Life / LPG fuel - car conversion cost and process in POLAND [19]


You may need some extra research before making this decission, because a few months ago there was a big fuss about a new tax on gas (LPG), which would put it's price too close to thepetrol prices.

Owners of garages doing conversions were complaining that they were losing clients very fast, because after some basic calculations the new prices made the conversion a bad deal, you wouldn't be able to earn much on the petrol/LPG price difference, so the costs of conversion would make the whole thing not worth it.

But I'm not sure if that new tax has been really introduced (or is going to be soon), or maybe not. Besides petrol prices are also increasing, so maybe it's still worth to use LPG even with the new tax?

Food / Sauekraut and Peas served at Wigilia [15]

kapusta z grochem (or groch z kapustą - but in this order it has also a figurative meaning - a mess, mish-mash)
normally sauerkraut = kapusta kiszona/kwaszona, but for this dish you just use the word "kapusta" (cabbage) without adding "kiszona" (fermented)

Love / Polish Girl & an Arabic Guy - at first it was hard, but now it's great! [46]


believe that's what most of them do when they are abroad, I met several Muslim guys from Arabic country during my university studies, and they didn't have a problem with drinking alcohol, going to discotheques and other things. They may be shy at the beginning, they behave like they were taught at home, but when they realize most of their fellow Muslim students (who have been abroad for a longer time) are doing these forbidden things, they start to.

Work / Average monthly salary in Poland is around 1000 PLN (few hundred bucks). [387]

Silesia isn't, but Katowice (together with Gdańsk) are on the first two places, Warsaw is only third (in recent statistics, Warsaw was always 1st before), anyway the differences are very small (like 50-100 złotych/month), and I think the average was about 2,900 zł gross/month for those 3 cities, so I'm not sure how 2983,98 zł can be average for the whole Poland, but probably I got the numbers wrong - they said those numbers in a recent TV news program and I wasn't really paying much attention :)

Language / Idiomatic Polish [65]


I think you meant "jaki pan, taki kram" :)
but that's not colloquial speach, it's rather one of those sayings that are sometimes used (it's not a proverb, I think, but close to one).

some euphemisms for the verb "umrzeć" ("to die")
przekręcić się (to turn around, roll over)
kopnąć w kalendarz (to kick [in] the calendar)
wyjechać nogami do przodu (to leave with the legs forwards - in a hospital the nurses are usually superstitious, so when they transport you to the operation room, they almost always position the bed on wheels with your head in the direction of the movement, while transporting a body of a deceased the legs are in the direction of the movement)

Life / Any good Polish films to watch? [110]


"Ashes and Diamonds" = Popiół i diament
"Man of Iron" = Człowiek z żelaza
"Kanal" = Kanał
"The Decologue" = Dekalog

Language / Polish slang phrases - most popular. [606]


It's not a crime, but rather a misdemeanor, so you don't get arrested for such things automatically.
Police can sue to a court, if they feel offended (just as anyone can sue you if you call him nasty things in public, maybe even in private, not sure), but it's hard to prove you meant something evil (you cannot technically f*ck the police, only a specific policeman/policewoman), so it goes with the constitutional law of freedom of speech (you simply expressed an opinion, those words had the meaning "I hate police, they are evil bastards and should suffer").

It's easier to get convicted for a jail (or rather a fine to pay) if you call someone "murderer", "thief", "traitor" etc., but then again it should be directed to a specific person, not an institution. So saying "police killed Bambi" is much safer than saying "Police officer, sergeant Smith killed Bambi", because in that case the Mr. Smith would feel offended and if you don't have a proof he did it (or at least that he might have killed the poor Bambi).

Special protection against verbal offence is reserved in Poland for the President of the Republic, but not the Police.

Language / Polish Lessons Units [189]


it's pedał, but you're correct about the other ones, they come from the Latin (or Greek)

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]


probably "pierdol się, szmato"
"fuck you, slut/bitch"

Real Estate / Substantial amount of agricultural land in Poland - what to do with it [23]

I don't know Pacyna (nor Podatkówek - spelling?), but Żychlin is almost exactly 100 km west of Warsaw (Kutno is about 120km) and it lies at the train line Moscow-Warsaw-Poznań-Berlin, also not far from the road Warsaw-Poznań (I can't call it motorway, because it's just one lane in each direction, but still it was the main road on that route for decades), but the new highway goes a different way, I think, more to the south (it goes close to £ódź and then back north-east in the Warsaw direction)

