Learning Polish - Polish shops in England?

ChiGrubas

17 Sep 2013 #31

"Excuse me Sir, do you have the time?" sounds rather peculiar, does it not?

Not in the US.It is VERY common here.

That said, I still find it rather rude when people say "co?"

It IS rude but "co takiego?" is not rude. .

instead of "słucham?"

or "proszę".

I was buying a latte in McDonalds before work this morning; the conversation went something like: (me): Dzień dobry, poproszę kawa latte. (the guy): "co?" (me): "co? nie słyszałeś, czy nie rozumiesz?

You were pretty mean dude.I would say "Nie mowi sie co,tylko prosze.Kawa latte".

The "rule" as it goes - informal/younger/same age: ty, formal/older: pan(i). My experience is quite contradictory, as the older people almost always address me as 'pan', despite being in my mid 20s.

This is actually what I said.

Comparing it to English

I am not comparing it.Chicago has a fairly large Polish population and one can speak Polish pretty much everywhere.

Nightglade 7 | 97

17 Sep 2013 #32

Not in the US.It is VERY common here.

I guess it's changed a lot since I lived there, then :) Although, I lived in Arizona - two worlds from Chicago. In the UK, it's quite uncommon to hear on the streets. In fact, I'd go a step further and say it's often used in an unpleasant manner.

You were pretty mean dude.

Absolutely right. I've been buying coffee there almost every day for the last three years. It was empty inside - if I walk in, smile, say hello and place an order, I expect to hear "hello, sorry - what was that?" or some derivation. Not "what?" in a rude way.

grubas 12 | 1,384

18 Sep 2013 #33

I guess it's changed a lot since I lived there, then :) Although, I lived in Arizona - two worlds from Chicago.

I don't think so.It's commonly used on the East Coast, where I lived for longer than I live in Chi, too.

In the UK, it's quite uncommon to hear on the streets. In fact, I'd go a step further and say it's often used in an unpleasant manner.

Strange.I better take some English classes before I go to UK (if I ever go, that is) because it seems I may be up to some culture shock.So what do you say in the UK when you see that a guy just dropped his wallet and is walking away?In the US you say "Sir..." and when he turns around "...you dropped your wallet.".Or a guy held door for you?"Thank you Sir".In most bussineses you are automatically "Sir".Do you have light bulbs?","Yes sir,we do.".Most kids and college students will address you "Sir".Soldiers and Police too.

I agree he was mean and this can break your day or at least part of it.It's hard for me to say that but people and services in Poland are in general pretty rude.I don't see what's the problem with being nice.Just nice,you don't have be exceptional like a dude from some store in ME who was yelling to me "How you doing today,man?!" with a big, friendly smile on his face, across a fairly large store.I still remember him after 10 years.It doesn't cost a penny to be nice and people like nice guys.

Back to the topic,in his defence I can say that he was a lowly paid employee,possibly having bad day.

OP Sonorous 3 | 8

18 Sep 2013 #34

If someone dropped their wallet, I'd pick it up and say 'excuse me' to the guy, but a lot of people would say 'oi, you dropped your wallet', which is quite rude.

We don't say 'sir' very often in the UK, there really isn't much comparison to ty and pan(i) in most cases, but in some cases, you have to call someone 'sir' in order to be polite.

It's always nice for someone to address me as 'sir', it's very polite and you can never go wrong with it.