News / Poland's "historical path" is that of "fascism" (Jew attack alert) [43]


Of course, we all now that liberal hysterics getting the vapors is not the reason. The reason is Germany's past during WW2, when deportation was put to good use.. Shame about that past is also what drives Merkel's position on immigrants.

History / Why is Poland weaker than Russia? [390]


They are ruling the UK

News / Poland's young voters turning to the right - DW news [105]


Polls also said Brexit would not take place

Life / Why are Poles in other countries called "Plastic Poles"? [168]

Nonetheless i believe a person should be proud of rheir roots, their culture, traditions and seek ro pass it onto their kids and have their kids pass it onto theirs and so forth - for all cultures.

Agree with the second part of this sentence, not with the first one. How can one be proud of something in which one played no role?? And by definition, no one is responssible for where they were born; one is responsible for what one becomes, and that can be a matter for being proud.

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]

Yes, but Chopin, despite his "French sounding" name is definitely Polish, not French.. His love of Poland (and its struggle to become independent) transpires in all the music he wrote.. That shows that it is more the place where you were born/where you live that makes one's identity, rather than the "blood linage".

History / History of two Neighbors: Poland - Germany Interrelations [283]

@Crow
You are always such an entertainer Crow!

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


It is all in the almost!


Not true. Northern France has some very pungent cheese (maroilles, vieux lille, boulette d'avesnes..) but the best French cheese come from the regions south of the Loire river (eg Roquefort from south west, vacherin from the Alps, brillat savarin from Burgundy, St Félicien or St Marcellin from Dauphiné région...)

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]

Agree re Munster. Another one of the same type (barking but non biting dog..) is "stinking bishop", a British cheese from Gloucestershire if I remember correctly. Used to buy it regularly when my family and I lived in London in the nineties..

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]

Yes, and as Donald says, US wine (and food and cars and anything you can think of) is the best there is anywhere in the world!

Language / Game - guess Polish idioms/sayings in direct English translation [1677]

Why a "whipping boy" and not a "whipped boy" which would seem more relevant given the meaning?

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]

easier than getting spelling right it seems!!

and I nearly forgot, the fact of the day: Wisconsin produces almost 60% of all cheese varieties existing on the planet

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]

I think we are talking about two different things here:

- industrial (processed) cheese which is the most ubiquitous type you find in most shops. Most of it is produced in the US (think cheese slices in burgers) , but Britain is also a strong contender, which is quite natural given both countries are (still) great proponents of industrialized/processed food (although things are changing)

- local artisan cheese. This is the norm in many continental European countries, but such cheese can also be found in Britain (farmers' markets) and in several US states, like Wisconsin or Vermont or others.

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Indeed. Most non Brits are in a similar position, since those shops appeal mainly to Brits living abroad who crave their Mumy's food from their youth in the UK. Noone in their right mind would want British food (save for a few exceptions like cheese...) if they don't have the excuse of youth addiction!

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]


I suppose you mean l'âme de la nation polonaise rather than l'ane (the donkey) de la nation polonaise??


Nope. Remember that the vikings navigated the Seine from there raided France several times from the IXth century until they decided to settle around the river, hence the name Normandie (land of the men from the North). Then a century later after having settled and become de facto French (France has jus soli and not jus sanguinis), they raided England thanks to William the Conqueror. What can we infer from this:

1) Britain is in fact a French colony which turned sour :)
2) if not French, the French would be speaking a Danish or Swedish dialect. Proximity between Scandinavia and France is further confirmed by the fact that the current Royal family of Sweden is of French origin, the first of the dynasty having been Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon's marshalls, who became King of Sweden in 1818.

News / Tram line to Warsaw's Wilanów finally to be built. [35]

Have they started to build this tram line?

Polonia / Poland and France cultures are similar [112]


Who knows? You have the remember that the Plantagenets who gave England several kings were in fact of Norman origin (in fact not exactly from Le Mans but the city was in Normandy at the time); that Henri II spent most of his time in what is today France rather than in England and that he married Aliénor d'Aquitaine who became queen of England after having been queen of France; together they produced two subsequent kings of England


A colony can keep its own language. Examples abound


All the above has to be taken with a pinch of salt!

