News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]

Yes - in France the changes were to do with war and bad politics - in Poland because of invasion and partition. There just wasn't any need for a change, and the Kaczynski Brothers' relationship with the constitution was at times unhealthy.


I was thinking about that; really, There have only been 4 (well, 3 and a half even) Presidents since the restoration of democracy, so to a certain extent, politicians are playing it by ear and - a lot could happen if the circumstances are right, but those possibilities haven't happened yet.

Life / Do Polish names generally have a meaning to them or a particular structure?. [88]


Of course not - it worked (if not perfectly) reasonably well for much of its life - the problems came in the last few decades when it effectively ceased to function as a viable regime.

Language / It is not possible to translate names into English or Polish! [52]


And of course each of these gas a direct Polish equivalent.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


There isn't a Vice President. If anything happens to the President (for example dying in office, like the last one) the Marszałek Sejmu (Speaker of the House) is automatically sworn in. There's a Deputy Prime Minister. As far as I can remember, both are chosen after the election, and being a country with several parties and coalitions, there's a certain amount of jockeying and trading off for those positions. Most controversially, Andrzej Lepper (the radical populist farmer who hung himself recently) and Roman Giertych (an outspoken fascist) became Speaker of the House in exchange for their parties joining with PiS to enable them to form a government.

Life / Do Polish names generally have a meaning to them or a particular structure?. [88]


Yes. And few have ever been what they were on paper.


No. The reverse is true. That is the very foundation of that system. Poland is not unique in that respect.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


Aside from the fact that it was investigated by the jurisdiction in which it occurred, you seem to be suggesting that there's something fishy about not perpetuating the investigations. Why?

Stay on topic. A thread about the crash already exists.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


It's never been standard practice in Europe, except within the Jewish community.

There's no health benefit whatsoever. Only drawbacks (if you'll excuse the pun). One is that the foreskin is attached to the glans until the kid is a certain age, and circumcision causes permanent damage - the result is a loss of sensation in the one part of the body where there's meant to be lots.

Genealogy / Sierzputowski, finding villages in Poland, Lomza region. [12]

There's a place called Bacze quite near to £omża, about 10 miles South East - in fact there are two - Bacze Suchy and Bacze Mokry. They are both absolutely tiny, just a few houses. Baczach could make sense grammatically here, especially since there are two Baczes and -ach is a plural ending (people from Katowice don't say 'in Katowice', they say 'in Katowicach').

Have a look at Bacze on the map. Interestingly there's also a couple of places (also tiny) a couple of miles South West of town called Sierzputy - your roots in £omża could go very far back indeed.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


I'm not sure one can discuss the 2015 election and Jaroslaw Kaczynski's candidacy and ignore the PiS point of view on that issue. It would be an elephant in the room.

Mention - yes, but not making a deal about it. Don't push it.

Travel / Poznan airport sell cigarettes? [7]


You can't buy Duty Free for a flight to the UK. They always ask to see your boarding card. You can buy cigarettes at the normal Polish price either at the airport, or slightly cheaper in a kiosk or supermarket. You used to be able to smoke before the barrier only. Now Poland has a smoking ban, there's a chance they have a ventilated cabin after the barrier. The last time I used that airport I didn't notice a smoking room, but that was some time ago.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


The last two regimes have both had two Prime Ministers.


Scary! Mind you, at least he looks like he's recovered from the self-inflicted stab wounds.

Genealogy / Sierzputowski, finding villages in Poland, Lomza region. [12]


This indeed is a small village.


That might not be so easy. There are still villages in Eastern Poland where most people have the same surname - I can think of two places like that off the top of my head. Of course they could be family members, but it's just as likely they're very distant cousins.

Travel / Poznan airport sell cigarettes? [7]


Yes, assuming the duty-free shop is still open. There was one there last time I was at Poznan Airport. Post-EU entry, they may have changed it for a kiosk/souvenir shop but in any case they'll certainly sell Marlboro in blocks.

Travel / What's good to do in Wroclaw Poland? [34]


Was it the ZOOM method? Some people find that really hard to put up with.


It's the same wherever they do it. Uncomfortable.

Travel / Poznan airport sell cigarettes? [7]


They won't - the security don't care. The British customs might, in theory. In practise they never check unless they've a reason to be suspicious.

Off-Topic / I am Polish and I am offended. [52]

There is nevertheless something of a cultural cringe noticeable in Warsaw. A certain type of people only want to see, hear and say the very best, the reprezentacjny, rather than reality - to pretend that failings aren't there (or aren't their fault).

