Life / How far apart do Poles stand when they talk? [46]

I've never noticed anything odd about person to person distance whilst taking part in conversation with Polish people, although I have noticed that Spanish, Italian and Greek people I have spoken to, tend to stand closer. I don't know where to look this kind of thing up (what the hell does one call this subject?) Taking it to be a north-south thing, one would expect Norwegians to stand even further apart, whilst Eskimos would merely shout at eachother across several metres of icy northern landscape, although I have a feeling Eskimos stand closer together.

We have on this forum, Poles, Britons, Americans, a couple of Greeks, at least one Spaniard, a very famous Serb... I was hoping someone might chime in with some interesting (... yawn) facts about this matter, but I'm even boring myself with it and resorting to words like "intercourse" to try to liven it up.

Food / YOUR FAVOURITE POLISH EASTER FOODS? [23]


They stopped drinking alcohol for lent, but much to my dismay (okay, slightly to my dismay), they kept eating pancakes. When someone had a name day, a bottle of whisky was opened (but not vodka, this may be an important detail).

I'm looking forward to what might be served at Easter.

Language / Przypadki (Polish language cases) [59]

The thing to do is to tell the learner that there are a lot of different cases, some of which share word endings in various places. But don't give them all of them at once. Start with an easy one like the instrumental, or perhaps the genitive plural for counting things.

Love / They seem nice, but could Polish girls be "gold diggers"? [196]

Are gold diggers "Polish girls"?

Find somewhere with the right kind of geology to yield large amounts of gold and do the comparison.
Goodnight and God bless.

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]


Greek is best for this. It's pronounced Evros.


I didn't until I placed the cursor over the lower half of the letter P.

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]


Anyone know the exchange rate with Osiolian Florins? I just think the word dollar is used in more than enough currencies already. I like the quirky old names of currencies, some of which have now disappeared. The dullest name for any currency has to be the Euro.

Genealogy / Why Polish aren't white?? [272]

Angolans are white, according to a Pole I was talking to once. Crazy guy, even thought I was Angolan.

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]


Another incarnation of pgtx?

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

Osiol's omnibus

Stuff happened this week. Miranda decided not to post another omnibus until people stop arguing and start being nice to eachother. Seanus posted loads of stuff that no-one in the world has time to read (a bit like I used to). Other people posted stuff that I haven't read... and so on.

I wouldn't make a very good journalist, would I?

Food / What is your favorite Polish Vodka? [653]

No more for another 39 days or so for those of you observing Lent.

We had been working our way around vodkas from other countries. I think it was the Smirnoff that nearly killed me (hint: if you have predictive text on your mobile phone, key the word Smirnoff in and see what you get). Finlandia was alright, seemed quite clean. That one comes from Suomi, wherever the Helsinki that is. Then there was Absolut, again not too bad. Still not my favourite thing ever from Sweden, although maybe preferable to Ikea.

I have considered doing a consumer test of various Polish vodkas. I could do it right now. Right next to me is my drinks cabinet (bag). I still have a splash of Żubrówka for the taste of the tropical side of Poland (anyone else think of coconut?) Then there's some Wódka Żołądkowa Gorzka, which does have a nice flavour (I'm not sure what particular special bitter herbs are used in it). Then for the plain vodka, there is half-an-hour's worth of Mazowiecka żytnia (Mazovian rye vodka) and half a bottle of Wyborowa.

I am far more tempted by plain vodka, drunk a shot in one go followed by a swig of apple juice rather than the fancy flavoured varieties, although I am always willing to try. (Okay, so not exactly always - I have to do other things from time to time such as work or sleep). As with whisky, something produced from a single variety of grain looks a lot more tempting than something thrown together from a mix of barley, oats, potato and the like.

Should I drink or should I leave it? The Mazowiecka has not returned to the bag quite yet.

Law / Mr. Men and Little Miss series - trying to bring it onto the Polish market [20]


Mr.Grumpy? Mr.Greedy? Mr.Nepotism?

Off-Topic / PF - The Omnibus Edition [1502]

Very refreshing. Although I enjoy Szarlotka's ramblings, his editor never seems to allow such a concise and breezy run through of PF's latest events. Cheers Miranda.

Language / Harmless old-fashioned Polish swear words/phrases [159]

Cholera

There's an old chap at work whose swearword of choice seems to be cholera. He was off work today seeing the doctor. I imagine the doctor telling him that, no, he isn't actually suffering from cholera. He doesn't exhibit a particularly choleric character.

USA, Canada / WHAT IS THE US POLONIA LIKE? [42]

So is Chicago like a really big version of Slough?

