News / Germany provoke Poland using Silesian question. Poland's attitude ? [124]


it must be very limiting to go through life rejecting opinions from people who haven't been to Poland, as if setting your foot on the Polish soil imparted some special kind of wisdom upon you, not available to anyone else... If it is indeed some magic dirt you have there, it sure ain't working for dope...

Besides, how can you assume that someone has never been to Poland? Do you keep a list of all the visitors in the past 40 years?

Who cares of you classify it as a language or a dialect? Apparently there is quite a discussion going among linguists, which is all nice and peachy but I bet even the people who speak Silesian as their native tongue don't give a rat's a$s how you classify it.

With the borders moving back and forth, it's all such a mixture of cultures anyway. Would Ligon, Morcinek, or Szewczyk be offended or insist on correcting you if you called them Polish? If people feel Polish (German/Czech) first and Silesian second, are they not "true" Silesians? Why insist on categories?

Poland and Germany are both in the EU, there won't be a war over Silesia, a fourth uprising, or even another Plebiscyt. Most people are more concerned about living their lives than drawing borders or making up categories.

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


pretty much

I live in a town of 100,000+ people, we had two cases of homicide in the past 10 years. So, for every East St Louis, there are hundreds of suburbs and towns like ours, where people are not afraid to walk alone after dark, or leave their homes and cars unlocked, and a neighbor will let you know you dropped some money on the sidewalk rather than put it in their pocket.

More importantly, while comparing crime statistics across countries you always run into the issue of definition. Polish murder rate excludes attempted murder. The US typically includes it.

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]

I guess it all depends on the country. If you look at careerbuilder.com or monster.com, both of which are the largest general job boards in the us, the percentage of jobs listing the actual salaries/wages is low.


I do a lot of interviews, daily. it's not as cynical as you think. I simply want to know what the candidate's expectations are. It's not a trick question. If they're too high, I tell them right away so we don't waste each other's time. If they're low, we give them what they asked for (if they're hired) and then have a lot of room for a generous increase next year. I want to hire the best people, I'm not going to make my selection just based on their salary.

payscale.com is a great place to get the scope on the market data for most positions. I see they list a lot of countries. Their data for the US is very reliable.


I'm sure that would land you a job very quickly... In fact, you wouldn't believe how much that could burn you later on, even with another company. Hiring managers and HR people network a LOT, it's a small world, with a lot of professional conferences and other venues for exchanging information, we rejected some candidates based on such "funny" stories from other companies, from people's facebook pages, etc. Even if you don't think that the job is a good fit for you, make sure you're nice during the interview, no matter what. An opportunity may open later on, for a better position, for a different department. Why burn bridges for no good reason?

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


yup... I want government out of my Medicare!


here is Jamie Stokes on the topic (very funny)

Life / Cost of delivering a child in Poland [30]


for the husband?

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]

that's what the tea party says... except on days when they get their social security checks or their medicare doctors visits... or their unemployment checks...

Work / Salary, holidays - questions to employer during a job interview in Poland [47]

I can't say anything about Poland but here we almost never include the salary in job posts, unless it's a low-level admin or similar job, with an hourly rate.

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


feel free to never come here again


it's ok, I know it's not easy to say something smart... you tried...


They're just people, like everyone else. Some are smart, some not so much, some are nice, some are arrogant. I'm just glad someone's doing this job, because I wouldn't want to. And I'm glad I have someone to call should I be in trouble.


No. Constitution.

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


no, like I said, they have to be true... I mean, YT videos don't lie, do they? I'm really thankful, dude, that you're on this quest to expose all the evils of Uncle Sam... via YouTube!


No, Sir! I'm totally convinced now we're a nation of war criminals and Nazis, and now that I think about it, I must be personally responsible for everything bad that happens here, in Canada, and in Poland, starting with the Austro-Hungary and ending in the high carb content of your pierogi...

