Life / Being a Jew in modern-day Poland; Israeli Jew who is of Polish descent [279]


I agree with you RUR. Ziemowit took the necessary time and effort to write what are in my opinion very balanced and accurate views on the question raised by the OP, only to be assaulted by Harry. I have been off this forum for some time, and did not follow most of the exchanges, but clearly Harry bears some kind of grudge.

Ziemowit, let it no deter you to be active on this forum, you are, as you wrote, one of the rare "true Poles" writing (unlike eg myself, being a non pole married to a pole, and no longer living in the country) which makes your views even more valuable!

Life / Being a Jew in modern-day Poland; Israeli Jew who is of Polish descent [279]

I did read the whole thread before posting my comment. I see nowhere Ziemowit stating his opinion is "superior" to yours, he only states that being a Pole living in Poland his angle is different (which I personally accept; having been myself an expat living in Poland for 5 years, I realise that my limited knowledge of Polish -which is the case for most expats - gave me only a narrow views of events).

History / Royal Family still in Poland? [79]

Thanks Ziemowit for this insightful post

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

This not relevant. What counts for weather perception is the number of days it rains per year rather than the quantity of rain fallen. Otherwise you could say that Milan (for example) is much rainier than London

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

I also remember November as a pretty miserable month with very few hours of sunshine. But generally I agree Polish weather is overall quite pleasant, certainly far better than in the UK

Law / Do Poland's taxes apply to foreign pensions? [21]


Taxation has nothing to do with citizenship/nationality and all to do with (tax) residency, except of course for US Nationals.

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


+1


Show that indeed it is not directly linked to the people/nationality but rather to the environment in which live.

History / Poles should emulate Jews? [153]


I don't think that's correct otherwise Switzerland, one of the world's richest countries would top the tables (at least on a prorata to inhabiatnts basis). It is true that A Einstein was working in Zürich when he produced the theory of relativity but apart from that and the cuckoo clock I am not sure that the Swiss are responsible for many breakthroughs.. I agree with Polonius, and believe that the key reasons for the success of the Jewish "nation" is the perpetual challenge and sense of insecurity which came with them not having , until recently, a country of their own.

News / Czechs most liked by Poles! [35]

yes, and that's also part of the reason why Poles get on well with Hungarians in spite of the latter not being Slavic. Poles and Hungarians are both susceptible to mood swings and quite impulsive, contrary to the Czechs. They are more "instinctive" as opposed to the more rational Czechs

News / There is no Poland without the Church! [178]


Yes. The church where I married in Warsaw in 1986 was St Stanislas Kotka in Zoliborz and it was there that late father Popieluszko preached. Although baptised, I am an agnostic, and i must say that i was deeply moved by what i saw when my wife took me to one of the monthly "masses for the Fatherland", which were ongoing despite Popieluszko's assassination 2 years earlier.

The church was of course full, so was the small park around it, and seeing all those people starting to sing patriotic songs at the end of the "normal" mass despite being filmed by the secret police was extraordinary.. That's when I started to delve in more details to understand the role of the RCC in Poland, and I agree with Polonius, without it, Poland would probably not exist, or at least not in today's shape. Contrary to many western countries where the Church was on the side of power, RCC helped sustain the very notion of "polishness" by running underground schools etc when the country no longer existed or when its was under foreign control, including during communist times. I am still an agnostic (verging on the atheist, sorry Polonius!), but I do respect the Polish Church for their role in preserving Polish culture. At the same time, many young Poles, while respecting this past and the role of the RCC, lead their own personal life without necessarily following to the letter all the "teachings" of the Church and I , for one, find this quite healthy..

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


Yes and no. I agree that on an individual basis Poles and Russians are quite similar and usually get on well with another. However, it makes one think again when you see that the majority of Russians believe that Putin was right to invade Ukraine and that they still believe Stalin to be a hero as opposed to a mass murderer..

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]


you're probably right.. Voltaire famously (and sardonically) remarked: "This agglomeration which was called and which still calls itself the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.".. It must therefore have been Germanic, unless we are talking about a complete misnomer..

History / Do Polish people in general dislike Russia or Germany more? [369]

Troll??

Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]

thanks Polonius for this clarification, good to hear!

UK, Ireland / My bad experiences with Polish neighbours in UK (not meant to offend) [173]


That would be quite surprising, Polish and Hungarian/Estonian are very different languages and they sound very different, even to an uneducated ear (Hungarian is closer to Turkish or Finnish)

UK, Ireland / My bad experiences with Polish neighbours in UK (not meant to offend) [173]


In fact, Hungarian is not Nordic (ie unlike Danish or Swedish) but has the same roots as Finnish, Estonian or Turkish. Attila is quite frequent a name in Hungary, which is logical since Hungarians and Turks share common ancestry (Huns)

UK, Ireland / My bad experiences with Polish neighbours in UK (not meant to offend) [173]


I know, that's why I suffer from schizophrenia.. My French half wants to make such sweeping statements (and no, I don't eat horse but I do enjoy the occasional snail or two!) but my other half, the British one, resists it!

