Best Polish contribution to the universe?

[jpgray]

I'd say babka comes pretty close. Also Kucinich is in there somewhere.

[skygazer]

1. Damn!

I forgot Poland again! :banghead:

[JohnKleeb]

2. I think Kucinich is Croatian not Polish

Whatever the case the Polish have contributed a lot. One of our best generals in the American Revolution was a Pole.

[jpgray]

16. Ah that's right

Must have been thinking of his "kielbasa, polka, bowling = civilization" presentation. :P

[JohnKleeb]

19. I never got in to polka

but kielbasa is awesome as is bowling and I am not Polish.

[jpgray]

21. Yes, all cultures can appreciate kielbasa and bowling

:patriot:

[JohnKleeb]

22. Except the damned English

;)

[jpgray]

23. Cursed Limeys with their beef wellingtons and cricket

:grr:

[JohnKleeb]

24. and kidney pies

:argh:

[tjwmason]

3. Surely it's pretty damn obvious.

Vodka.

[ornotna]

4. Nicolaus Copernicus

He gave us the universe.

[Hand]

20. Dang! Ya beat me to it! nt

[graywarrior]

5. That would be me. Polish Princess of Lynn MA

Ask my dad.

Oops, he's in heaven....or hell...probably hell.

[saltpoint]

6. Chopin. A titan of 19th century keyboard music, although as a

person he was tubercular lifelong and at the peak of his career only weighed 98 pounds.

[Seabiscuit]

11. Frederic Chopin. Without a doubt.

Also, Lech Walesa.

[saltpoint]

12. Walesa. You bet. I'll never forget that Solidarity time. What an

inspiration.

[Taverner]

7. Something between Kielbsassa and Copernicus

no preference, really

[graywarrior]

8. Actually, Lech Walesa did a lot to contribute

[Jazz2006]

9. The distinction of having the pronounciation of the word change by

starting it with a capital letter.

Polish vs. polish.



:rofl:

[qnr]

27. Not "best" - but I certainly appreciate their contribution to Bush insult

fodder, following that SOTU address.

Edit: Bleagh, replied to the wrong post, but I'm not going to change it :)

[Xipe Totec]

10. Shinola

Oh, wait. You meant Polish with a P, not polish with a p.

Never mind!

:evilgrin:

[Robb]

36. I can never tell that stuff from shit, really.

:D

[Xipe Totec]

70. Anosmia is more common than people realize n/t

[spindrifter]

13. Polish immigrants to the U.S.

[barb162]

67. yes, I would definitely agree

[rocktivity]

14. Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora

courtesy of his Polish mother.



:headbang:
rocknation

[Susang]

15. That would be me

And no, I'm not kidding. :P

[maveric]

17. "Carl Yastzemski, Carl Yastzemski, Carl Yastzemski the man they call Yaz"

"WE love him..."

[NewJeffCT]

18. Ewa Sonnet?

[fudge stripe cookays]

43. Ermm...

reprehensor is sitting next to me and made me back up for that one.

Those are quite.....impressive actually. And I'm not lacking in that department by any means.

[NewJeffCT]

56. supposed to be all real, too

but, I have no idea if that is true or not.

[fudge stripe cookays]

64. They look it.

Fake boobs are remarkably easy to spot. But those are danglers for sure- they don't defy the laws of gravity.

[NewJeffCT]

65. well, a good surgeon

supposedly can make them look pretty darn real...

But, I'd have to say that I think she is real, at least from this pic, too. And, she is certainly an inspiration Pole.

[Beware the Beast Man]

25. Ivan Putski.

Polish Power!

[6000eliot]

26. "Who Stole the Kishka"

[smitty]

28. My daughter- in- law

[begley]

29. Pope John Paul

Has a man ever been so beloved by so many?

[JohnKleeb]

30. Some may flame you but I think hes up there for sure

[NewJeffCT]

33. I'm an atheist, but I'd agree with you

He's right up there among Polish

(I'm half polish myself)

[mduffy31]

40. No Doubt

He is one of the great men of the 20th Century, and on of the greatest Popes of all time. And please save the anti religion stuff right now.

[njdemocrat106]

55. He's done much good in this world, no matter what one thinks of the Papacy

And I'm distantly related to him as well! (half-Polish here).

[Name removed]

75. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SOteric]

31. Stanislaw Lem

[Fenris]

32. Billy Wilder, Sigrid the Haughty, Edward Rydz-Smigly

Screen doors on submarines. :P

[Kellanved]

34. Polish notation

Not exactly a superlative - I wouldn't claim to make a call on that question.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

35. thats easy

[NewJeffCT]

37. Casimir Pulaski

A general in the American Revolution.

[JohnKleeb]

38. Thanks I forgot his name

There was another one too. Kuclusko or something like that. I've heard that Jefferson was heavily influenced by Polish enlightment era writers too.

[NewJeffCT]

39. Thaddeus Kosciuszko

Visitors to the battlements at Ticonderoga, the Saratoga Battlefield, and West Point soon become aware of the engineering genius of a young Polish officer who served with distinction in the Continental Army through, out the American Revolution. In addition, students of ethnic history can point to this same modest nobleman as an early benefactor of American blacks.

