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Posts by polonius  

Joined: 24 Sep 2012 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 10 Apr 2013
Threads: 54
Posts: 420 		From: USA Shelby Township, MI
Speaks Polish?: yes
Interests: everyhting pertianing to Poland, Polonia, Poles and things Polish

Displayed posts: 474 / page 4 of 16
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polonius   
16 Dec 2012
History / Lefties honour Narutowicz [5]

Interestingly, Palikot gave speciifc examples of hate speech starting with his own appeal to eviscerate (wypatroszyc) Kaczynski. He also mentioned Sikorski's dorznac watahe (slaughter the herd) and PiS remarks about hanging communists.
polonius   
16 Dec 2012
History / Lefties honour Narutowicz [5]

The SLD and Palikot movement held a rally outside Warsaw’s Zachęta Gallery, where Poland’s first president Gabriel Narutowicz was assassinated 90 years ago. SLD leader Leszek Miller told the rally: “The SLD will do everything to stop the march of the brown (shirted) right wing. We cannot allow Poland to turn brown. It is white and red as well as blue with gold stars.” Palikot delivered his 7-point programme to combat hate speech. The event was attended by Presidential adviser Tomasz Nałęcz and mainly leftist-liberal politicians and celebrities. Narutowicz was shot dead by “endek” (nationalist) Eligiusz Niewiadomski who espoused a “Poland for Poles’ philosophy and resented the fact that the president had been elected thanks to Jewish and Ukrainian votes in the general assembly.

A day before the leftist Zachęta rally rightists from the All-Poland Youth and the Radical National Camp marched through the streets of £ódź under the slogan “Anti-commies are coming”, the media reported over the weekend. They included a chant well-known in the early Solidarity period: “Instead of leaves, commies will hang from the trees!” Police estimated the crowd at 500, the organisers gave figures several times higher.
polonius   
15 Dec 2012
News / Multi-culti (in Poland) -- roadmap to disaster? [344]

Merged: Multi-culti no panacea?

PAP reported a Polish-Russian conference devoted to multiculturalism due to take place on Dec. 18. Film director Krzysztof Zanussi was reported as saying: “The Polish understanding of multiculturalism is similar to that popular in the West. We had experienced that in the past as a Republic of many different nations, so maybe that is why after 1989 we displayed less boyscout-style enthusiasm than many representatives of the West who in recent decades regarded it as a panacea for all ills.”
polonius   
15 Dec 2012
News / March for Poland's democracy organized by PiS 13th Dec [49]

Franco was a dictator, but his Stalinist opponents were even a greater threat not only to Spain but toi the entire continent. Ther so-called 'republicans' proudly brandished the portraits of the world's 2nd biggest murderer Stalin (Mao was No. 1), murdered priests, burnt down chruches, raped nuns and tried to introduced a blood-bath along the lines of the Russian or French revolutions. Had they succeded and Spain had becomer a Stalinist beachhead, the Soviets would have been in a better postion to do what they had attempted but failed in 1920.
polonius   
14 Dec 2012
News / March for Poland's democracy organized by PiS 13th Dec [49]

Considering the time -- a chilly weekday evening -- and the fact that Solidarity, the Radio Maryja gang and the nationalists (All-Poland Youth, etc.) did not officially take part, 15,000 is a fair turnout for a PiS march. But hardly spectacular.
polonius   
14 Dec 2012
Food / 'Wigilia', the traditional Christmas Eve supper in Poland [77]

The 12-dish option is not unversal. In some families it must be an odd number of dishes, usually 5, 7, 9 or 11. But an even number of people at table. If there is an odd number, according to tradiotnal lore, one person will not live to see the next Wigilia. In Reymont's 'Peasants' the main character invites a beggar in to assure an even number.
polonius   
14 Dec 2012
Food / 'Wigilia', the traditional Christmas Eve supper in Poland [77]

Carp, mutton and wildgame can be reovlitng if not prepared properly. If properly handled, seasoned and cooked, they can be very nice indeed.
Carp was the imperial fish of China's emperors and any commner caught poaching them was beheaded. Today one billion Asians can't be wrong, because carp is that continent's prime freshwater fish.
polonius   
14 Dec 2012
News / March for Poland's democracy organized by PiS 13th Dec [49]

