Archive for the year 2008
The Mythical Polish Plumber Posted by Anna on Jun 16, 2008
My favorite politician, Nicholas Sarkozy went to Poland a few weeks ago and chatted with the Polish honchos in charge, namely, with one of the ducks – Lech Kaczyński. (The surname “Kaczyński” comes from the word “kaczka” which means “a duck” in English.) While in Poland, my favorite politician made the announcement of opening the…
One Town Three Names Posted by Anna on Jun 13, 2008
Poland has had a complicated history. And that’s a boring historical fact. What’s not boring is how that history affected the names of all sorts of places. In certain regions of what is now Poland, people sometimes lived in three different countries, all within the span of a lifetime, and without ever leaving their home…
Poles vs Poles Posted by Anna on Jun 9, 2008
The Euro Cup 2008 frenzy has started. TV programming has been rearranged, matches are replayed at nauseam by every news outlet imaginable, newspaper sports pages have swollen to twice their normal size and people on the streets proudly strut in their national colors. Yep. It’s all soccer. All the time. Soccer, or football, as we…
Cases in Polish: Nominative Posted by Anna on Jun 3, 2008
Because Polish nouns have seven (yep, you read that right – SEVEN!) cases, covering all of them in just one entry would be a bit of an overkill. To make it easy for all (but especially for me!), we’ll do them on a case-by-case basis. But first things first. What is a “case” anyway? (Warning!…
100 Polish Words in 10 Seconds Posted by Anna on May 22, 2008
We’ve already established that Polish is not an easy language, and anyone who has ever tried to master the seven cases of nouns, pronouns and adjectives surely can agree. So, imagine my surprise, when a friend announced he could teach 100 Polish words to anyone in less than 10 seconds. Anyone. Less that 10 seconds…
Is It Still Polish? Posted by Anna on May 20, 2008
Compared to other European languages, Polish is a rather homogenous language. For that, oddly enough, you can thank the Soviet Union. When the USSR annexed large chunks of formerly Polish territories during World War II, millions of Poles from those areas trekked west. They brought with them their own dialects and speech patterns, which after…
You like Warsaw? Thank an Italian! Posted by Anna on May 18, 2008
Bernardo was not a happy guy. His life stunk, but then again, so did the lives of all the other court painters in his days. Kissing up to the local princelings to get a new contract every few years wasn’t exactly all fun and games. And then, there was his uncle – Canaletto – also…