Can you imagine what's going to happen if the rest of the Americans find out we're living a fascist dream of constitutional rights and effective, respected police force?

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


very true


oh, yeah, man, if it's on the internet, then it's gotta be true!


right, I totally forgot about all the American war criminals we sent to invade Canada just the other day... my bad


I don't see anything wrong with respecting the people who will take risks to defend me or my property, do you?


policing what? doesn't America have the reputation of the country with the most freedoms?

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]


yeah, yeah, you forgot to add we're all Nazis only waiting to invade Canada... please, Guess, do not ask him to elaborate on this nugget of brilliant insight, though, I'm sure no thought of his can come any deeper than inch of dirt anyway

USA, Canada / Thinking about visiting America? Skip it or get molested and arrested for nothing. [79]

Here is a questionnaire that needs to be given to people when they apply for a visa to the US:

Do you believe that 1 YT video, or even 100 YT videos, can represent a nation of 310+ million people?
Do you think every day here looks like a scene from your favorite gangster movie?
Do you believe the main job of our police is to harass innocent people all day long?
Do you spit the words Nazi or fascist in every other sentence without understanding their true meaning (or the difference between)?
Do you believe that the airport security was introduced for the sole purpose of touching your balls?

If you answered Yes to any question, you can't come in, you're an idiot.

History / Pieces of Real Polish History [60]

who cares, Antek, about whether you approve of them or not?

so what, you think you have some kind of monopoly on a family who went through some historical times, while everyone else somehow grew up ignorant of their roots? everyone has generations' worth of family histories, inescapably affected by historical events one way or another. and yet, you claim


. don't you think it makes you look ignorant?

History / Symbols & Signs in Polish History, Culture & Life [89]

I'm quite sure the effect will be the same either way. None. :)

I would be curious, though, to find out what's up with those buttons.

History / Symbols & Signs in Polish History, Culture & Life [89]

LOL, I have no clue about horseshoes in Poland but I was just reading something, and it has to do with superstitions, and it's hilarious

it's from Jamie Stokes's column on WP.pl (a lot of his blogs about Poland are really funny)

"The man at the door was large, red faced and dressed all in black. He was also swaying slightly. I took an involuntary step backwards out of the vodka fumes.

The combination of his inebriation and my poor language skills didn't make communication easy, but I managed to gather that he had somehow saved my life and the lives of everyone in the building and was willing to accept folding money as a token of my appreciation. "This has to be the mafia I keep hearing about," I thought to myself. "It's a protection racket-I pay up and this large, florid gentlemen and his friends will guarantee that I don't suffer an 'accident.'" It was then that he thrust a slightly crumpled calendar at me and mentioned chimneys, which gangsters hardly ever do.

It wasn't until I had pressed ten zeds into his hand and he was lurching down the corridor that I realised what was going on: I had been visited by the legendary Polish league of chimney sweeps. I also remembered there was some superstition associated with chimney sweeps. Wasn't I supposed to spit on him or tap him three times on the head or something? No-buttons, it was something to do with buttons. I thought about calling him back so I could do something with his buttons, but I could see the situation getting out of hand-I had no idea exactly what I was supposed to do with his buttons, or even which ones I was supposed to do it with, and I'm far from comfortable with the idea of fumbling with another man's clothing even when he's sober. A piano will probably fall on my head the next time I step outside.

Most Polish superstitions are the same as British superstitions, except that you hang your horseshoes upside-down and have no strong feelings about opening umbrellas inside the house, but I've never come across a chimney sweep fixation before. It's a strange profession to nominate with magical powers. Why not taxi drivers or window cleaners? Small children could thrill at the prospect of rubbing the belt buckles of bicycle mechanics or the collars of investment bankers. Air traffic controllers could go round handing out calendars and receiving thanks for ensuring that no 747s have fallen on our heads.

