oh, that's simply hillarious coming from the representative of a nation that exported nearly 80 millions of their own. Would they even fit on the island now? :D

Law / Public Photography Laws [9]


You can photograph this person, you cannot publish this photo in any form (including websites) unless you have the permission from that person or you have paid them.

That is true for all photos that show a person in such a way that he/she can be identified (and that means not only face but for example also the items that may point directly to a specific person).

There are two exceptions:
- photos of public figures / celebrities while performing their public / professional functions
- documentary shots of scenes (including urban ones), landscapes or gatherings. The rule of thumb is that it's legal if you can remove the person from the image and it will not affect the subject and / or character of the photo.

The above are the legal regulations... the reality is usually completely different.

Law / Public Photography Laws [9]


If the photo is taken because:


...the person is the subject. They may be as small as 10 or 20% of the frame - but still the main reason for the photo being taken. Would OP take this photo if the street was empty? Can he replace that person with a random stranger without changing the meaning / intention / character of the photo? If so - good for him. If not - he can always claim he would / can :)

The road traffic accident photo would be perfectly legal even if people were facing the camera (unless the person is the main subject of the photo, because of their shocked face let's say).

History / Anyone know the name, if true... .... Polish Royal heir [40]

Sounds more like a romantic novel than true.

This guy might have been some inspiration:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Michael_Alexandrovich_of_Russia

News / Should countries be boycotted for offending Poles? [60]


Check how many Poles in Ireland got their Irish passports already :D