Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland (part 1)







Everything You ever wanted to know about Poland - (part 1)
DID YOU KNOW THAT ... ?
By  Robert Strybel,   Warsaw Correspondent



 




 

 












 




*  Poland's earliest capitals had been in Gniezno and Poznan, then Krakow and finally (from 1596) Warsaw.
The only city to twice serve as Poland's temporary capital was Lublin in the east. It briefly performed that function after both the First and Second World Wars.

*  Despite certain inroads made by feminist propaganda, middle-aged and older Poles still greet females by kissing their hands. This custom is gradually
fading away among the younger set, however, who are strongly influenced by Western life-styles as portrayed in Hollywood movies. u One of the handiest words in
the Polish language is prosze. It can mean:
- "Please" as in "Prosze mi powiedziec. " (Please tell me...),
- "You're welcome" (after someone has thanked you for something),
- "Here you are" (when handing something to someone),
- "Come in, please" (when there's a knock on the door),
- "Please have a seat" (when pointing to a chair), and
- "This way, please" (when urging someone to follow you).

*  Some Poles also say " Prosze" instead " "hallo" or " slucham" when answering the phone. u Polish women wear their
engagement rings and both spouses wear their wedding bands on the ring finger of their right hand.

*  Polish - Americans interested in folk crafts often go wild when they visit Krak0w's Sukiennice (medieval drapers of' folk handicrafts of every type,
including folk costumes, lacework, embroidery, wood carvings, wayside shrines, wycinanki (paper cut-outs), dolls, hand-made greeting cards, reverse paintings on
glass, amber jewelry and many more. Although high-pressure TV and press advertising have increased coffee consumption in y this huge market hall is Poland's
slngle largest concentration of

*  Poland over the past half-decade, most Poles still prefer tea rather than coffee for breakfast. For many, coffee is a mid-afternoon cup of robust,
aromatic espresso at a cafe rather than the watery swill Americans wash sandwiches down with.

*  Young Polish farmers have a very hard time finding wives, because today's country girlstend to flee to glamor the city in search of the glamour, glitter
and creature comforts they see on TV. According to a recent census, nearly one in three 30-year-old farmers is a bachelor not by his own choice.

*  Whistling in a Polish theatre or stadium is an expression of an audience's displeasure and is the same as booing or jeering in America. To express their
support and satisfaction for athletes or performers, Polish spectators applaud, cheer in various fashion or give off the sound "oooo" which to an
uninitiated Arnerican ear may sound like "boo".

*  More dogs in the Polish countryside are named Burek than anything else. The name comes from the word "bury" which is a kind of dirty
grayish-brown - the color of most nondescript mongrels found on Polish farms. In cities, dogs have such names as Rex (or its diminutive Reksio), Azor, Kajtek,
Bos, Brutuo, Budrys, Misiek, Igor, Hetman, Bosman and Wicher. Popular names for bitches include Saba, Sara, Tara and Diana. Small lap-dogs are sometimes called
Pimpuo, Dzidziuo or Kropelka.



 

*  Pol-Ams have not visited Poland over the past 7-8 years are often surprised to find that the American
dollar has lost its almighty status. Luggage porters, doormen, taxi drivers, waiters, street traders and others now prefer zloties because it saves them a trip to
the currency-exchange office. All goods and services are now available for zloties and there are no longer and special shops that accept only Western currency.

*  The western city of Poznan is the country's single largest concentration of a burgeoning sex industry, according to the weekly newsmagazine Wprost. It has
more striptease bars, erotic massage parlors, sex shops, peep shows and related businesses than any other Polish city and caters to a large extent to visitors
from neighboring Germany. Throughout the country there are numerous sex shops and escort agencies which function as thinly disguised brothels.

*  In Warsaw baby boys are dressed in pink and baby girls in blue. In other parts of Poland the situation is just the opposite: girls are given pink outfits
and boys get blue ones.

*  When writing numerals, Poles use periods and commas in exactly the opposite way that Americans do. A comma in Poland, not a period, serves as a decimal
point, hence if a Pole wants to express "three point six percent" he writes 3,6%. Conversely, trios of digits are set off with periods: three million is
written 3.000.000.

*  Poland is probably the only country whose uniformed personnel use the twofinger salute. Also,only two fingers are raised when taking an oath or being
sworn in.

*  To this day Poland's two most popular customs are the oplatek-sharing tradition on Christmas Eve and the Holy Saturday blessing of Easter baskets. Surveys
have shown that they are practiced by more than 95% of all Polish families.

*  Credit cards and traveler's cheques are now readily accepted in Poland's major big-city hotels, restaurants and stores (souvenir shops, art galleries,
amber shops, Cepelia, etc.) catering to foreigners, but are not welcome in smaller out-of-the-way stores and eating places frequented mainly by Polish natives.
They are largely unknown in small towns and villages.

*  The bride is not given away to the groom by her father at a Polish wedding. Instead, the bride and groom enter and leave the church together. In very
traditional families, the groom calls on his bride at her home on the day of the wedding and the two kneel to receive the pa-rental blessing. Then the entire
wedding party heads for church together.

*  Perhaps because so many inns, taverns and other eating places were not Polish-owned during the 123 years Poland was partitioned by Russia, Prussia and
Austria, Poles have never been big restaurant- goers. According to a recent study, only 25% of all Poles visited a restaurant with their families at least once
during 1995. Poles feel restaurants are highly overpriced and overrated, and consider home-cooked meals not only more economical but also tastier, healthier and
more honest (you never know what you're getting in a restaurant!).
 
 
 
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