It must be something to do with the black clothes. The only other people who get given money for intangible benefits are priests. They even come to your house to collect. I wonder who thought of it first: the priests or the chimney sweeps. I also don't understand why we're giving them money anyway. Don't they get paid for doing whatever it is that chimney sweeps do? If so, why do we have to pay them again? Is it particularly expensive being a chimney sweep-are those famous buttons made from unicorn testicles? Why don't Internet writers get paid twice? Sitting around all day in bars misunderstanding Poland isn't cheap you know. Would you give me 10 zeds if I came to your house and let you play with my clothing? No, I didn't think so. "

Work / The level of English of Polish teachers of English. What do you think of it? [101]


that's very true. I might have mentioned it before at some other occasion already. There are people who come here, they think they speak English because they learned it at school (not only in Poland, in other countries, too), but really they can't. They were taught by someone who learned their English decades ago from someone else whose knowledge was even more outdated, and they use funny pronunciation and outdated idioms. It's really not helpful when they try to find a job.

First, it depends on the purpose of the tutelage: if the intention is to be conversational while visiting another country as a tourist and being able to order a meal at a restaurant or navigate through a city, non-native speakers will be sufficient instructors. If the goal is to be able to function as a member of a foreign society, permanently or temporarily, native speakers are necessary. For most people the best solution is access to both.


I really have no clue what the requirements are, we had German classes in college, the teacher was definitely not German, but maybe that's why I didn't learn all that much. Thankfully, this is such a diverse country, you can find native speakers of virtually any language here.

Life / Uptight Poles [262]


and by laid out you mean laid back...

that's the beauty of stereotypes, they don't apply to everyone, they don't even have to apply to most, and everyone is free to hold on to their own.

frankly, I don't see the Poles as uptight, per se. And I know many more Poles than just my husband, to dispel the assumptions. I think Poles are really fun, just very insecure and extremely given to self-defensiveness. I believe it comes from the history of the country, when the Polish people found themselves on the defensive much more frequently than on the offensive, and had to obsessively defend their language, culture, and traditions, even if it meant going "underground." Xenophobia is a self-defense mechanism. Also the fact that they see other nationalities that are more self-assured as naive and uncultured. I also see that the acceptable standards of politeness are lower than in some other countries, but perhaps as more people travel, they'll notice that being friendly does not mean compromising your position.

Work / The level of English of Polish teachers of English. What do you think of it? [101]


it's possible to lose it later, but it requires A LOT of work, and you need someone to work with, one-on-one, like a speech pathologist or a phonetician. I've seen it happen but the tutor has to be really good, and the student has to be very diligent, and it costs a lot of money.

Life / Uptight Poles [262]

it's Cracovian. and Warsovian. also Varsovian.

actually, on second thought, Bz is right, Krakovian is correct, too

Language / Mixed English Grammar Thread [183]

a person is countable.
a lazy person is perfectly correct grammatically. most people would say, call me lazy, though.

Language / Mixed English Grammar Thread [183]

with s

News / Conservative-liberalism (Laissez-faire liberalism), another utopia for Poland? [99]

Shadow tolling involves the government, too, it's not a purely private undertaking. But this was a side question, dope. Do you know any country without government involvement in the market?

News / Conservative-liberalism (Laissez-faire liberalism), another utopia for Poland? [99]

Perhaps someone can give an example where or when a completely free market worked out, actually, before pushing their utopian ideas. Which country has no government regulation? Which country let's private businesses take care of the infrastructure, like roads? People thought it was up to private enterprise to build roads, until Abraham Lincoln decided that the federal government should do it. It was quite a while ago, and we never looked back.

News / Conservative-liberalism (Laissez-faire liberalism), another utopia for Poland? [99]

At a certain level, free market and minimal government are mutually exclusive. To have private property, you need a governing body that establishes rules of what private property is and how one can defend it. You also need an organized body to take care of things that do not bring profit in themselves, like education, infrastructure (as Z pointed out, roads, e.g.; also, which private business would build a thing like the Hoover Dam?), and basic healthcare. You do need government regulation to defend competition every now and then (AT&T, another of Z's examples), just like you need other forms of organizations that may be coercive and restrictive from the standpoint of free market but in reality promote a much healthier form of capitalism, like shareholder votes or labor unions. All in all, free market is in the same category of purely theoretical constructs as planned economy. It assumes that everyone plays by the same rules out the goodness of their heart but in practice, there are always people who will see themselves above the rules, and you get nothing but corruption and speculative bubbles.