Language / Polish Swear Words [1242]

For pronunciation problems use this: ivosoftware.com (try both male and female voice)

News / Poland - Third World Country?? [300]

Avalon, you clearly lost your mind!
offending Poles and some Polish TV, while you don't know the rules of the UEFA Cup :)
THERE WAS NO PENALTY SHOOT OUT!
first leg result 1-1 (in Munich)
second leg 1-1 (in Getafe), hence the extra time, which ended with 3-3, and Bayern advances to the next stage thanks to away goals (they scored 3 in Spain, while Getafe only 1 in Germany)

Polonia / Ever been to Sweden? [185]

I was to Sweden twice in the early 90's, but if I start posting my thoughts and impressions, it may come out too close to Michal's rants about Poland 20 years ago, so I just say I didn't like the country/people at all :(

Life / Polish movies with English subtitles [87]


I've always considered Polański a Polish director, but the original poster asked about "Polish movies"
it's the producers who aren't Polish (plus the language) that makes it a "foreign" movie for me :)

as much as Jerzy Skolimowski's "30 Door Key" (based on Gombrowicz's book Ferdydurke), but made in English (using the English translation of the book)

Life / Polish movies with English subtitles [87]

ranjit, I really don't know your taste, so I just tell you what you can/could buy in Poland (I'm guessing you're living here like your profile says).

From my collection, films that have Eng subs listed on their cover (I haven't checked each of them, but let's hope the are no mistakes):

- Sami Swoi, S.Chęciński, 1967 / (my vote 9.5 out of 10)/ hilarious comedy, set in the post war Poland, portraying conflicts of the "old" (peasant traditions) with the "new" (communist state), great performances by leading actors, a cult movie in Poland (also PL subtitles).

- Wszystko co najważniejsze, R. Gliński, 1992 / 7 out of 10 / drama, based on a biographical book, Polish family (husband communist, - mother of Jewish origin + son), separated and deported by Russians (WWII) to Kazachstan (mother and son), their struggles with everyday life, humiliations by both Russians guards and Polish co-prisoners (because they're atheist/communist, and also Jewish).

- Dekalog, K. Kieślowski, indeed 100 bucks (also here), but it's 10 episodes (each one is ~55 minutes and it's not a TV series, though made for TV) it's basically 10 (maybe 8, depending on taste) good or very good movies for the price of 10 bucks each. (the series is rather famous, so I won't go into details, the Polish release DVD cover mentions also PL and French subtitles).

- Pornografia, J.J. Kolski, 2003, based on a book by famous (yet not much translated into English) Polish writer, Witold Gombrowicz, can't say if it's good or not, because I don't fancy Kolski so I just bought the DVD a while ago (because of Gombrowicz), but haven't seen the movie yet :(

- Pół serio, 2000, Ciało, 2003, both by T. Konecki (the second one co-directed by his scriptwriter A. Saramonowicz), Pół serio gets 6 out of 10 from me, Ciało 6.5. Pół serio is para-biographical - about a 2 young film makers that want to make their first movie, so they show their script to a producer who, depending on his mood, is forcing them to re-write the script to make it a bloody action movie, or a Star Wars wannabe, or Bergmanesque, or modern Romeo and Juliett (with product placement going way overboard), it's actually a series of loose episodes (because all those attempts at different cinematographic styles are shown in a form of 5-10 minutes pieces), not very coherent, on purpose. Ciało is close to absurd, misadventures of a dead body transported by nuns from abroad, for the funeral in Poland, the deceased was their fellow nun who died in Hungary or Czech Rep., but because of robbery the body ends up in a wrong place and subsequently changes hands several times, because there's another body in a movie etc.

- Pręgi, M. Piekorz, 2004, my vote 8 or 6 (depending on the mood) out of 10. A drama, divided into 2 parts, first the main character is a child (I like this part of the movie more), in the second part he's a 25 y.o. or so man. It's about a difficult (and phisically painful) relations with his father and later him not being able to liberate himself from the childhood trauma, but also from the father's shadow (going into his footsteps too much).

- Nóż w wodzie, R. Polański, 1962, my vote 10/10. Polański's only movie made in Poland (except of course his shorts), a psychodrama for 3 (a married couple and a stranger) on a boat. The tensions between the the older, rich husband, his younger wife and the young hitchhiker. The problem is that the Polish release (by TVP / Best Film) has a VHS tape quality of the picture, so maybe check if there hasn't been a new release with restored picture. Criterion release probably lacks some crucial dialogues in the subtitles, if I'm not mistaken.