Zibi
He told me at the time he was annouincign the Foruth Republic that he may have been left at liberty so they could follow him to the Solidarity underground. He wasn't 100% sure btu that was his presumtpion.
polonius   
13 Dec 2012
Food / 'Wigilia', the traditional Christmas Eve supper in Poland [77]

BTW, it is hay not straw that is strewn across the table-top. (I presume the article was written by a city-slicker who doesn't distinguish hay (dried mown grass used as fodder) from straw (grain stems used for cowshed bedding). In the peasant cottages of yore straw was scattered round hte floor or tied to the table legs. A sheaf of unthreshed grain stood in the corner.
polonius   
13 Dec 2012
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

DZIÓBCZYŃSKI: Dziobczeński does nto exist in Poland at present. Under 3 dozen people in Poland sign themselves Dzióbczyński, and their epicentre is western Poland's Wielkopolska region, specifically its Konin area.

Such names are usually of toponymic origin, ie dervied from a village called Dzióbczyn.
The Brazilian analogy was brilliant. Since dziób = beak, rough English equivalents might be something along hte lines of Beakly, Beaking, Beakington, Beakton, Beakman, Beakwood, Beakmont, etc.
polonius   
13 Dec 2012
UK, Ireland / Poles 2nd to Indians in UK [23]

I wonder if anyone who has seen the Polish sitcom 'Londyńczycy' could say how true to life it was. Of course, the sitcom convention leans towards the exaggerated and farcical, but did it contain any grains fo truth? For instance:

-- émigré Poles standing for local office in Britain?
-- setting up businesses of their own rather than just supplying manpower for the UK market?
-- interaction with the Russian mafia?
polonius   
13 Dec 2012
UK, Ireland / Poles 2nd to Indians in UK [23]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I have heard that many Brits enjoy frequentling Polish pubs for the Polish beer and vodka and food as well as shopping in Polish shops for goods that are both tasty and cheaper. Of course, that is possible only where such outlets exist.

In London, Ealing was the hub of the post-WW2 émigrés. Do the new migrants cluster together in any neighbourhoods or are they completely scattered.
polonius   
13 Dec 2012
Life / If you are Polish abroad or of Polish descent, do you celebrate St. Nicholas day? [33]

The example set by the real St Nick is ideal for today's selfish.greedy times. After the daeah of his of wealthy parents, he gave away his entire fortune to the poor. He often did so under the cover of night, leaving gold coins under the pillows of dowryless maidens and not sticking around to be thanked. (Something like our old American Lone Ranger!)

He can be held up for kids today as an example of altruism, helping the less fortunate and sharing what we've got with the disadvanategd and underprivleged.

Unlike Santa, he does not fuel the greed machine by asking: 'And what do you WANT for Christmas little boy' (within earshot of the kid's parents).

ot
polonius   
12 Dec 2012
UK, Ireland / Poles 2nd to Indians in UK [23]

No, I am genuinely interested. What is inflammatory about being in second place? Or asking about the mutual influence of Poles on Brits and Brits on Poles?
polonius   
12 Dec 2012
UK, Ireland / Poles 2nd to Indians in UK [23]

According to a census study, Poles are now second only to Indians as the major immigrant communtiy in the UK.

thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/121253,Census-confirms-Poles-as-UKs-second-biggest-foreign-community

I wonder if anyone on PF would feel competent to compare the impact the post-WW2 DP generation and the current Polish crop have made on life in the UK. (Not a doctoral disseration but maybe a few concise comaprisons?)

To what a extent are today's Polish newcomers assimilating to British cultural and social norms, customs and values?

Have the Polish influenced native Brits and their lifestlyes in any way?

Among the average Brit does the sound of Polish spoken on the streets evoke:
curiosity, interest, indifference or resentment?

In your view, do the majority plan to make a life for themselves in the UK or only want to earn a nest egg before returning home or moving elsehwere?
polonius   
11 Dec 2012
News / PiS wants symmetry for minorites living in Poland [71]

This is not a one-off deal nor an isolated episode but a problem of the Jugendamt (maybe it should be called the Hitlerjugendamt!?) discriminating Poles for years.

