UK, Ireland / Cultural misunderstandings - Polish and English [26]

Ok, D, how far "outside" the mountains did you actually travel?
People tend to return a smile and a hello "outside" the mountains, unless they're particularly uptight and pissy.
I grew up in Poland and I can guarantee that what is "normal behavior" there would be extremely abnormal anywhere else, when it comes to the standards of politeness and friendliness.

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]

You're totally missing the point, D, and I can't believe you actually need the explanation of an obvious fact. Nobody is advocating in favor of piracy and stealing, got it? But neither governments nor corporations should be allowed to spy on EVERYONE just to catch a few bad guys. You wouldn't want the police to come to your house whenever their fancy strikes, without a warrant, would you? Just to look through your stuff to make sure everything is a-ok? You wouldn't want your phone company spying on your phone calls for no reason, or the post office opening your letters, would you? Well, this is what ACTA is mandating - that the ISPs monitor where you go on the net, and what you look at, and what you download.

UK, Ireland / Cultural misunderstandings - Polish and English [26]


Polish retail store and post office reps must be really good at that "play," surpassed only by township clerks and revenue service workers... What is generally considered normal or neutral behavior in Poland, would seem downright rude in many other countries. That includes giving a weird look to someone who greets you with a friendly Hello, even if you don't happen to know them.

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]


This view is shared by most of the world, except perhaps China and South Korea, and a few stupid people here and there who would rather let their government control their lives.

News / Communist era 'newspeak' appeals the most to Poland PiS supporters (what a surprise) [89]


that's pretty sad. Ever since I left the country, I always had the impression that people in Poland were in general much more educated than people here. I guess things change.

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]


I would rather people were able to choose freely which sites to go to, rather than the have governments telling people what's good for them.

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

you realize there is a lot of research around language aquisition, both in childhood and in adulthood, and the idea that it's easier to learn what is similar and more difficult to learn what is different was discredited sometime in the 70s...

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]


pretty much the case of every other country

the issue is not whether the kid uses proper grammar at 15, but that the low standards would give him high marks for bad grammar. a teacher's job is hard, so what? we all know that. no reason to lower the standards. it's been done in this country and for the sake of kids moving on to the next grade, parents not having to pay attention, and teachers not having to exert themselves, we give high school diplomas to kids who can barely read!

native speakers are important, but the queen of England couldn't teach a kid who is used to getting all As for properly saying Hello.

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]


they won't have a choice if the treaty is signed

intellectual property is important, but nothing should be above free speech, civil liberties, or the right to privacy. net neutrality is one of the fundamental principles of the modern world. P3 is just overdramatizing and fear-mongering, given that laws against terrorism and pedophilia already exist, and no government should have to spy on their citizens, no matter how pretty the pipe dream of stopping all the hackers and terrorists sounds. if people like P3 don't understand that, they deserve to live in a police state.

News / Poland now soft-pedalling ACTA signing [107]

youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GzrlI6Ybxxk

this may be relevant to watch

Life / Are Poles mentally more Eastern European or Western European? [171]


ha...

given that we generally balk at being bunched together with either Russians/Ukrainians, or Germans, or Czechs for any reason whatsoever, we're definitely Central. Hell, most Poles don't like being bunched together with other Poles...

Study / Shocking! Test standards in Polish schools. [165]

^Particularly that English is one of the most useful things they can learn at school, and something they will definitely need to use later in life. There is a different between American teenagers learning Latin (admirable but not critical), and Polish teenagers speaking English, which is a necessary skill these days.

USA, Canada / Getting a VISA to USA by a Polish person nowadays [339]


woot!
sorry for being a day late...

keep poundin', fuzz...

USA, Canada / Starsky Food store opening in Hamilton, Ontario [17]

gross

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


lol, wtf? killed when?

your whole post makes no sense

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]

So if someone leaves the country to make money and comes back to invest it in a business, are they smart or a greedy traitor? What if someone leaves for 10 years and then comes back? How about for 20? What if they don't come back but only send the money back home?

And when you leave Poland, when do you actually stop being Polish? When you get on the plane? When you get your immigrant papers? Are you still Polish after 5 years? How about 25 years?

