Where is Poland?

[Domen]

It is not the point. The point is that the crazy drive to use "neutral gender" words everywhere is ridiculous.

Until relatively recently it was not anything unusual to use masculine gender words for various professions regarding women.

For example in both Polish and German "driver" is a masculine word. But you could say "she is a driver" as well. Or "Miss driver". without inventing a new feminine word for this profession. Only recently EU is demanding neutral words. And hence Germans introduced this ridiculous "person driving a car". In Polish language the word for driver is "kierowca" (and it is masculine gender word). Feminine version would be "kierowczyni", but nobody uses this, there is even no such word in the dictionary I believe. When a woman is a driver, you say "Pani kierowca" ("Miss driver"). "Ona jest kierowcą" ("She is a driver"). Not - "ona jest kierowczynią".

English language indeed has neutral words for professions (one exception which comes to my mind is actress / actor).

 

[AdamCrock]

Come to Poland for Your vacation/holiday - Your car is already here !!

 

[LamaGT]

It is not the point. The point is that the crazy drive to use "neutral gender" words everywhere is ridiculous.

Until relatively recently it was not anything unusual to use masculine gender words for various professions regarding women.

For example in both Polish and German "driver" is a masculine word. But you could say "she is a driver" as well. Or "Miss driver". without inventing a new feminine word for this profession. Only recently EU is demanding neutral words. And hence Germans introduced this ridiculous "person driving a car". In Polish language the word for driver is "kierowca" (and it is masculine gender word). Feminine version would be "kierowczyni", but nobody uses this, there is even no such word in the dictionary I believe. When a woman is a driver, you say "Pani kierowca" ("Miss driver"). "Ona jest kierowcą" ("She is a driver"). Not - "ona jest kierowczynią".

English language indeed has neutral words for professions (one exception which comes to my mind is actress / actor).

In a world of political correctness that's only bound to happen. Italian law uses the term "conducente" which literally means "conductor" or "the one who guides"

 

[AdamCrock]

Link to video.

 

[warpus]

Whoever translated that did it a bit too literally.. I mean, it's decent, but a lot of it is pretty bad

Cabarets are also a very .. Polish thing. To outside onlookers it probably looks like a cross between standup comedy and improv.. or a skit-like thing.. but there's another dimension to it that might have to be explained for it to be enjoyed fully. Polish is also a very quirky language, so the translation has to be very precise. A lot of the stuff is play on words.

 

[Leoreth]

I agree that the use of gender neutral words is excessive and not actually all that helpful in addressing actual issues, but I really don't see how that has anything to do with communism, unless you're an ideology-blinded "everything the government does is communist" libertarian like amadeus.

 

[Domen]

Cabarets are also a very .. Polish thing.

Really ??? I think they are also popular in Russia and some other countries.

I agree that the use of gender neutral words is excessive and not actually all that helpful in addressing actual issues, but I really don't see how that has anything to do with communism, unless you're an ideology-blinded "everything the government does is communist" libertarian like amadeus.

What this has in common with communism, is absurdity.

 

[Peck of Arabia]

Well it's not communistic, but issuing decrees on language does somewhat overstep the remit of a government. I'd just go with "officious"- it's apt and ideologically neutral

 

[Tycho Brahe]

I think of cabarets as something from Paris or Berlin.

 

[warpus]

Really ??? I think they are also popular in Russia and some other countries.

Maybe it's a European thing then? Or at least Slavic? I'm not really sure, but the closest things to cabarets here in North America are the things I mentioned, and they are not quite similar. To a North American onlooker, a cabaret would not seem odd, but I feel that a certain dimension of it would escape him/her if not explained. and I wouldn't really even know how to explain it. I'm totally basing all of this on the cabarets I've seen my parents watch and laugh at, I don't actually know that much about them at all.

 

[warpus]

One of the things on the front page on reddit when I woke up was this

Spoiler :

A photo at the Polish music festival Jarocin, which was the biggest music festival on the wrong side of the iron curtain during the cold war.. also a place where a lot of Polish bands got started, especially reggae, alternate rock, and punk ones.