Wojna światów - następne stulecie, 1981
O-bi, O-ba - Koniec cywilizacji, 1984
Ga, Ga - Chwała bohaterom, 1985
all by P. Szulkin, a sci-fi trilogy, of course very low budget (it was made right before/after the martial law in Poland), not great, but not bad either, has its fans even abroad, the main focus is not on the technique but rather on philosophical, psychical and social aspects of an alien invasion or post nuclear life in a closed, decimated society.

- Edi P. Trzaskalski, 2002, drama, can't really say I liked it, but it's not bad for a modern Polish cinema (which suffered a huge collapse in the 90's),

- A. Wajda was already mentioned, so I just write what foreign subtitles are available on the Polish releases of his movies I got on DVD:

- Kanał, 1957 - eng / fra / ger / rus
- Popiół i diament, 1958 - eng / fra / ger / rus
- Wesele, 1972 - eng / fra / ger / rus / pol
- Ziemia obiecana, 1975 - eng / fra / ger / rus / spa / ita
- Panny z Wilka, 1979 - eng / fra / ger / rus / spa / ita

- Iluminacja, 1972 and Barwy ochronne, 1976, both by K. Zanussi, a specific director, his films are mostly all talk, but he lacks the wit of Woody Allen for example, and the dynamics of the character relations isn't satisfaying for me, still he covers some important topics (the choices we make in our lives), in the 70's he was one of the most prominent figures in the Polish "moral dilemmas cinema" (with K.Kieślowski, A.Wajda, A.Holland).

Iluminacja has the following subs - eng / esp / fra / ger / pol
Barwy ochronne - eng / esp / fra / ger

Just remember that the mentioned films are the ones I own so it doesn't exclude English subtitles in other movies, but here's a list of my DVDs without subtitles, to save you some time searching (I'm referring to recent years releases of course, mostly 2003-2007, currently you can buy Dvix movies on merlin.pl or other online shops, cheap, 10 bucks for a DVD with usually 3-4 films, it's said the quality is good, because it's some improved dvix format, but I don't have any of them, so I don't know if it's is really DVD quality and if they have subtitles):

Rozmowy kontrolowane
Miś (Polish cult classic, comedy)
(both by S. Bareja)
Przesłuchanie, R. Bugajski (great drama, 10/10 from me)
Nie ma mocnych, S.Chęciński (his sequel to Sami swoi, not so succesful, but not bad, the third part, Kochaj albo rzuć sucked)

Wodzirej, F. Falk
Pociąg
Matka Joanna od Aniołów
Faraon
Austeria
(all 4 by J. Kawalerowicz)
Życie wewnętrzne, M. Koterski
Dzień świra, M. Koterski
Dług, K. Krauze (I only have the VCD, so not sure about the DVD)
Mój Nikifor, K. Krauze
Pułkownik Kwiatkowski, K. Kutz
Kiler edit: I forgot I only have a cheap 4 złoty version, sold witha newspaper, so maybe the regular release does have subtitles
Seksmisja (another Polish cult classic, comedy, as good as Sami swoi or Miś)
(both, Kiler and Seksmisja, by J. Machulski)
Eroica. Symfonia bohaterska w dwóch częściach
Zeoowate szczęście
(both by A. Munk)
Rejs, M. Piwoski, also a cult comedy, but rather hermetic, too difficult for a foreigner, unless he knows something about Polish reality (in the seventies), but I would recommend S. Bareja's comedies first (those form the 70's and also TV series Alternatywy 4, as a kind of introduction to the absurds of the everyday life in the communist times. Unfortunatelly, I'm not sure if any Bareja's movies have subtitles.

Tato, M. Ślesicki
Matka Królów, J. Zaorski

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]


oh, I should've have said that too, sorry for being rude, mypips33 :)

Language / Dziadzia / Babcia - help me with spelling/pronunciation [81]


that's the official one you find in a dictionary,

babunia, babusia are diminutives, while busia is a shorter form of babusia (and I don't hear it in Poland, but I read on these forums that "busia" is common among American Poles or Polish Americans, if you prefer)

and when kids start talking they rather use "baba", as they can't pronounce more difficult words for some time :)

for pronounciation, copy and paste the words into:
ivosoftware.com/
(try both female and male voice)

Love / What are the best love poems in Polish to receive? [77]

why? should he pretend he wrote them? without knowing Polish at all?