Language / When to use: Znać/Wiedzieć & lub/albo [23]


To be acquainted with. (Apparently it compares with French: connaitre, German kennen and dialect English ken)

Znam Dave - I know Dave.
Znam to dziecko - I know this children.
Znam to słowo - I know this word.


Wiem, że... - I know that...
Wiedzą, kto... - They know who...
Wiesz, jakie... - You know what kind of...
Wiem wszystko - I know everything
Nic nie wiem - I don't know anything

Careful with umieć, meaning to know how to.
Umiem pływać - I know how to swim

Albo and lub, I think are completely interchangable. Just use the one that you feel like using at the time. Albo might be more popular in everyday speech, but who am I to know?

History / Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto? [582]

Ghetto is not as easy a term to grasp as "camp" (often accompanied by words like concentration, extermination or death). Ghettos have existed for a very long time, but have varied from being something close to the "camp" type of thing, so simply areas of Jewish communities where people have chosen to live together in close proximity. 1938, as Bzibzioh has pointed out, is a little too early to study the nastier side of things. To understand the situation before WWII with regards to Jewish communities in Europe, and specifically Poland, it is necessary to look further back than just before WWII.

Life / What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live? [125]

I hadn't considered the thought that I'd allow a Polish woman over here to beat me into submission. I had been getting quite close to the idea of upping sticks and moving, particularly after seeing how someone else I know had made a complete balls-up of relocating to Poland (I thought I could do far far better!) If I do put my flat up for rent, it'll most likely be because I want to help fund getting a slightly bigger place to live in over here. She seems to have more of a pessimistic view of things. A bit of Osioł magic should remedy that. (I fully expect to read the letters W, T and F with regards to that comment).

I will need a holiday in Poland before too long. There are people to visit over there. I've been offered a couple of beers and a barbeque (so that should definitely mean more than just a couple of beers).

Life / What can citizens do to make Poland a better place to live? [125]

Thinking about the positive things in life can do wonders. It helps you to think of ideas that a negative mind wouldn't dream up, and to carry those ideas out. Being polite, grateful for what you DO have and generous with those things in life that don't actually cost you anything (a smile, a polite word), can help anyone to become positive.

So-called-krates' point about blame was a good one, assuming it to have been a sarcastically-made point. Blame is negative. I'm now going to quote Detroit proto-punk band the MC5. I'm not sure if they nicked this particular rant off someone else before though.

The time has come for each and every one of you to decide whether you're gonna to be the problem or whether you're gonna be the solution... kick out the jams motherf...

History / The Celts in Poland. [71]

I think if you look at what spread Celtic culture, you might find that it was small numbers of warrior people who roamed around Europe taking over places, where the sedentary population remained pretty much the same. Remember that Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, Italic, etc. languages all descend from the same group. Some of the differences may be accounted for by this language being adopted by different groups who already spoke different (unrelated?) languages.

History / The Celts in Poland. [71]

I don't believe they were the same Celts. Modern day Celts descend from the people who have lived there since people first migrated to Britain and Ireland after the last ice-age. Culture moves faster and further than people.

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [372]


Mountains, temperate rainforest, vineyards, palm trees, glaciers, ancient buildings and stuff. Geologically it's quite a varied place.

Travel / Weird and wonderful sights in Poland [30]


Isn't that the point though? Does weird mean something different to you than it does to me?

Love / The age of consent in Poland is only 15 [147]

Why not when IT started posting that stuff that actually finally got him banned? It doesn't need repeating, but it goes against his claim this legal situation being a disgrace.

News / What is Poland's politics towards Norway? [56]

I have admiration for just about any country that promotes a penguin to high office in their army. I was just wondering how well this goes down amongst other people around the world.

News / What is Poland's politics towards Norway? [56]

What do Poles think of Sir Nils Olav?

pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Olav
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nils_Olaf

Language / Terms of endearment in Polish [209]


Daisy. The kind of thing that grows as a weed in lawns. Bellis spp. although particularly Bellis perennis.


Nice.

Language / Interesting Polish tongue twister. [50]

Someone at work wrote this down for me, but his handwriting was so bad I can't make out most of the letters. Perhaps writing it is as difficult as saying it because I'd been finding it nigh on impossible to read. I'd still like to know exactly what it means. I've got three out of four words!

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


... which is itself an ancient word. Just because it is deemed to be rude doesn't mean it doesn't have roots all the way back to the hypothesised proto-Indo-European. Well, maybe.

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


The question is not "do children use this expression?" but "is it actually acceptable in polite society where children may be present?"

My girlfriend tells me off for saying things that I think aren't too bad, then I hear her say things that to me, sound even worse in front of the kids. I've never been able to find out exactly at what level piździ is.


But in Silesian?