71–80 of 117 posts
Possibly interesting, but the writing style makes me question if the facts aren't over-exagerrated or twisted to fit the narration.
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Neither :). It’s a pretty hard word for people outside Poland. I would say it’s pronounced more like “Kosh-choosh-kuh”. It still won’t be perfect, but close enough.
These kind of shenanigans are exactly why Mr. Karadžić [1] pushed for an orthographic alphabet in Serbia, and why it quickly got adopted by neighbors as well. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vuk_Karad%C5%BEi%C4%87
> .. Kosciuszko. Nor can you spell it or pronounce it; ... Then the rest of the article misspells it by dropping the Z! As mentioned, it's also the name of Australia's highest mountain[0]. Named by the explorer Strzelecki. 0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Kosciuszko
Wikipedia claims that there are three Australian mountains higher than Mount Kosciuszko, but two of them are on land that only a few countries recognise as Australian.
Most Amercans would be suprised to hear but US presidential election system had been influenced by Polish royal election rules. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_elections_in_Poland https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-president-how-and...
Polish democracy was like MySpace or Altavista, good overall direction but then suddenly failed spectacularly, during Stanisław II Augustus times. He got steamrolled by Catherine the Great. The second iteration of democracy (like Facebook/Google) build on the other side of the Atlantic aged much much better. Also, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a multicultural place (officially recognised languages: Polish, L…
Although, not absolutely incorrect, it nevertheless sounds like a myth-making here. PLC (which is btw a modern, recently introduced term, the country was literally called Res Publica, Rzecz Pospolita in Polish) started as a union of Polish Kingdom where Polish predictably dominated, and Grand Duchy of Lithuania where Ruthenian was the language of state affairs. Ruthenian is also called Old Belarusian by Belarusians, and Old Ukrainian by Ukrainians and both are correct, because it's all more or less the same language at that time (modern Ukrainian, and Belarusian are still more mutually intelligible then different varieties of German). As eastern, and southern parts of the country were repeatedly thrashed by Russians, and Ottoman Empire, Poland became a dominant part (not the only reason, but I'm trying to be short), so Polish gradually gained the top position as the language of aristocracy, and politics all over the PLC, while other languages receded to unofficial home/family spheres, sometimes keeping official niches at municipal level. German, save for Prussian, and East Baltic lands, was in a very narrow use mostly because it was a sort of international language of Baltic trade, and Latin, as everywhere in Europe, was the language of education, and science. Then there were a number of ethnic, and religious groups such as Jews, Roma, Armenians which had some degree of self-government, so their languages where used in respective communities, but never had state-wide acceptance. Btw, it was not Hebrew which Jews spoke there, it was Yiddish which is very much a different thing. So the talk about 'officially recognized languages' is a little bit misleading as it can make an incorrect impression there were some sort of legal equality. And certainly PLC was polyethnic, with significant cultural variations, but majority of big medieval states in Europe were so. It's an interesting part of European history, with its own unique features, but I don't think making it too sugary makes any sense.
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That's an overly romanticized view. Moving long distances was slow and/or expensive. There was little in the way of international banking, so if you wanted to have money in your new home, you had to bring gold or silver or sell other things. If you were robbed, you were pretty much out of luck -- insofar as there were police forces, they weren't much concerned about foreigners. It's true that you now have to cope wit…
Well yes, I understand that this is the price of increased convenience for an average person. I simply feel that there's a certain sense of irony in those new barriers been erected as the old ones fall. Now it's harder to pull a Kosciuszko but easier to post pictures of your vacation on instagram, that's the trade-off here.
Edit: And before anyone thinks they're gonna score cheap virtue points by calling me racist/classist, I'm not using "deadbeat" as a dog whistle for any group(s). I'm talking about people who will be a net negative (definition is ever changing and subject to politics and whatnot) if they stay permanently.
Another similar figure was Pułaski. Came to America in similar circumstances, achievements included the saving of George Washington's life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_Pulaski
Puławski była kobietą... :-) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/science/casimir-pulaski-i...
BTW, another interesting thing about Pułaski is the sizable inheritance he left behind. The land that later Chicago and perhaps Philadelphia was built on. Would be worth trillions now. Nobody claimed it.
Polish Squadron 303 fighting during Battle of Britain had been continuing traditions of American Pilots.
> Perhaps the most famous successor to the original Kościuszko Squadron would be the World War II No. 303 "Kościuszko" Polish Fighter Squadron (Warszawski im. Tadeusza Kościuszki), the most successful fighter squadron in the Battle of Britain.
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Puławski była kobietą... :-) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/07/science/casimir-pulaski-i...
That's awesome! One thing I want Poland to have is to have more of these types of heros, to challenge their views and help them to shed their stereotypes. Poland's becoming too conservative lately. Great news for intersex people too, they can be proud. BTW, another interesting thing about Pułaski is the sizable inheritance he left behind. The land that later Chicago and perhaps Philadelphia was built on. Would be wor…
It is more like Poland is becoming rapidly progressive and the conservatives are making noisy last stand :-)
There is a statue of Pulaski not far away, about Pennsylvania and 12th NW.