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]


That doesn't actually mean they were good people or had any medical knowledge. We know almost nothing about them, nor did the people who declared them 'saints'..


You might be surprised to know that much of Poland has probably got better internet speeds than wherever you live.


Circumcision is not a protection against HIV and the cervical cancer statistic is spurious.


There are none.


???

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]

Are you seriously suggesting that circumcision is a prophylactic against Bubonic Plague?


Which is no reason we should be. They also wore sandals. Maybe that's why they didn't get plague.

dawanet.com/nonmuslim/intro/misc/circum1.html

-- This site alone, by a Doctor, lists more than 40 separate sources, case studies involving thousands of men in multiple countries.
You do realise that this is a religious site? Try this:

intactamerica.org/resources/decision

or this:

butterflybirth.com/10-reasons-not-to-circumcise/

or this:

alternet.org/health/135757

Life / Do Polish names generally have a meaning to them or a particular structure?. [88]


As is English in part.


No. They were without the structure and the responsibility that go with nobility, and their rights and responsibilities were analogous to Freemen in England. Whether they were or were not descended from nobility, by the Eighteenth Century socio-economically only a portion of them could aspire to gentility, much less nobility. If a genuine nobility emerged, it was no comprised no more than a fraction of the Freemen.


An understatement to say the least.


History proves that statement to be very, very wrong. Unless you're suggesting it was so victorious it was just too good to survive!

Life / Do Polish names generally have a meaning to them or a particular structure?. [88]


No - the litmus test if anything is socioeconomic. Distressed gentlefolk are not nobility, and most of the Freemen were not even that.


As have Freemen.


To get more than a fraction of them to the Election Field would have been a logistical impossibility, so it is disingenuous in the least to describe more than a tiny number as politically or legally active.


Hindsight is all we have - and the First Republic ended in disaster.

Life / Do Polish names generally have a meaning to them or a particular structure?. [88]


It's a prerequisite - without the trappings, without the money, the status goes before the generation is out. Several times in history people have declined membership of the nobility because they felt they didn't have enough assets to guarantee that noble status is maintained throughout the generations. Somebody with a pretty coat of arms on their lavatory wall who works in the Town Hall isn't noble - they're just descended from noblemen.


As usual, you've cut straight to the heart of the matter. They may have described themselves a 'working', 'landless', 'own-land-working', or degraded nobles, but in harsh reality, only the adjective is accurate - the noun is a mistranslation.


Now you're getting closer....


Proven lomg ago, and petition principii hardly fits!


That's pure nonsense, and you know it. The First Republic ended in disaster - you can be an apologist for it; you can talk about the avarice of neighbouring states, you can blame geopolitics, you can even look for weaknesses in the behaviour of Stanislaw August - but you can never avoid the incontrovertible fact that the First Republic had long ceased to function effectively as a state.

UK, Ireland / Poland continues to milk Ireland dry. [129]


Very true.


Except of course those who have migrated either within the European Union (including of course Poland) or to the UK between 1916 and EU accession.

News / Polish Silesian Autonomy movement [38]


The chance of a Special Economic Zone on the model of Schleswig Holstein could bring huge benefits. The issue of that zone being administered from Berlin would set them off arguing for years.

Food / Old Krupnik Warning [9]


Good advice. Does the US have an equivalent of the Public Analyst to whom you can just send a sample?

News / Polish girls won mathematical olympiad in Cambridge [3]

Congratulations to them!

A good friend of mine is involved in that competition, connected to the Polish team and tells me they always do well.

Life / Why is circumcision not practiced in Poland? [701]

Pretty well. The sad thing is that people in villages in some parts of Africa are told it prevents them getting HIV.

Off-Topic / I am Polish and I am offended. [52]

At least they're not exchanging romantic PMs with a 22 year old woman called Guess Who who turned out to be an old fat bloke.....

Life / Polish interment practices...cemetary burial. [17]


'Grave earmarked for liquidation'

It means nobody is paying for the plot any more. The headline in the article you cited means 'Stickers on graves are barbaric'.

At least they didn't paint a big red x on them, as one village priest did a couple of years ago.

Life / Do Polish names generally have a meaning to them or a particular structure?. [88]


One day, you'll actually understand a post here without attributing some psychologically strange and emotionally loaded meaning.

Food / Old Krupnik Warning [9]


Does Krupnik have an expiry date? Surely it should get better not worse with time.