Language / Do you know what "farfocle" means? [11]

As far as i know it is the same as farfocel. I am not aware of any different meaning or slang.

Original meaning of farfocel (XVI century): lint collected in a belly button. :)

Language / Polish regional accents? [141]


Actually, this characteristic pronunciation in Polish movies before the war wasn’t the pronunciation of the majority of Poles. It is called kresowa pronunciation (Kresy part of Ukraine and Belarus that were a part of Poland before the war). Kresowa pronunciation was the only allowed and acceptable pronunciation in movies and on stage (why?? don't no). Some actors, not from Kresy, had to learn it. This pronunciation was the only allowed and mandatory to learn by all students of the Polish Film and Theatre School until the sixties, but later abonded as, I guess, less and less Poles spoke like that naturally (Kresy not longer Polish).


Interestingly, Eugeniusz Bodo wasn’t Polish. He was born in Geneva and was a Swiss citizen. I believe he learned Polish later in his childhood (not sure about it). Being officially a Swiss citizen didn’t save him from the Soviets during the war. He was arrested by the Russians and transported to a gulag in Siberia where he died from hunger before the war ended.

Language / Chcę and chce [21]


Fur sure it shouldn't be pronounced like Robie to co chce.

Yes, ę has lost half of its nosowość but not all. Lubaś W., Urbańczyk S., Podręczny słownik poprawnej wymowy polskiej, Warszawa 1990
Some nosowość should still be heard in RobiĘ to co chcĘ and you are right, not like it sounds in French. Loosing nosowość completely is simply a sloppy speech.

Language / Chcę and chce [21]

Sometimes chcę is pronounced as chcem. I believe this pronunciation is common in the areas where immigrants from Vilno settled after the war.
Lech Wałęsa is famous for pronouncing chcę as chcem. He famous for saying: Nie chcem, ale muszem.

Language / Chcę and chce [21]


I never do.
Ę pronounced as E comes from the Wielkopolski dialekt. So in the western part of Poland ę and e sound the same very often.

Language / Chcę and chce [21]

No, they are pronouced differently
ę en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%98

Ja chcę ( I want)
On chce (He wants)

Language / dziękuję za lekcji/dziękuję za lekcję? za takes dopełniacz/biernik/celownik? [20]

Czy możesz mi to napisać?
Czy możesz sobie to napisać?
Czy możesz jemu/jej to napisać?
Czy możesz nam to napisać?
Czy możesz im to napisać?

Language / dziękuję za lekcji/dziękuję za lekcję? za takes dopełniacz/biernik/celownik? [20]


Or maybe he wanted to say: czy możesz sobie ?
Czy możesz sobie odgrzać wczorajszy obiad, ja nie mam dzisiaj czasu gotować?

Genealogy / Ziarko's from Opatow - searching for relatives in Poland [4]

According to the website moikrewni.pl there are 81 people with the last name Ziarko living in Opatów and 42 in the neighbouring Sandomierz. You will need more info like first names, age, etc to locate the right people

USA, Canada / Gift idea for something uniquely American that is difficult to find in Poland? [67]

maple syrup and/or maple syrup goodies like cookies, tea/coofie sweetners, etc. They are not known in Poland, hard to get and expensive but people love them when they try them. They can be bought in some upscale delicatessen or health food stores in Warsaw.

Genealogy / Tywoshewska, Kashawz Trying to find out where my grandmother is really from [6]

Tarnopol is a town in Ukraine now, but for centuries, until 1945 Tarnopol was Polish. According to Wikipedia “In 1939 it was a city of 40,000; 50% of the population was Polish, 40% Jewish and 10% Ukrainian”.

It looks like your Grandmother’s name was spelled incorectly on documents. Tywoshewska doesn’t sound right. Most likely her last name was Tymoshewska, in Polish spelled Tymoszewska.

If your Grandmother’s family was sent to a labor camp then they weren’t Jews (Germans were sending Jews to concentration camps, not labour camps). There were very few Ukrainians living in Tarnopol at that time. Therefore most likely your Grandmother was Polish, and her last name was Tymoszewska.

Tarnopol is about 450 kms from Krakow. The closest larger town to Tarnopol is Lvov, but not many people, especially from outside Europe know where Lvov is, then the next large city to describe location of Tarnopol would logically be Krakow.

Po polsku / Co sądzicie o Polakami noszą koszulki z logami w języku Polskim? [26]


and somehow I don't pay attention to it in others
There is no other way to say it in Polish .. or maybe...nie zwracam uwagi czy inni maja koszulki z polskim logo
BTW ( in Polish logo is always singular ...never logi, logami etc always logo. koszulki z polskim logo )