Westerplatte Film Controversy Posted by Anna on Sep 4, 2008
So, continuing on the subject of Westerplatte, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this new Polish movie “Tajemnica Westerplatte” (The Secret of Westerplatte). The movie is not even made yet, the script has barely been written, and it’s already a huge scandal in Poland. For those who don’t know, here’s a quick recap: Paweł…
September 1st in Polish History Posted by Anna on Sep 1, 2008
Today is September 1st and if you ask any Polish kid about its significance, they will give you a blank stare as an answer. I’ve just tried it. It was a bit different in my days. Now, I don’t know what they teach you about the starting date of WW2 (druga wojna światowa) in your…
Actually & Eventually Posted by Anna on Aug 29, 2008
Interesting things can happen when your car breaks down. For one, you have to ride the bus, which in itself is not that interesting, I admit. But staring at people and listening to their conversations is always fun. And sometimes, when you are sandwiched between two individuals talking loudly on their cell phones, you don’t…
Polish Pessimism Posted by Anna on Aug 27, 2008
A friend sent me this link and asked me what I thought about it. Go ahead, read it, it’s in English. So, apparently, Poles are pessimistic about the future. And how exactly is that news? Poles think that the country is heading in the wrong direction. Yeah, what else is new? Complaining about the future…
Where is Stanisławów? Posted by Anna on Aug 25, 2008
One of our readers, Debbie, had a question about a town, which she thought might have been in Galicja (“Galicia” in English). And because this is a blog about all things Polish, we’re talking here about the Polish Galicia, not the one in Spain. Debbie wasn’t sure of the spelling, but luckily, I knew exactly…
This and That in Polish Posted by Anna on Aug 21, 2008
The distinction between “this” and “that” is more or less clear in English. Or at least I’ve always thought so. But as one of our readers has pointed out, while “this” is easier to grasp when translated into a foreign language, things can get really goofy with “that”. Fortunately, I can assure you that people…
Genitive Case, part 3 Posted by Anna on Aug 18, 2008
I just realized that we’ve never really finished talking about the genitive case (dopełniacz in Polish). My bad. We had too much fun with all the other things, lazy males and beetle tongue-twisters, and we totally forgot about the declensions. So, let’s get it done and over with this genitive. I told you that in…