Cultural disparities shown through Polish and English languages

The only bad part of English is that every sucker knows it, the world over.

Name the one that is superior to English.

Another disparity with dogs.

In English:you can`t teach an old dog new tricks. In Polish: you shouldn`t move/replant old trees.

Why so? Coz Poland abounded in forests while England had to import wood, also from Poland?

Another one:

In English it is required to use titles with surnames: Ms Shufflebottom, Mrs Crankshaw, Mr Haggard. etc. In Polish it is also normal but after some time, when the relation lasts longer time but it is still formal, they can switch to a title with the first name: Ms Dżesika, Mrs Grażyna, Mr Janusz. It sounds nicer and creates warmer atmosphere. A boss to the secretary: Mr Janusz, can you stay a few extra hours coz I need you to handle this new correspondence?

Does it mean the English are/were more formal while Poles casual?

The title+first name is (or at least was) used in the Southeast US, especially when children were talking to adult friends of the family. I kind of like the practice as it shows respect but allows a child to avoid struggling with difficult-to-pronounce surnames.

I had an elderly black neighbor who grew up in the South. She didn't get around well so I'd help her do stuff. She always called me Mr. Paul. So I guess the practice extended to adults in some cases as well.

Wasn`t it a sign/symbol of extreme respect she wanted to show? Like those British titles of Sir? Sir Francis (Drake).

Don't know. Her background was so different from mine that I just accepted it. It didn't feel comfortable for me to call her Ms. Mable so I just went with Mable. I don't know how many people were Mr. or Ms. besides me. I know she didn't have much good to say about some of her family so she just called them by their first name. But when she got a cat she named it Ms. Kitty. I kind of got the impression that the title was used for people she liked more than anything.

A friend (from the North) moved to Georgia for work and his children were born there. He taught them to call adults with title+first name as well. I think it was pretty common to do that.

More like common courtesy (US southern style which is more like Poland than either is to mainstream US norms). IME I'd say adding "miss" (pronounced 'mizz') before first names was more common than adding mr before first names..

Similarly, in a lot of the south you'd never answer a question with just "yes" or "no" (unless you were common) the correct forms were

"yes sir" "no sir" "yes ma'am" and "no ma'am" (no comma because there's no pause)

For more well off families (which liked to name kids after elders) 'young' or 'old' might be added before mr or miss...

I find the Polish use of diminutive names intriguing. I don't know all the "rules" for diminutives but it seems like a person receives a diminutive name almost immediately. But there is never a diminutive last name. In the US it takes a little while longer to get a "nickname" but it can be either name or a completely new name unrelated to a person's real name.

Another one but I am not sure about it so let me ask this question first:

Do English speakers say open the door when they mean unlocking it? Coming back from shopping yesterday I texted my wife to unlock the door so that I could enter with shopping bags in my hands, pushing the door handle down with my elbow. And I wrote: otwórz drzwi - literally open the door. but it was obvious I meant unlocking.

I'd be surprised if you could find speakers of a language that didn't do that... I'd only say 'unlock the door' if the door was meant to stay closed.... and even then I'd more likely say 'just leave the door unlocked' (as I used to say to an office mate before we both had to change offices)

Yes, that`s what I meant. The door was to stay closed and I was supposed to push the handle down with my elbow, as I just said. Would any English speaker say: Open the door? in such a situation?

Why wouldn't they?

In your situation the door was locked and you wanted it unlocked, so 'open' makes sense. In the situation I described it was already unlocked and I was saying there's no need to lock it and take the key since I'll be back very quickly....

I see, thanks. Pity coz I thought it would be different in English, giving us an opportunity to invent another cultural disparity. :):)

Well the disparity is in the imperative.... "otwórz drzwi" is fine in Polish while a plain "open the door" is not so.... nice in English (at least where I'm from I'm not sure about rude people from other places).

I probably wouldn't write "open the door" and certainly wouldn't say it (unless I'm feeling a bit confrontational). I'm more likely to ask "could you get the door, please?" texting I might write a question "door open?" counting on the addressee to fill in the blanks.

Of course, I texted it so I needed to be succinct.

just as "door open?" is succint... the main point is that there are fewer restrictions on using imperatives in Polish than in English (esp NAmerican)

Sth interesting occured to me. Today I heard a Pole say: zniszczony telefon - destroyed phone. When you hear such an expression, you imagine the phone is completely destroyed, like burned or crushed into pieces.

However, that Polish guy meant only a cracked screen. The phone was still working and the crack was more an easthetic flaw than serious damage.

Hence, a conclusion: Poles like to overuse the word destroyed meaning just damaged.

I have been thinking why but can`t reach any plausible explanation. Can anybody help with socio-historical psychology?

In Poland the cup tends to be half empty and not half full, hence the over dramatisation and focus on the negative.

Just my own observation

So they need Louise Hay's teachings more than others.

This is not socio-psychology, but common usage referring to garments. For me, it would be typical to hear.from my wife: "Chodzisz w zniszczonej kurtce. Musisz kupić sobie nową". It doesn't mean my coat is destroyed in the sense I can no longer wear it, but only means it is used-up. So the Polish verb has a wider meaning than the English verb here. The guy has transfered this 'garment' usage onto a technical device which is not strictly correct, but is acceptable in speech, though ambiguous.

Many people would still say "mam porysowany ekran (w telefonie)" or "mam porysowany telefon".

Yes, quite possible.

Common reference to garment is also based on socio psychology. )


Yes, but WHY?? :)


Not really. A lot of my students, when they write mock exam emails of complaint about a delivery of a damaged product, they use destroyed translated directly from Polish.

I just ran into a little difference: the reservation is written under the name of Mr Smith. In Polish it is different - the reservation is on the name. Does it imply any cultural disparity?

In the UK it would be acceptable to say the reservation is under the name of/in the name of e.g Mr Smith.

Absolutely, I'd go further and the traditional Polish mindset will focus on the glass being 10% empty!!!!!! and not 90% full....

I would say reservations can be made under or in the name of someone... I kind of think there might be some slight difference in meaning but it goes away when I think about it....

On the other hand, without the words "the name" I'd say "reservation for (name)" as in "Do you have a reservation for (Mr) Smith?"

I'd go even further and say the traditional Polish mindset is the glass is 10% empty and it's only a matter of time before someone comes along and knocks the glass over and breaks the damn thing. :)

While making no provision whatsoever to safeguard the glass from its fate.....

:):):). Because, it is the glass' fate, afterall.

Perhaps the defective articles "the", "a" in Polish, as in Russian, reflect a perceptual difference in the way certain Slavic
languages view the world.

Hey again, gang! Just wondering whether ways of referring to people in the Polish vs. the English - language press constitute a cultural difference. For example, in our local journal, "..Jedna lokatorka, pani TTeresa mowila..", as compared wwith an American paper, "One tenant, Therera Hartley, said.." and so forth

Hotel regulations in Britain: Cots/extra beds are provided upon request would probably be translated into Polish as on demand - na żądanie. Cultural difference seems to exist between requesting and demanding.