Life / The Polish Wedding - What is it Like in Poland? [338]

google fro "Góralu, czy ci nie żal" (I'm assmuing that's the song you mean, I'm not going to read aPole's whole post now)

Law / HELP: ALLEGRO... Do most Polish buyers at allegro.pl use PayPal? [33]

confirming: bank transfers, the reason PayPal is not popular in Poland: they waited too long, they started their services here only about 3 years ago (and it was only one-way traffic first - you could pay someone, but you weren't allowed to receive cash). I think they missed the opportunity and won't conquer Polish market too soon.

Life / Streaming online Polish TV [85]

Yes, but nothing good, some cheap channels, none of the serious ones (with something interesting in their program offer) stream.

Language / in Polish slang, what is the difference between Siema and Siemka? [64]


pejorative


definitely the first option (negative meaning), diminutive is more two-ways (smaller or nicer).


zamczysko - dark, unpleasant castle (with nasty ghosts, for example :)


dupa - ass (arse, bottom)
dupeńka, dupcia - diminutives
dupsko - pejorative

osioł - ass/donkey
osiołek - diminutive (to underline that it's a nice ass)
oślątko - diminutive (to create "baby" version of the big animal, so a young offspring of donkeys)

Genealogy / ABOUT KUKULKA [42]


coz normal spelling would be Kukułka (without the "l" before the 2nd "k", and of course "ł", not "l")

Life / Disco Polo - No No No No No! [95]


definitely roommate (from £omża near Białystok, that was the capitol of the Disco Polo in the 90's, so I guess the "genre" is more persistent in the area)

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [869]

Polish hatred to Germans:
some basic info:
killed millions of Poles (mostly civilians), destroyed and stole as much of the country as they were able to. I guess everyone knows that and it's an old story, I can hear the replies: "get over it", these were fathers/grandfathers of the current Germans, so they can't be responsable" etc.

I agree, but I can't overlook the imminent consequences of that 1939 assault:
It CHANGED our 20th century history, indirectly throwing us in the arms of the post-war Soviet Union, thus indirectly deprived us of 50 years of free market economy (not to mention citizen rights, like freedom of speech etc. or other non measurable consequences).

So the EU gave us millions or billions of Euro, to build a highway or two, and you think it's ok?
Without that war, with normal economic growth (no communism), Poland would have those highways built by now with its own money, like all western European countries did.

So yeah, I don't blame today's Germans for the war, I don't hate Germany or its people, and I'm, to a certain degree, thankful for the "alms" we receive, but asking me to love the country that had caused my country to be in a beggar's shoes is a little overboard.

History / Whom do the people in Poland hate more: Germans or Russians? [869]


trolling again or being serious?

I sincerely hope you're trolling around, because if you think you can buy someone so easily, you really need a reality check.


we don't eat poison, thank you.

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]

No need to be sorry, I never even considered going to US because of this bureaucracy, but I heard/read lots of complaints from normal people who wanted to go (in Polish we say they "had to prove that they are not camels"). And I think the problem had existed long before 9/11.

But it's quite offtopic, so I stop here, because I have no helpful information to offer :(

Work / Poland Work Permit / Study Visa Processing Times [191]


that's the price for keeping the nasty visa system for Poles in the USA (many rejections, 100$ fee not refundable even if your application gets rejected by th US embassy, many other annoying things during the processing of your application).

Genealogy / Polish surname Gil. My ancestors were from the town of Widelka. [74]

I can't help with genealogy, but here are the Polish versions of the names you mentioned (just in case you need them when searching Polish archives records):

Peter - Piotr
Mary Ann - Marianna (but 100 years ago different spellings were possible, I guess, like Maryjanna, or she simply had two given names Maria Anna)
Agate - Agata
Rose - Róża
Lukas - £ukasz
Sophia - Zofia

the surname Gil exists in Poland not only in Widełka


it's Kolbuszowa

Travel / Fishing in Poland - where to go, what to catch? [74]

as a vegetarian I shouldn't be posting any advice for you ugly hunters/fishermen, but I don't want you to go in jail or risk a fine, so make sure you're allowed to be fishing in Poland, because (in theory) you'd need to buy a licence for that, if I'm not mistaken