Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]


this probably translates as "a dozen or so..."


"building" is sufficient, or stone building

wychowanie is "upbringing" or rearing as in rearing of children

zabytkowy is "historic"

Language / Polish words difficult to translate into English [66]


no, but you don't find these buildings in the city...when people say "w której kamienicy mieszkasz?" what they really mean is "which building do you live in?" Otherwise fine, have it your way and translate it as "Which urban buiding made of stone do you live in?"

Life / Polish and Czechs [190]


Just a guess but stupid nationalism, mostly. I'ver heard many a fellow Pole say that they (Czechs) are wanna-be Germans, too Germanic to be proper Slavs. I've also heard one or two people mention that they didn't try hard enough to fight Communism until the last minute, when the rest of Eastern Euroipe was doing so, which is simply stupid.

Czechs might resent Poland sending troops to squash the uprisings in 1968 (rendereing the above argument pointless), and they probably resent the domineering numbers of their neighbors up north, we have way more people and are more demanding politically . I'm sure they resent Poland's self-proclaimed role as champion of all things Eastern European, which doesn';t surprise me, especially considering the former paternalistic, backwards-looking government (Czechs probably see thermselves as more European than Poles, who are often seen to be overly-religious and who aren't cool enough to be in the EU...

History / POLAND: EASTERN or CENTRAL European country? [1080]


that's easy to answer - the West is seen as more successful and prestigious, and some Poles have long had an inferiority complex associated with that simple fact of life. The East is popularly seen as the land of the barbarians (read: Russians and Mongols).

Saying you live in Central Europe is a small cheap boost to pride, as it makes it sound like you are closer to the west. Saying you live in E Europe makes it sound like you live amongst the Ruskies. Not all Poles feel this way but this mindset isnt that rare.

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

you are right, the rafik , the distinction is that wypierdalaj means something more like "get the F&%K out of here" like as in get out of my room. Spierdalaj is a simple F&%K OFF.

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


if you signed up for Communist Party membership and were accepted, then yes there were pros, or rather benefits. Why do you think it lasted as long as it did? The people in charge did everything possible to stay in charge, including handing out privileges to the select members of society who could be trusted.

The people who bemoan the demise of communism in Poland are the ones who received comparatively decent wages in the day, and now they earn shite if they even have a job (miners, teachers, etc).

Most people nowadays would argue that the cons (dumpy economy, empty shelves) outweighed the pros (modicum of security in many spheres of life) during the PRL period.

But the whole lack of democracy thing is an overblown argument - now we supposedly have democracy but its limited, and we still have our "masters" everywhere, the only difference is that society has been placated with nice toys and consumer goods so that we willingly shut up and forget about our problems..

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


true, but unfortunately in reality the execution didn't meet expectations:
low crime: nothing valuable enough to steal
no unemployment: many people had unfulfilling jobs provided by the state, and often the state chose your career path for you
free education: ok, that was nice, I agree
free medicare: in hospitals that were under equipped and staffed by questionable doctors (sometimes). although I generally agree that ****** health care is better than no health care..

same standards for all: in theory only, like I said the CP members were the elite and they generally had the law on their side (or a judge here and there who would look the other way because they were "connected").

With all this said, it is not unusual to find Poles who think back fondly upon those times, although this could be simply a matter of reminiscing about the days of their youth, who knows!

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


naw, it's the people. people can only get along for so long, then they turn on each other and all goes to rot. the theory isnt flawed, its people - the only animal on earth that kills/mistreats for pleasure, etc..

History / Life in communism vs democracy in Poland [234]


I tried thinking about it and couldn't come up with any other animal in the animal kingdom that kills or harms other (whether same or different species) just to get his pathological rocks off, or out of hateful intolerance. Lions don't kill antelopes because they look funny or belong to a different religion, they kill them to eat in order to survive. Give me an example of an animal that waterboards other animals, for example...

As far as the press.media goes, here is the difference between Communism and Democracy:
Communism: Lies, omissions and disinformation plus a healthy dose of trivial garbage regarding manganese production.
Democracy: Lies, omissions and disinformation plus a healthy does of trivial garbage regarding celebrities and cool gadgets you can buy.