Off-Topic / Countries and your associations in 5 words/descriptions. [56]


Slovakia is expected to be a tourist country. Take a car and drive northwards from the Hungarian border via Banska Bystrica in the direction of Poland on a March Sunday and try finding a place to eat, we are not talking Bratislava ;-) Or, drop somewhere to Slovakia on Saturday night (not Bratislava!) and try to get a nice dinner ;-)

Try to get good food after you have found the place.

Try to find a hotel en route ;))))))))))))))))))

The chances to be caught in a police speed-trap are higher than the combined chance of finding a place to eat, good food and a hotel )

Off-Topic / Countries and your associations in 5 words/descriptions. [56]

United Kingdom: Real Ale, Bovril/Marmite/Fish & Chips, the Home of Punk-Rock, roundabouts, separate taps for cold & hot water, great people
The United States: Bad food, terrible coffee, stupid pastimes, the Home of Acoustic, Electric & Bass Guitar, great people
Finland: Bad coffee, ugly women, cold & sun always low, silent people/Finnish knives, great schnaps
Norway: Boredom, expensive, no alcohol, knife fighters, great nature
Denmark: Jolly Danes, bicycles, the Mermaid, good wine & tobacco, friendship
Czech Republic: Fried cheese, knedlicky & garlic soup, interesting language, interesting places, interesting people
Slovak Republic: the most, hopeless, country, in, Europe.
Hungary: Great wines, gulyasleves, puszta, Balaton, brethren
Israel: Historically, interesting, pile, of, stone.

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


Amen.

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

The problem the Silesians are facing, Sean, is they don't know which way to go themselves. You mentioned Marek Szołtysek once. The guy is respected as a Silesian Moses ;-) yet he believes the Silesian is a dialect, and this is not a popular view in Ruda Śląska, for instance. Based on my understanding of the Silesian mentality, they will just let the things happen.

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


I must then say sorry for my poor English, Sean. If you read some post of mine I wrote before, you could read different ethnic groups melted into Silesians long time ago. From the moment the concept of nationalism started ruling fates of nations, Silesians were forced to assume the nationality of the State currently at the power. This does not change the fact the Silesians remain the Silesians.

Your example, Sean, is very good. One of my friends living in lower Silesia is born of both German parents, still she cannot speak German at all and she identifies herself as a Pole. I know many people in Silesia with both grandparents being German; and such people cannot speak German, yet they visit their grandparents in the Heimat ;-)

Having partly Silesian family, you should be aware who's hanys and who's gorol the best, shouldn't you?

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


What numbers? Numbers "prove" that Polish Silesians are Poles and the Czech Silesian are Czech. Of course, German Oberschlesier are all German. What makes me rather surprised Seanus is you were at a Silesian wedding (hopefully it was in some sąsiedztwo = neighbourhood), you eat Silesian meal every day and you still cannot see the reality.

Just cross the Brynica river, say something in Silesian aloud and you'll have your numbers printed on your face ;-)

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


Because the Silesian are as much German as Polish or Czech... Will you get it into your brain finally?


Unluckily, you comment on something you do not know anything about.

Travel / Off to Poznan in July - what the beer prices are like? [24]


Yes, I was just joking you had to be a rich man only having the beer out ;-) On the other hand, I pay 6 zloty at Gniazdo Piratów, so it really depends where you drink in Warsaw.

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


Did the people at the wedding speak "śląsko godka" in your presence? I regret the cabaret's RAK song "To boł Welt" has been removed from YouTube... There is a splendid Silesian joke:

A Silesian church band prepares for a song. The leader asks the band members:
-- Posaunen fertig?
-- Jaaaa!
-- Trompeten fertig?
-- Jaaa!
-- Schlagzeug fertig?
-- Jaaa!
-- Kapelle bereit?
-- JAAAA!
-- Also! Eins, zwei, drei! Boże coś Polskę...

(Get it, Seanus?)

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


Of course. A major Warsaw square is named after Sokrat Starynkiewicz, a Russian general, governor of Warsaw nominated by Tsar; Starynkiewicz was the man thanks to whom Warsaw has had the water supply and sewage system, he established street lights in 19th c. Warsaw and did a lot for charity. I doubt Torq has known about this.


Or reconstructed Slavic Svetovid temple at Cape Arkona, Rügen island in Germany.

Travel / Off to Poznan in July - what the beer prices are like? [24]


Why don't you buy at a shop? It is PLN 3.50 per half liter ;-)

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

I am the same gorol as you are, Torq, in relation to hanys, the latter being the name the Silesians style themselves. The bad luck of the Silesian was all nations around have been trying to make them German, Poles or Czech. While they are Silesians, and you will not change it, Torq, same as nobody was ever able to change it.

I liked these phrases from the cabaret the most:
-- My Onkel living in Germany has been coming to see me every year for 20 years. And he has been always complaining how bad the life in Deutschland was...

-- Yeah, I have an uncle in Germany too. Every year he was bringing me a 2-Euro wine box as a gift, I mean Geschenk...

-- Nay, nay, what you are showing is a 5-Euro wine box, the 2-Euro box is of that size...
-- Yeah, easily fitting in the egg compartment of my fridge.

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

I only wonder what the result of the census 2011 will be. Expecting tremendous growth of Silesian population.... Torq, and you knowest why ;-)

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

The Lower and Oppeln Silesia were German for very long time, Torq, and even you cannot deny it; otherwise you should deny the Eastern Lesser Poland was ever Polish... The German population of Lower and Oppeln Silesia were exiled to Germany and replaced with the Polish population from the East. Lower Silesia is now purely ethnically Polish (and Greek! Agree?); there is German minority in Śląsk Opolski; but Upper Silesia are Silesians and Poles. Of course, your family in Upper Silesia are gorole, no doubt.