News / Poland's indecent junk capitalism? [53]


I think it is a bit more complicated than that. Many economists put contracts which are not "umowy o prace" (salaried contracts) in this category. But the reality is that many highly skilled workers prefer not to go for umowa o prace in Poland for tax reasons, since they pay only a 19% flat tax rate against a higher tax rate for salaried workers of 32%. I have worked so far in 5 different countries and,as an example, Poland is the only one where I saw most lawyers employed by financial institutions ( I am here talking about internal legal departments, not outsourced work) employed on the basis of civil law contracts and not salaried.

UK, Ireland / My bad experiences with Polish neighbours in UK (not meant to offend) [173]



You should make up your mind.. Are you talking about Asians or Africans (or both??)

Life / Single mothers in Poland [175]


Would that be France? I happen to agree with some (even most) of the ideas that you have presented but there is something so "arrogant" about your way of putting them forward that one almost feels bound to reject them...

News / Coal-Powered Poland Refuses to "Go Green". EU Ain't Happy. [304]


And?? One just has the travel a little around the world to see how much free space there still is on the planet. This ongoing joke about "overpopulation" started a few centuries ago with Malthus and his likes, making alarmist predictions which in the end prove wrong..

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]


In fact, not polish is right, Sweden, like other Scandinavian countries, is a highly feminine country but probably not in the way he means.

Feminity (and masculinity) are one of 6 characteristics in Hofstede's framework for cross-cultural analysis. Hofstede developed his original model as a result of using factor analysis to examine the results of a world-wide survey of employee values by IBM between 1967 and 1973. The theory was one of the first that could be quantified, and could be used to explain observed differences between cultures.The other 5 dimensions are : individualism-collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; power distance (strength of social hierarchy), long-term orientation, indulgence versus self-restraint.

Masculine cultures' are task oriented and feminine culture more person oriented. Masculine cultures ' values are competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power, whereas feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life. In masculine cultures, the differences between gender roles are more dramatic and less fluid than in feminine cultures where men and women have the same values emphasizing modesty and caring.

On Hofstede's ranking for masculinity/femininity (scale from 1 -very feminine - to 100 -very masculine), Sweden scores 5, versus 43 for France, 62 for USA, 64 for Poland or 66 for the UK!

Life / Top 5 things I like about Poland [77]

Agreed, Polish diet is usually not very healthy plus quite monotonous. But there are some dishes which are unique to Poland (or at least difficult to find in Western Europe ) and delicious, eg zurek or makowiec.

Polonia / Let's talk about Sweden and other Scandinavian countries [236]


Depends whom you ask. Edith Cresson, ex Prime Minister of France, famously once said that " a quarter of British men are gay"! Mind you, she also compared the Japanese to "yellow ants striving to take over the world". I reassure you, she wasn't Prime Minister for very long!

News / Degenerate "rainbow" eyesore to disappear from Saviour Square (Plac Zbawiciela) in Warsaw [297]

But Polonius, pardon me for asking, is Nie Zalezna a reliable source?

Genealogy / Do I look Polish? (my picture) [375]


Another derogatory comment!

Life / Polish people are the most ignorant people in the world! [335]


- Yes My fellow Americans!
Sometimes I think my fellow countrymen/women the French could compete for this title!

Life / Top 5 things I like about Poland [77]

i don't think it is typical American, if anything I would have said its is more typical southern European (Italy, France, Greece.;). And that is also increasingly the direction many are moving towards for at least 2 reasons :

- when you cook them less, all the vitamines/minerals in veggies do not get washed away
- it allows you to get the real taste of the produce.

Cooking less meat and fish is also a tendency I noted over Europe, even in the UK. 30 years ago, asking for your steak bloody/blue in Britain would get you an "are you sure?" from the waiter, now they don't bat an eyelid!

Life / Top 5 things I like about Poland [77]


Why? Unless mistaken, steak tartare (less then blue!) is allowed in the UK..

Life / Top 5 things I like about Poland [77]


Come on Jon. I lived 8 years in the UK and 5 in Poland and there is no comparison.. I am not saying you cannot get quality ingredients/food in the UK but you have to pay quite a lot for it. But the real difference is that in the Uk the majority a people eat processed/industrialised food on a daily basis, and I am sure this explains at least in part the high obesity prevalence in Britain. In Poland , at least while I was there (until 2011), it was very difficult to find "microwable Tv dinners" and most household bought fresh produce and did the cooking themselves. And the "standard" fresh produce you bought in Poland (eg tomatoes) were much tastier than what you buy in supermarkets either in UK or in France. But maybe things have changed