For Tadeusz Andrzej Bonawentura Kosciuszko, the principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence became a way of life. Thomas Jefferson, its author and Kosciuszko's close friend, called him "the purest son of liberty . . . that I have ever known, the kind of liberty which extends to all, not only to the rich." Throughout a long lifetime (1746-.1817) the idealistic Pole directed all his energies and substance to the cause of freedom in America and in his native Poland, and to humanitarian endeavors on two continents.

Born into a "land poor" family of the Polish gentry, Thaddeus Kosciuszko received a "gentleman's" education, with emphasis on the classics, mathematics, drawing, and French, followed by three years as student and instructor at the Royal School for cadets at Warsaw where he attained the rank of captain. A royal stipend then enabled the promising young officer to spend five years in France where he studied government and economics as well as engineering, military science, architecture, and art. (Called by his contemporaries "a beautiful limner," he executed likenesses of various leaders of the American Revolution, including a pastel portrait of Jefferson and a devastating caricature of the controversial General Charles Lee.)

On his return to Poland in 1774 he found no market for his talents and, following an unfortunate love affair. he borrowed money on his share of the family estate and went to Dresden. Reports of the American Revolution fired his imagination. Taking passage, he appeared in Philadelphia in August, 1776, and offered his credentials to the Continental Congress.

http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/kosciuszko/son.html

[JohnKleeb]

46. Thats it

I am not Polish by ancestry but they got a long and interesting history in our nation.

[fudge stripe cookays]

41. Kielbasa. Polish sausage.

Whatever your favorite moniker for it is. Yum!

Actually, our own very hip SusanG ranks right up there.

[RevCheesehead]

42. Mike Krzyzewski.

:loveya: Go, DUKE! :loveya:

yeah, yeah, I know... but he IS of Polish descent.

[Ignacio Upton]

44. Kielbassa, General Pulaski, Copernicus, Pope John Paul II.....

Lech Walesa....and a shitload a other great people.


BTW, can someone explain to me why the Poles were considered an "inferior" people by the Nazis, and also by WASP nativists in the early and mid 20th century? If Washington and Jefferson were close friends with Poles, and how did this prejudice come about when they started immigrating over around the late 19th century? I don't think that being Catholic was the only reason, though.

[JohnKleeb]

47. Probably hte Catholic thing and their Slavicness

I don't think it was common knowledge at the time that Jefferson and Washington were friends with them. Meh screw WASP nativists. The Nazis considered all Slavic peoples inferior beings. I think the Nazis had a special hatred for the Polish though because of Poland's large Jewish community.

[Ignacio Upton]

50. Polish culture has always been one of the most "European"

of all cultures. The WASP nativism is basically a bunch of people claim that they are "whiter than thou." If Washington and Jefferson were alive during the heyday of the eugenics/WASP supremacy bullshit, they would have shut those people up.

[NewJeffCT]

74. That is true

Washington & Jefferson would have tried to shut them up - but, they'd get swift-boated, too. These guys would deride Jesus Christ as a wimpy soft tree hugger.

[NewJeffCT]

61. At the time of the invasion of Poland

The Poles were far inferior technology-wise than the Nazis - it was probably at least partly due to that. How else could a country as large as Poland fall so quickly if they weren't inferior?

[EstimatedProphet]

45. Bush's debate points

[dolo amber]

48. Poli-boys

Not really, but as an x-Clevelandr I must say so...:shrug: <----Ha Ha Jon, Shruggy...:P)


Otherwise I'd say pogroms...goddamn Polacks. :grr:

[JVS]

49. Dingus Day

[bumblebee1]

51. The pierogi and the punchky (phonetic spelling)

Had the latter before the start of lent. I've always enjoyed the former. I grew up in an area that was largely Polish, Irish and Lithuanian.

[doc03]

53. I'll second that and don't forget the cabbage and noodles

What is that called Halluski?

[DBoon]

52. poppy seed muffins

nt

[NewJeffCT]

62. I didn't know that was Polish

I like muffins & bagels with poppy seeds on them.

[njdemocrat106]

54. Poland - the true originator of vodka

Invented by Poles, made famous by Russians.

[xchrom]

57. cute polish boys!

[NewJeffCT]

58. how about half Polish ones?

like me...

[xchrom]

60. that'll work!

:evilgrin:

[KitchenWitch]

59. kielbasa

[MissMillie]

63. pierogi

end of story

[TankLV]

71. They are not unique to Polish people.

They are an Eastern European dish - Ukrainians, Russians, etc. all claim them.

But, as a Ukrainian, I prefer Polish Kielbasa to Ukrainian, hands down.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

66. Krzysztof Kieslowski

The Three Colours trilogy, The Decalogue, A Short Film About Killing, A Short Film About Love and a score of other work I'm yet to get familiar with.

[swag]

68. Frédéric Chopin, innit?

"Right-handed genius" talk notwithstanding.

Leonard Cohen named Chopin's Nocturnes the best music by which to bone. See?

[Maestro]

69. Right now the band Skalpel

If you like downtempo electronica, check these guys out! Skalpel

[fishnfla]

72. The 3 dollar bill

:hide:

[JVS]

78. Are you sure that beats the screen-door for submarines?

;-)

[jberryhill]

73. Kiwi

[derby378]

76. It's a tossup between Kosciuscko and King Jan Sobieski

The former was an American Revolution vet and rebel leader in Russian-controlled Poland. The latter was the guy who saved Vienna from being sacked by the Ottoman Turks.

[eridani]

77. Marya Sklodowska Curie

'Nuff said.