News / Tram line to Warsaw's Wilanów finally to be built. [35]


3 reasons:

1) Lived in Warsaw between 2005 and 2011
2) My wife is Polish
3) We still own a house in Wilanow.

News / Tram line to Warsaw's Wilanów finally to be built. [35]

Who is in charge of the project, is it the mayor of Warsaw or the Polish government?

News / Tram line to Warsaw's Wilanów finally to be built. [35]

Thanks Jon

Love / I want my Polish gf to live with me but she says life here is too hard [31]

what topic?? the thread is 9 years old..

Law / Penalty for driving on expired license in Poland? [30]


Not true, in France it is 15 years, and the renewal is a simple admin matter (no new driving test, mo medical check)

Language / So why did you give up learning Polish? [105]


dear Lyzko, haven't you just given a ranking, albeit implicitly?? 1. Anglos (4 writers/poet names), 2. French (3), 3. Germans (2) 4. Poles (1!).. Just kidding of course, but sometimes subconscious plays games!

Law / GDP or GDP per capita - what's more accurate number in Poland? [10]

Come on..In most developed countries, the service sector represents 70% of GDP, with manufacturing and agriculture put together 30%. if you don't take into account services, you miss out on 70% of wealth creation!!

Language / So why did you give up learning Polish? [105]

I agree with Lyzko, there is no language which is superior a or inferior to another. Yet, what is fascinating is that by studying a language you can understand (at least partially) the culture of a country and how people behave. English for example is, as others previously wrote, relatively straightforward to learn at a basic level (simple structures, etc) but it is a very rich language in terms of vocabulary (at least compared to Polish, French or German). It is also very flexible, a key British characteristic. The main difficulty for a foreigner is to learn to pronounce correctly a word previously never encountered, since the same group of letters can be pronounced very differently (eg pea or meadow, live or.. live, etc). In English, you have to look beyond what meets directly the eye (similar group of letters) to understand the true meaning; a bit like when a Brit says "interesting " meaning in reality "utter bxx"..

On the contrary, Polish pronunciation, however intimidating it might appear at the outset (all those z, sz, cz and diacritics!) is quite straightforward in the sense that each letter/group of letters is always pronounced the same. But when you get into the structure of language, you do have a glimpse at the complexity of the Polish (Slavic?) soul. Unlike English were most nouns have no gender (with a few exceptions), French which has 2 genders, German 3 genders, Polish has 5 genders (3 on the surface, but if you had the personal, animate, inanimate subdivisions of masculine that's 5). In addition, whereas German has 4 declensions, Latin 6, Polish has 7. So that's 35 possibilities (5x7), which is impossible to get right for a "normal" foreigner, especially when you realise that declensions also vary within a given gender depending on the ending, soft of hard (Kasiu but Edyto). And that is without taking into account that negative sentences are also declined! A real nighmare! My favourite summary of the complexity (or subtlety depending from where you are coming from) is the very simple Polish equivalent of " there is bread/there is no bread". Not only do we have the declension due to the negative, but unlike in any other non slavic language i know, the verb is not the same in the positive and negative phrases: jest chleb but nie ma chleba!! For me that beats everything

Law / GDP or GDP per capita - what's more accurate number in Poland? [10]


That's highly debatable.. I think that in reality it is the other way around, it is a higher rate of consumption of services as opposed to primary (agri) or secondary (manufactured goods) which characterizes a highly developed economy

UK, Ireland / Polish People are Welcome in Scotland [41]

@Ziemowit
Long live the Auld Alliance!

Love / Should a marriage proposal to a partner from Poland be done in private or public? [27]


Hopefully that happened 9 years ago..

News / Tram line to Warsaw's Wilanów finally to be built. [35]


The line maybe but no the entrances to the metro station. I find them quite disgraceful with all those angular lines..

Work / TAXATION for a foreigner in Poland [11]

Maybe it was heaven for you or for other western foreigners, but it was hell for the Poles living there. I think the current situation is much preferable :)

Work / TAXATION for a foreigner in Poland [11]

Indeed, I remember eating a delicious meal in Wierzynek in 1986 for a few francs. Even expensive French wines were cheaper in Poland than in France when you applied the black market exchange rate.. I also remember coming somewhat shameful out of this meal; there was a table of Germans next to us behaving as though the place belonged to them..