RAK, cabaret on Silesian-German relationships ;-)

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


Although I generally agree with you on most of your points, you have to bear in mind that Silesia was mostly uninhabited in early Middle Ages, which made local landlords take the land and rent out the land first by full pieces then by half-pieces then by quarter pieces to the settlers. According what I have read, Silesian population originates from the settlers, not from original inhabitants that were scarce.


Gorols. The statistic means nothing, really, Torq. If Upper Silesia were German, 96.5% would declare as German, and if it were Czech, 96.5% would declare as Czech*, still remaining the Silesian. They would not tell you why. This is exactly from the reasons Palivec gave in the quoted post.

*) A look into the statistics of Slezko would be quite informative.


Wrong, but you have to stay in Silesia for a while to understand.

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

My point is the settlers to Silesia were Slavic, Germanic, Italian, whoever in Europe was looking for land, went to Silesia at that time. What can you make out of the name Spirro, one of early settler family there, living in Silesia to this day?

Your point was rather funny because you tried to say that it was only one ethnic group that settled in Silesia. And... do you think Scottish are Scottish or Irish today? Or, perhaps they are English since they speak English today?

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

The Silesians came from all over Europe to the uninhabited lands in what is now called Silesia, Poles, Germans, Czech, other nations. They were able to melt in the pot long before any notion of the nation in the modern sense was ever created. This nation is called the Silesians, they live on both banks of the Olza/Olše River, in the Polish Śląsk and the Czech Slezko, and the language is the Silesian.

The picture has been blurred to some extent because the Silesians identifying themselves as German were exiled to Germany or left to Germany on their own accord after WWII.

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


True Silesians are neither Polish nor German nor Czech. They are historically Silesians.

Saying otherwise is admitting the Scottish are historically English/Welsh/Irish.

Travel / Wroclaw-Bratislava (the quickest way to get by car)? [10]

Check viamichelin.com, this service is proven. Google Maps... well...

I do not recommend any route passing the Sudety Mountains, either via Kudowa or Kłodzko.

Travel / Wroclaw-Bratislava (the quickest way to get by car)? [10]

Delph, speed limits:
Poland: Motorway 140 km/h, expressway 120 km/h, dual-lane carriageway: 110 km/h.
Czech Republic, Slovakia: Motorway 130 km/h, expressway 110 km/h.
If you speed up to +19 km/h, nobody stops you. Only pay attention to explicit speed limits.

If you can drive fast, the convenience and speed will make this route perfect. There is only very short segment between I think Frydek-Mistek and Hranice na Morave where you need to slow down a little.

I hate the Kudowa route, got tickets too, it is crammed and slow.

Note:
The Kudowa route is 421 km, of which 228 km on motorways.
The Katowice route is 526 km, of which 454 km on motorways.

Travel / Wroclaw-Bratislava (the quickest way to get by car)? [10]


No skiing in Bratislava ;-)

Travel / Wroclaw-Bratislava (the quickest way to get by car)? [10]

I'll tell you what:
Wrocław -> A4 -> Katowice -> Bielsko Biała -> Cieszyn -> Brno -> Bratislava. Almost all the route on motorways and expressways. Motorways free in Poland on this route, you will need a sticker for Czech Republic and another for Slovakia.

The route via Kudowa sucks ;)

Language / Why when spelling Polish names abroad, Polish letters are ignored? [68]


You could probably visit an optometrist:


Shall I translate this for you? The shorthand writer wrote the name as heard. It is an unauthorized shorthand.

Language / Why when spelling Polish names abroad, Polish letters are ignored? [68]


Mahskvah, if you want to keep it phonetic in English.

What about Monachium, Norymberga, Kolonia, Rzym, Padwa, Praga, Paryż? Do you get my point? Muenchen is Mnichov in Czech, by the way.


Edo. ;-)

Language / Why when spelling Polish names abroad, Polish letters are ignored? [68]


Nah, not really, perhaps in the newspapers because the modern technology allows that but it is not mandatory. Besides Lyzko, there are these variants of some foreign names in Polish

Mao Ze Dong, Mao Tse Tung - which is correct, you think?
Pekin (we do not use Peking or Beijing)
Nankin (we do not write Nanjing)
Tokio (not Tokyo)
£ukaszenko, £ukaszenka
Saakaszwili
Szekspir (not Shakespeare)
etc.

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Funny to who?

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

Yes, the influence of Lwow in Wrocław, right?

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

Of course they would not! Anyway, if you are by chance in some region really distant from Silesia (e.g. augustowskie), enter a shop and ask for "gorzoła", you'll get the question "A Pan to ze Śląska?" (You are from Silesia, aren't you) guaranteed ;-) I have already tried that ;-)

Just think gorzałka used to be an ancient Polish word...

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]


Any song including these words? ;)

I have to tell you something. The Silesian is not only about the words, grammar, it is also the pronunciation making the Silesian Silesian. If you listen to the singer in my video of "Gelynder", you'll notice he actually pronounces "mój" as "můj". I can assure you, gumishu, you could not pronounce like that. This is why we are gorole and they are hanysy (lower-case).

Language / Czech language sounds like baby talk to most Poles. Similarities? [222]

Look up my edit above ;-)

When I speak to a group of people, I say: "Słuchajcie..."

youtube.com/watch?v=y58XWGaJzRU
Guess who of those people are Silesian ;-)