Monthly Archives: September 2008

Your Wish Is My Command

September 30, 2008 – 4:34 pm

This blog is a few months old now (if it were a baby it’d be fed solids with a spoon), and I’ve been feeling very guilty lately. Why? Because I just write this stuff and post it here and it finally came to me that I never really thanked you. You - my readers. Well, [...]

By Anna | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (18)

Subtitles: Yes or No?

September 27, 2008 – 6:17 pm

There’s been quite a discussion going on among my friends about this plan of TVP2 (one of the Polish TV channels, link sadly in Polish only) to start using Polish subtitles for some of its programming. And it’s about blerry time, I’d say!
You see, while most countries either use subtitles in their native language or [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture | Comments (9)

Why We Need Professor Miodek

September 25, 2008 – 10:33 am

Lately I’ve been writing in Polish more and more, and while I’ve always thought that my Polish spelling skills were decent, now I’m not so sure. In fact, I am sure - they suck.
It’s of very little consolation that I am not alone. Any random read of internet forums populated by Poles will prove that [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (12)

How To Make Sernik Wiedeński

September 23, 2008 – 5:24 pm

I have no idea why sernik wiedeński (Viennese cheesecake) is called that. I couldn’t find it anywhere in Vienna, but maybe I was simply looking in wrong cafes and cake shops. So where that name came from, I am not really sure. What I am sure of is that this cheesecake is in fact very [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture | Comments (6)

Dative Case, part 2

September 21, 2008 – 12:54 pm

After studying Fran’s wonderful poem in the last post, you should know a little bit about the dative case (celownik) already. It’s a very unassuming case, really. And when you see it in a sentence, it will be most likely used to modify a personal pronoun in expressions like these:

Jest mi gorąco. – I am [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (1)

Dative Case, part 1

September 17, 2008 – 1:05 pm

It’s been a while since we talked about our lovely Polish noun cases, so I thought we might get back to it today.
But first, I have a little treat for you. One of our readers, as it turned out, is also a very talented poet. I mean, you have to be talented to write a [...]

By Anna | Posted in Grammar | Comments (4)

The Mysterious Ways of Polish Surnames, part 2

September 12, 2008 – 10:27 am

As David pointed out in the comment section to the previous post, we still have one more group of Polish last names to discuss. Actually, come to think of it, TWO more.
But let’s start with the easier one of the two:
4. Surnames ending in vowels OTHER than “a”, “i” and “y”. And yes, “y” is [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture, Grammar | Comments (2)

The Mysterious Ways of Polish Surnames

September 9, 2008 – 3:39 pm

My friend called me today and that should be good news, right? But it wasn’t. The poor woman was very stressed and urgently requested my help. You see, she was applying for a visa to one of those countries that still require a woman to provide information about her male guardian, either a father or [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture, Grammar | Comments (4)

Westerplatte Film Controversy

September 4, 2008 – 1:10 pm

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 [...]

By Anna | Posted in Culture, History | Comments (8)

September 1st in Polish History

September 1, 2008 – 6:03 pm

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 countries, [...]

By Anna | Posted in History | Comments (7)