Mishmash facts about Poland and Poles

Today I heard that ancient rhyme about eyes and life. Amazing it is repeated a decade after a decade. I had fun with it as a little kid.

Do you know it?
Oczy niebieskie, życie królewskie.

Blue eyes, royal life.
Brown eyes, strange life.
Black eyes, poor life.
Green eyes, crazy life.
Cat eyes, golden life.


How did you know?

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In another thread one member was surprised that Polish males are given flowers as gifts . He suggested they must be gay. Well, not necessarily.

Teacher of the Year Award celebration

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On the other hand:



Hmm. Maybe the member has a point ;)

Delph, please.... Jarosław K loves animals, not other men.

Well, Poland is a tolerant and diverse country after all ;)

Road language
A short flash/a few flashes with high beams (by approaching driver)
1/police speed control patrol ahead.
2/ you must turn on your headlights

Hazard warning lights - (by driver in front of you)
1/you must turn on your headlights
2/thanks for giving way

Roary overtaking on double lines:
1/ I am in a hurry
2/ I wanna race with you.

Even driving in Poland I knew that but a freaking Russian pissed me off doing the same in Nj and almost made me crash.I thought he broke down and was stopping.Only after hearing his accent I realized why he did that.

Did you know that the first day of spring is also called the Truant Day by Polish students? Some students decided to skip school today, most with parental blessing. When I was a student, we used to play truant too.

Dzien wagarowania, pawian? Somehow can't imagine a "National Hooky Day" here in the US!

Never knew that. Thanks:-)

Actually, it is wagarowicza: Truant Boy`s Day.

Aha, much appreciated. Thank you.
I can now see the English/ German intereference in my Polish, much as the converse on occasion in your English!

Prima Aprilis, April Fool`s Day, is approaching. Similarly to many countries, there is also a tradition in the Polish media to provide one piece of fake info for viewers/reades/listeners to guess as a sort of a contest. On the next day, journalists reveal what it was. Sometimes they make up incredible things and gullible guys fall for them.


No, simply impossible. You must have mistaken me for somebody else. :):)

The beginning of May means 3 days off for most Poles.

1st May has always been Labour Day, officially celebrated by all communist states in times of Cold War. Poles also attended it - sometimes willingly, sometimes forced. When Poland regained sovereignty in 1989, the authorities didn`t annul the holiday. Even today left parties call their members and supporters to take part in demos.

2nd May is the day of the Polish flag - a new holiday introduced after 1989.

3rd May - Constitution Day, to celebrate the first constitution in Europe and second after the USA. There are mass services, parades, performances, wreaths etc.

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that doesn't even make sense. Perhaps stop trying to be pompous and you will find it easier to express yourself in a more understandable way.

At last - bio waste will be segregated. 10 years ago I said I envied Germans who had started doing it much earlier. Today I can do it myself - we produce a lot of such stuff from our veg and fruit which can`t all be eaten by our rabbit, e..g, pineapple skins. I had to fix an additional bin in the sink cupboard but it is a great idea, anyway.

remember

· Green for glass
· Yellow for plastic and metal
· Blue for paper
· Brown for bio waste (such as uneaten food)
· Black for other

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oh we have that food waste thing here in Wales - but not in all parts of England.
There is a food waste bin with biodegradable liners - plus blue bags for recyclables, and black bags for everything else.
In fact once you have separated out the food waste and the recyclables, and taken the glass to the glass bank, there is very little to put in the black bins..

Oh, I miss them a lot. Once in communist times, when I wanted to have my own extra money, I collected bottles in streets/parks etc and sold them in bottle banks. That was my first job for money as a young boy - I was about 11-12 years old. Those banks were closed down after 1989. Pity.

oh the bottle banks like in Germany where u get a few pennies for each item?
Sadly we do not have those either. Just a skip with holes to toss the glass into. It can be fun though.

There used to be an old lady who sat in the Rynek in Poznań collecting empty bottles and taking them back to the shop. Then PiS banned outdoor drinking and her income stopped, sadly.

Aaah, you simply meant that large green container to throw bottles in - I saw it in one of my textbooks. :):) Yes, fun, my kids also loved the sound of crashing bottles inside.

Did you know that each opening of a new contruction or a planned investment should be blessed by a priest in Poland? Probably that`s one of the reasons Polish economy has been developing so rapidly since the collapse of communism.

Schools, offices, roads, industry etc Last year we had our new football pitch blessed in our school.

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This infographics shows that young people in Poland leave family home at 27,6. The earliest leavers are Scandinavians - 18,5 in Sweden, and the latest kippers are Italians - 30,1, Spaniards, Croats, Greeks.

facet.onet.pl/warto-wiedziec/w-jakim-wieku-polacy-wyprowadzaja-sie-od-mamusi-jak-wypadaja-na-tle-innych/hmebgek

@pawian

Interesting stuff.
I left home at 21 and my kids left in the same year at 24 and 26.

Well, it may be explained in two ways - economic and sociological. Renting a flat on your own is still quite an expense in Poland while in Sweden not. Second - family ties are stronger in Poland than in Sweden. Polish youth don`t want to move out because they feel good living with parents, especially Polish mommies or sometimes even babcias.

Literacy rate in Poland - 99.8 percent.

The UK and US - 99 percent.

The record birth in Poland has been quintuplets so far. Now it has changed.
nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/20/world/europe/ap-eu-poland-sextuplets.html

WARSAW, Poland - A 29-year-old woman gave birth to six babies in Poland on Monday, in what is believed to be the country's first-ever case of sextuplets. The mother and newborns are said to be doing well.

Polish car plates - the system

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Poland

Poland is divided into 16 voivodships, each has a letter ascribed. Voivodships are subdivided into powiats, or counties, with their own letters. Now, combine major with minor letters, add some numbers and random letters and you get a Polish registration plate.

Example:

PO means a car from Poznań.

POB means Oborniki county close to Poznań.

POS, Ostrów Wielkopolski county.

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It has become a sort of new lay tradition that whenever a swimming pool is opened in a small town, its mayor takes the first jump as a symbol of good fortune for the premises. Only once did the local sanitary -epidemiological station closed the pool after such a ceremony.

youtube.com/watch?time_continue=55&v=T768q5mpnxw

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Today the daylight time is changed in Poland by one hour, as usual every year. The winter change is positive coz we sleep one hour longer. In spring, the change back will be painful.

How about the US and the UK? Do you change times for winter and spring?

UK is the same as Poland.
Although one hour behind.

yes, the clocks changed on saturday night. Something to do with giving farmers more daylight, apparently.