Life / Who is poor in Poland? [720]

people may not care about saving a few grosze on a plastic bag, but I still don't see why stores have to be so desperate to charge for those.

and a free bag is not a loss leader. if it's the cheap plastic kind, it's a necessity. if it's the more sturdy canvas or poly kind, it's a promo item. a loss leader is a deeply discounted item that is sold at a loss for advertising purposes.

not sure what Biedronka is. if you're talking about stores like Aldi (I think it's a German chain, we have a few of those stores here), they're called limited assortment stores, and they do have their niche in the market. Their brand image is that they skip on variety and niceties in order to lower prices. You can't judge the wealth of the population by the existence of such stores, so just because people go shopping in Aldi, doesn't mean that they're poor. There are a lot of wealthy people that are simply smart shoppers. It is only an indication when such low-prices stores are considered upscale by a given population, the way that McDonald's restaurants were considered upscale when they first appeared in Poland. I hope it's no longer the case, because they sell nothing but fried crap.

what international brands are considered upscale but affordable to the general public in Poland?

Life / Who is poor in Poland? [720]

Avalon, this is what I read from your post:
This is the best post I've seen for a long time, blah blah blah blah sh*t

Do you know what CDs are? If you need to be told why certificates of deposits cannot crash any market, you can't expect an answer to the rest of your squeaky pathetic blah blah blah.


ok, it can't be that hard to understand - people come to a store with good customer service (quality merchandise, cleanliness, whatever). free bags are just part of good customer service. also a helpful store manager who remembers your name, someone polite and friendly at the cash register, someone who packs the bags for you, and a lot of other, little things, meaningless in themselves, that together create a positive impression. I realize Poland is not at that level yet, but you will be. Whether they're biodegradable or not doesn't matter, but it does build an image of the store. That's Marketing 101. Do you guys have marketing classes?

Life / Who is poor in Poland? [720]

Good. They have a smart marketing dude there. The other stores should follow. Sometimes you can afford a good marketing person, sometimes you have to see what works for others.

Life / Who is poor in Poland? [720]


I'm not sure where you're getting it from. Store brands have existed for decades here.

Life / Who is poor in Poland? [720]

Ok, I think this thread stopped making sense a while back. First you curse reusable bag shoppers. Then you say, they can do as they please (but only select few, it seems). Then you want free bags, but then you say free bags are like free ketchup, and they are nowhere near as good as the English free bags. Or something, really hard to follow this bs.

Coming back to the topic, though, it looks like the main way of making money in Poland is cutting costs. It applies to ketchup, bags for which you have to pay, apparently wrapping paper, too, stripping houses before putting them on the market, but also employment - everyone says you can't make money in Poland, you can't advance, bosses are looking for the cheapest workers they can find, private employers cheat on wages and on taxes, swindle people out of their benefits by categorizing them in the "temporary" worker status, all in the name of lowering costs. I hope you realize that this Polish version of "capitalism" will never make Poland a wealthy country, the way only innovation can do. You will never be able to cut costs to match the labor costs of India or China, but you can be more innovative than they are. That's the only way.

So, I think people should at one point stop thinking about the money they lose on basic necessities of shoppers, honest wages for their employees, or not cheating on taxes, and start thinking about the money they could be making with better customer serivce, better qualified and engaged employees, and innovation.

Life / Who is poor in Poland? [720]

LOL, i'm going to open a store in Poland and charge people for wrapping paper. You can either pay me 2 cents or you're carrying your pork chops in your pocket...