I agree with Patrycja. It reminds me when people used to leave for Western Germany en masse, a few decades ago, and everyone here would talk about how they were disloyal, unpatriotic, or sellouts, but then everyone would kiss their a$ses to get parcels with candy and toys, and clothing, and whatever other crap they expected to receive, and would throw parties when the family "z efu" came to visit. It was this mix of envy and love-hate relationship, fueled by the myth of "easy live" in the West. And it's not just uneducated people who bought into the myth - three of my own teachers left for Germany, several of my parents coworkers - engineers and scientists, even two priests from our parish - lol, one of them a few weeks after delivering a sermon on how true Polish Catholics should not abandon the "sinking ship," which I remember pretty well because that Sunday happened to be the day of my First Communion. I see there is a lot of that love-hate going around about the US, too.

Bottom line, it seems like the question about who is Polish tends to revolve around "who to exclude from the definition," rather than "who to include." Which, sadly enough, doesn't surprise me.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


1. but it does. you open a business, you borrow money, you make something/build something, you sell it at a profit, you pay off your debt. the key is to make opening businesses and borrowing money easy. that's where the government steps in.

2. so far there are far too few properties. more properties would bring the price to a level where people can afford them and developers can still make money on them, just like anywhere else in the world.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


can you tell me more? i'm not talking about building houses and selling them at a loss.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


I lived in Poland in 1989, D. But it was 22 years ago, and the world moved on, so no point on harping on it

you're not making any sense. what is the problem? it's not physically impossible to construct buildings efficiently and quickly, it's not beyond human ability to promote competition and stimulate the construction business, and there isn't a shortage of land, either. why can't there be a larger supply of apartments or houses? because Londoners choose to live in the suburbs? is that your argument?

D, you're seriously looping. first you're saying people all over Europe can't afford TVs and vacations, now you're saying that they can, particularly in combination with nice cars, and all of this somehow makes you think that my family were non-achievers. wtf, D?

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


oh, so you read something? nice. i happened to go to college with someone whose entire family spoke nothing but Kashubian all day long and he would stick a fork up your a$s for telling them they weren't Polish... i learned some Kashubian from him, too. i taught him some Silesian. all the time unaware we were violating the rules of being Polish...

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


oooh... heavy stuff. where are you from, again?

it's not American economics, it's universal economics - demand for goods stimulates trade, and production, and job creation. in ANY country.


you mean most Europeans don't have TVs? or disposable income? this is such bs, i'm going to skip that


it may not be affordable to Poles, but it is affordable to those who live and work in those countries, and I don't see a reason why there couldn't be any in Poland.

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


thank you. perhaps some of the people who insist you have to speak Polish to be Polish noticed, too.

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


i don't know dude. i'm telling you about simple economics and you're going all crazy a$s about TVs and how I'm pissing all over Poland...

more cheaper housing would not hurt anyone in Poland, and there is no reason why a working person in a developed country couldn't afford both comfortable living accommodations as well as TVs, vacations, and whatever else.

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


before you give each other a wet one, D, why don't you remind PennBoy about the time you called Polonia traitors, particularly the ones with American citizenship.

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]

newsflash, PennBoy, a bunch of people on this forum would deny you the right to feel Polish

Real Estate / Residential real estate values go down in Poland [455]


oh, cry me an effing river...

you are entitled to see the world as divided into the rich and the lazy, or to prescribing the age when people should get married, move out, have children, and buy property all you want. but you're not entitled to your own facts, and the fact is that that there aren't enough apartments or houses compared to the population. there haven't been for long decades, and nothing has changed. which makes people tied to where they live, it's more difficult to move and find a better job, invest in their own business, etc.

Easily available affordable housing allows for more flexible workforce, and for a more skilled workforce, too. Remember the "a car in every driveway" thing? That assumed that everyone HAS a driveway - again, affordable, easily available housing. And now that you have a driveway, you also want your own fridge, dishwasher, washer and dryer, and a new set of bedroom furniture... And then you want someone to come fix the shi*t, and buy insurance in case the sh*t burns down one day, and a vacation to get away from all this sh*t. Which means more people are buying more sh*t, so more people are needed to make more sh*t, so more jobs, more trade, more services, better economy all around...

but why do all that, when we can just call people lazy or have them wait till their 30s to have kids, for lack of space for the crib?

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]


i can find, oh, i don't know, over a quarter billion people who would disagree with this

anyway, do you consider yourself Polish?

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


paranoid much?

USA, Canada / Can you BE Polish without SPEAKING Polish in the US? [256]

funny thing, how one can argue that a Polish-born person with Vietnamese parents is still Vietnamese but an American-born person with Polish parents is an American

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

i have statistics that say your statistics have been pulled straight from your a$s. would you like to see them?