So I did some reading and eventually ended up here:


Link to video.

I really like this song. I wonder what other music I'm missing out on.

Oh and if you hit play on that video, you'll see a reference to a certain Palace of Culture and Science

 

[Domen]

I think of cabarets as something from Paris or Berlin.

Uhm, I think that you are talking about a completely different "cabaret" - about something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lclJMP9R1g0

While according to Robert Górski from Kabaret Moralnego Niepokoju:

"(...) Mariusz Cieślik: - Cabaret similar to this in Poland, where a group of people peforms sketches and songs, perhaps doesn't exist anywhere else?

Robert Górski: - There is also Russia, because there go the roots of Polish cabaret. Russia is the country from which came to Poland during the interwar period, as leader of Niebieski Ptak, Fryderyk Jarosy, later founder of Qui Pro Quo. He was the spiritus movens of first Polish cabarets. The idea for the PaKA festival in Cracow originates from Odessa - it is the city where first battles of cabarets were organized. I don't know the exact history of satire in Russia, but I think that huge role was played there by OBERIU. For example Danil Charms, who wrote a sketch about Pushkin tripping over the lying Gogol, then Gogol stands up and trips over a lying Pushkin - and so on. Similar to our Mumio cabaret. They were precursors of a theatre of absurdity. This Gogolish sense of humour is brilliant. In my opinion Russian jokes are the coolest ones in the world. (...)"

Source: book "Robert Górski. Jak zostałem premierem" ("Robert Górski. How I became a prime minister"), page 125.

=================================

So cabaret is a Slavic thing (apart from Poland and Russia, it is also popular in Czech Republic and Ukraine as far as I know).

 

[Domen]

Link to video.

 

[Leoreth]

What this has in common with communism, is absurdity.

That makes communism and gender-mainstreaming two absurd things. It doesn't make gender-mainstreaming communist.

 

[Domen]

That makes communism and gender-mainstreaming two absurd things. It doesn't make gender-mainstreaming communist.

Ok, ok. I admit I was wrong.

 

[Tycho Brahe]

Uhm, I think that you are talking about a completely different "cabaret" - about something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lclJMP9R1g0

No.

10 cars.

 

[Domen]

No.

10 cars.

Can be 9?:

Spoiler :

 

[Tycho Brahe]

...

So cabaret is a Slavic thing (apart from Poland and Russia, it is also popular in Czech Republic and Ukraine as far as I know).

I'm sure that's what you slavic people loves to say to eachother.

But seriously, you sound more self-absorbed than the norwegians. That says a lot.

 

[Lohrenswald]

But seriously, you sound more self-absorbed than the norwegians.

I guess that's true. But I'm curious, can you say a bit more about the self absorbation of norwegians?

 

[Tycho Brahe]

I guess that's true. But I'm curious, can you say a bit more about the self absorbation of norwegians?

I know a joke about it:


A group of scientists from different nations had attended a conference in Nairobi. One of the days off had featured a visit to the local nature preservation area where they had admired the elephants. This visit made such an impression on the scientists that they all agreed that at next year's conference in New York, each would have written a book on elephants.

The year passed, and the scientists met again.

The English book: "Elephants I have shot on Safari"

The Frenchman displayed a small book bound in red velvet: "Elephant courting rituals".

The German showed a hard bound series named "A short Introduction to the Elephants on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika. vol 1-6"

The Canadian wrote, "Elephant mating: federal or provincial responsibility?"

The American book was titled: "How to Make Bigger And Better Elephants.

The book of the Japanese author was titled: "How to Make Cheaper and Smaller Elephants".

And the Greek's book was titled, "How to get EU-funding by raising elephants"

The Swedish book: "How to reduce your taxes with an elephant."

The Danish book: "The History of Carlsbergs famous Elephant-beer"


The book of the Norwegian was titled: "Norway, and the Norwegians"



...this joke is of course an insult to poland, since there isn't a polish book. I'm thingkong somethin about the famous polish hussars and their elefants who saved Wienna and Europe and the world.