The BEST Guide to POLAND
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Posts by Puzzie  

Joined: 16 Jul 2012 / Male ♂
Last Post: 26 Jul 2012
Threads: Total: 1 / Live: 0 / Archived: 1
Posts: Total: 53 / Live: 12 / Archived: 41
From: Poland, Warszawa and Wroclaw
Speaks Polish?: I do
Interests: I'm a freedom of speech fanatic - freedom of speech for the whole world

Displayed posts: 12
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Puzzie   
26 Jul 2012
Work / Are there any Americans teachers left in Poland? [38]

I know Poles prefer British teachers

Facts seem to show Poles like both British and American teachers.

People who speak negatively about Poland are [etc]

AT LONG LAST a normal guy here who says straightforward the essential truth about Poland and Polish people.

Hello, brother.

:)
Puzzie   
25 Jul 2012
Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

Ok

Gene, sorry, brother, for not writing yet on the subject of nobility- peasants relations. It's not that I'm disregarding you, only when I discuss a subject I try to have my facts right. It's common knloledge the noble tratment of peasantry in Poland wasn't nice, but I'd like to give you some good examples. I had a book with some graphic descriptions and I've been looking for it unsuccessfully.

Yes, I'm aware of this, and thought it was a good idea to attract and hold a wider audience

I don't think it's a good idea; to me it's a fishy, political move. If Anglo-language audience can tolerate, for instance, full, unshortened Russian or indeed East Indian names, it can tolerate Polish ones as well.
Puzzie   
22 Jul 2012
Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

Can you elaborate more on this?

Gene, I gladly will, but a little later. I haven't forgotten your thread and your question; I'm just a bit busy now. Just a quickie: in Poland we have a monumental work, by medievalist Kazimierz Tymieniecki (d. 1968), entitled "Historia chlopow polskich" (History of Polish Peasantry; 3 volumes ).
Puzzie   
21 Jul 2012
Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

There were some Jews knighted by the Polish kings after having converted to Christianity. In fact, my own family on my dad's side comes from such converts (in the 1700s Ukraine, which was part of Poland then). They, those Jewish converts on my family's spear side, were called the Frankists, and, as I understand, were strongly disliked by the Talmudic Jews.

How was the general relations between lords and their landed subjects?

Do you mean what were the relations between the szlachta nad the peasantry? If so, they weren't great, I'm afraid.
Puzzie   
21 Jul 2012
Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

I will tell you this: I'm a white guy who practices Judaism from Eastern Ukraine, my grandpa and grandma are from Belarus, some on the other side are from Northern Ukraine.

Very interesting - a religious Jew coming from - as I understand - the Polish szlachta, amongst others?
Puzzie   
21 Jul 2012
Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

Puzzie, you are welcome.

I guess you are right about the titles. And yes, we were different in the way we related to our royals; they were elected, not inheriting the throne. The political system we had during the First Commonwealth is called "demokracja szlachecka" meaning: "noble democracy." It was a democracy, but exclusively for the szlachta (the nobility). The peasant masses did not participate in it.

So you are Eastern Ukrainian? Maybe of Cossack origin?

Nice to meet you, brother.
Puzzie   
20 Jul 2012
Life / Polish sentimental ballads [38]

One of my favourite songs. But this...is painful.

Do YOU really like Myslovitz, a Polish band? YOU?

I'm knocked out.

:)
Puzzie   
20 Jul 2012
Genealogy / Poland Heraldry and Nobility in names/families [59]

A great thread - thanks. In reality, our nobility had probably as many titles as its equivalents elsewhere. We can look into the subject in a greater depth. For the time being, I recommend the following Polish heraldry sites:

gajl.wielcy.pl

ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra/publication?id=49

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_szlachecki_(lista_herb%C3%B3w)

Legend has it that my family's genesis goes back to the early 1300's, and that we are descended from Tatars. I'll probably never know for sure though.The Polish nobility was very different to the rest of Europe. Norman Davies gives an excellent account of this in his work "God's Playground". Cheers.

Why wouldn't you know? If you try to dig into the subject, do some serious research, you should succeed in finding out. So the Polish nobility was allegedly "very different to the rest of Europe"? Why? - "Very different" - wow. Concerning Norman Davies, I would advise some caution with his opinions. Not because he is allegedly a "Polonophile." Actually, from my viewpoiont, he is at times Polonophobic. ( I noticed that, sometimes, when somebody likes another nation, he at the same time has a dislike towards it. Strange how the human mind works.) For example, in "Rising 44" he skips mentioning the Polish last names, uses only the first letters of them, on the grounds they're too difficult for the British public to read, or something of this sort. And he quotes a stupid, racist opinion of Dickens on the Polish language as a justification for it. Norman Davies is Welsh and, if I remember it right, in "Isles" he complains about the discrimination by the English against the Welsh language. So when he says the Polish nobility was "very different" from the nobles elsewhere, I advise not to take his word for it.
Puzzie   
19 Jul 2012
Love / My Polish bf cheated on me with a black girl [45]

I am asian. I had a polish bf but he cheated on me

Hon, don't get mad, get even. Go for another Polish guy, maybe one whom your boyfriend knows.

You sound like a great woman - honest and sensitive, and you deserve a good guy who'll make you happy, not miserable.

All the best to ya; hope you hit upon Mr Right very soon.
Puzzie   
19 Jul 2012
Law / POLISH BEER IMPORT TO UK [37]

I am afraid your comment shows you haven't had the pleasure

Sorry, bud, but you avent persuaded me. I developed my preferences over long years, after having tried hundreds of brands. My most favourite is the ESB, which means extra special bitter (if it's cooled properly), then Japanese, German, Polish Zywiec and Czech pilsner.

I'll try some of those you mentioned. No hard feelings, but I hate Stella Artois.

Regards.
Puzzie   
19 Jul 2012
Law / POLISH BEER IMPORT TO UK [37]

Buddy, Polish beer is way better than Belgian. The later, e.g. Stella Artois, tastes to me like pi$$. And it can't compare with the English bitter, particularly ESB, or even Japanese beer. Belgian pi$$, pardon me, "beer,", has been so omnipresent, I think, only thanks to clever advertising and deep-rooted stereotyping. Who would buy Zywiec in Belgium, you ask? Aren't there any Poles in Belgium? The fact that they're ready to pay much more for Polish beer than Belgian is proof of the Polish beer superiority. By the way, you're using our great King's last name as a nick, but, I noticed, you are a vicious Polonophobe. Are all Belgians as Polonophobic as you? Are you really Belgian, or, say, Jewish "Belgian"?

:)