Check this out: youtube.com/watch?v=9ClRh5OlyDs
polonius   
10 Dec 2012
News / PiS wants symmetry for minorites living in Poland [71]

I was only reporting what Kaczyński said, not confirming or denying its veracity.
But the fact remains that there are no Polish-language road signs in Germany. Some Sorbian ones only. And no Polish representation in the Bundestag. There are far fewer than 2 million Germans in Poland, but they are guaranteed two seats in parliament.
polonius   
10 Dec 2012
News / PiS wants symmetry for minorites living in Poland [71]

FYI over the weekend PiS leader Kaczyński said there must be symmetry in the treatment of nationol minorities between Poland and her neighbours. Specifically he indicated that Poland was bending over backwards to accommodate the German minority who automatically get Sejm slots and have bilingual signs (names of localities in Polish and German) where they live. The same holds true for Lithuanian Poles in the Puńsk-Sejny areas. Meanwhile, Poles face ethnic discrimination in Lithuania. In Germany they haev no representation in the Bundestag and divorced Polish parents are banned from speaking Polish to their kids.
polonius   
9 Dec 2012
News / EU according to Sikorski [4]

PAP on Sunday reported Foreign Min. Radosław Sikorski attending a World Policy Conference in Cannes. Speaking of the EU's future, he said: 'In my view, the desirable goal would be a political union comprising member states but without any illusions of creating a single European super-state.' He also proposed concrete efforts to jointly protect the EU’s external borders as well as the need to emphasise the EU’s successes such as its anti-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia.

What is your take on the EU's future and why?
1. Should it become a super-state ruled by a Brussels-based super-structure?
2. Should it be a federation of sovereign homelands?
3. Should it be disbanded altogether?
polonius   
8 Dec 2012
Life / Unique Culture Aspects of Krakow [18]

Wieliczka salt mine (and outlying locality but interesting); also the Easter custom rekawka, obwazanki, pigeons and flower vendors in the old Main Marketplace... are a few things that come to mind. Naturally the Hejnal and the story behind it.
polonius   
8 Dec 2012
Life / If you are Polish abroad or of Polish descent, do you celebrate St. Nicholas day? [33]

As in Poland, across our US Polonia it is the Church that helps promote genuine traditions including Swiety Mikolaj. tne celebration I attended at a Polish-American parish in Michigan a few yeasrs ago, Sw. Mikoaj arrived in his espicopal finery, greteed the assembly with the traditonal 'Niech bedzie pochwalony Jezus Chrystus' and proceeded to mingle with the crowd. He chatted t with youngsters, quizzed them on theri prayers and behaviour, had them sing a koleda and suchlike. Meanwhile, the emcee read out a message from St Nick. If I recall it went along these lines: 'I have heard that some of you here hate St Nick and constantly insult him. Some claim I am a transvestite that goes round in the get-up of an oversized beer-bellied elf, cavort on rooftops with a bunch of flea-biutten reindeer, slide down chimneys, go ho-ho-hp and do a lot of other stupid things. Or that I live at the North Pole. What in the world wopuld any saint be doing there --- try trying to convert the polar bears?' The message then expalined what the real St Nick was all about: he leaves gifts and goodies to teach kids the importance of sharing what they have with others.
polonius   
6 Dec 2012
News / March for Poland's democracy organized by PiS 13th Dec [49]

Warsaw's freedom and solidarity march is less than a week away. Y'all come and join Jarek and the lads marching for a truly independent Poland devoid of Tusk's oldboy conman/gangster cronies.
polonius   
6 Dec 2012
Genealogy / THE MEANING AND RESEARCH OF MY POLISH LAST NAME, SURNAME? [4501]

Yes, bryłka can mean a lump or clod of most anything. What your personally remembered ancestors did for a living was not necessarily a reflection of their surname which probably originated centuries ago. On the other hand, since Poland was a nation of peasants 85%), it is not inconceivable they were amongst them.

But we cannot entirely rule out a possibly toponymic source such as the villages of Brylewo or Bryłówek.
polonius   
6 Dec 2012
Language / Mushroom: pieczarka vs grzyb [24]

Nope, dzaidek lived to be 90. Never saw how they were prepared, but were nice in soups and sauces. Prrbably mixed them with flavourful opieńki (honey mushrooms), which were the most abundant in Michigan.

Some mushrooms are poisonouis unless properly prepared, like cooking and then pouring off the first water. I think piestrzenice belong to that category, but I'm no mushroom specialist.