"Impartiality is not neutrality. It is partiality for justice." - Stanisław Jerzy Lec (1909-1966)
Name: Fran Oborski
"Cześć!" Polish Community in Kidderminster - information and news
Arkadia - the beautiful Polish 18th / 19th century park at Lowicz near Warsaw in photos
Church of Our Lady of Ostra Brama
Completorium - Polish Early Music
Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Kidderminster - all the latest news
Elektryczne Gitary - Polish rock group
Fryderyck Chopin - The Frederick Chopin Society of Warsaw
Karel Szymanowski - the great Polish composer of the early 20th Century
Kroke - Krakow - Polish Klezmer band
Liberal Group, Wyre Forest District Council - all the very latest news
M/S Pilsudski - the great pre-war Polish Ocean liner
Maanam - Polish rock group
Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Marshal Jozef Pilsudski - the great Polish revolutionary, soldier, statesman and leader
Mike & Fran Oborski
Motion Trio - Accordions like you never heard before!
Offmore Comberton Action Group
Orkiestra św. Mikołaja - St Nicholas Orchestra - folk
Poles in Great Britain - online discussion group
Projekt Karpaty Magiczne - Magic Carpathians Project - Band
Radio Hey Now - bilingual Polish Radio in UK!
Roger McGuinn's Blog
Roxanne Panufnik - beauty & talent ! Superb Anglo-Polish Composer
Stare Dobre Malzenstwo - Polish group
The Bigos Bar - the only web site devoted to bigos - the Polish national dish
Trebunie Tutki - Polish Highlander Band
Voo Voo - Polish group
Warsaw Village Band - Polish Folk / Rock
Warszawski Dom Tańca - Warsaw House of Dance
Wilki - Polish rock group
Wyre Forest Holocaust Memorial
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Web Sites...
...that are taking up too much of my time...
Jozef Pilsudski : the pre-war Polish soldier, statesman and leader.
Karol Szymanowski : the finest Polish composer of the first half of the 20th Century.
Edward Rydz-Smigly : the Polish C in C in September 1939. Site now under construction.
M/S Pilsudski : the pre-war Polish Ocean Liner.
Arkadia : the magnificent park near Lowicz outside Warsaw.
Once every ten years C.C. Adcock puts out a record. His first conjured up a vision of Louisiana reeking of Spanish moss, sex, and tremolo. Rather than sounding like so many roots records--simultaneously sterilized and mummified--Adcock's debut put you right in the corrugated-tin roadhouse shack, with the condensation on the walls, the beer flowing like Niagara, and the women's skirts hiked to their waists. What made it one of my all-time favorites was the way it captured the infectious deep bayou feel without sounding like a Clifton Chenier carbon--that is to say, Adcock and producer Tarka Cordell seemed to be fully aware that they were making a RECORD, understanding that to create the excitement of a live performance in the studio requires a certain type of production voodoo, adjusting for the fact that you are not actually being sprayed with the singer's sweat.
Let's get down to the real nitty gritty!
Front page of the Express & Star says that phrases including...
..."nitty griity" have been banned at Wyre Forest District Council after politically correct training consultants branded them racist.
The story is that the phrase 'nitty gritty' has slave trade associations. Yet again political correctness goes mad! Actually the term 'nitty gritty' did not emerge until the 1950s!
Here is what World Wide Words has to say...
Q] From Helen Norris: “Any ideas on the origins of the expression nitty-gritty? I heard today a rather horrible suggestion that it referred to the debris left in the bottom of slave ships after their voyages, once the slaves remaining alive had been removed.”
[A] This may belong in the same line of folklore which holds that a picnic was a slave lynching party. There is a slight link, in that nitty-gritty was indeed originally a Black American English expression, and some people guess that nitty-gritty is a euphemism for shitty, which also suggests a relevance. However, it’s recorded in print only from the 1950s, and never directly with this sense.
Dr Jonathan Lighter, in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, records the first example from 1956: “You’ll find nobody comes down to the nitty-gritty when it calls for namin’ things for what they are”. As it is here fully formed, and has the now customary sense of the fundamental issues, the heart of the matter, or the most important aspects of some situation, it had by then probably already been in use for some while (I know of two people who claim to have come across it in the 1920s). But it is inconceivable that it should have been around since slave-ship days without somebody writing it down.
Its origins are elusive. One explanation is that it is a reduplication—using the same mechanism that has given us namby-pamby and itsy-bitsy—of the standard English word gritty. This has the literal sense of containing or being covered with grit, but figuratively means showing courage and resolve, so the link is plausible, and if it is not the direct origin may have influenced it. It has also been suggested (in a 1974 issue of American Speech, the journal of the American Dialect Society) that nits refers to head lice and grits to the corn cereal. None of these are supported by any firm evidence.
Boy, has he got it wrong!
Just had an e-mail from Tony Blair to tell me that...
On May 5, your support was vital in helping deliver an unprecedented third term for our party.
Dual nationality
When people asked me if I felt Polish or English I always said that when I was with Poles I felt English and when I was with the English I felt Polish. There is some truth in that.
I have also been known to argue the case for dual nationality. I can celebrate Christmas Day lunch - turkey with all the trimmings - and Polish Christmas Eve Wigilia. I have a birthday and a name day. I can enjoy English beer and Polish vodka. The only problem comes when Poland is playing England at football!
Watching "The 100 Greatest War Films" on Channel 4 last night and tonight gave me a strange feeling. I don't know if "Pianista" featured in the list. I didn't see the whole show. It should have done. Most of the list, however, is very largely a catalogue of fantasies. A little bit of me wishes that my English friends might understand what would be in a similar Polish list. On the other hand I'm glad they they don't have to have their own "A Generation", "Kanal", "Ashes and Diamonds" and "Landscape After A Battle". You wouldn't wish the reality behind those films on anyone.
Dedication and enthusiasm...
Fran and I headed over to Wolverhampton to Mass at the Polish Church and then on to the annual commemorative service at the Katyn Memorial on Cannock Chase which commemorates the slaughter in cold blood of over 14,000 Polish Officers by the Soviets in 1940. There was a large turn out to a well organised event. Mrs Kisiel, the Chairman of the Polish Ex-Servicemens' Association in Wolverhampton, does an absolutely marvellous job organising everything. Her dedication and enthusiasm is amazing.
Meanwhile Radio Hey Now - the London based Polish Radio Station were up to cover both Mass and Commemorative Service live! Another dedicated bunch!
A certain Jozef Piłsudski
Last night we showed the two concluding episodes of the Polish TV biographical drama series on Marshal Jozef Piłsudski at the Polish Club in Kidderminster. In organising the season it had not occured to me how appropriate the date was. He died on 12th May 1935 and the key events of the so called coup-d'etat of 1926 took place on 12th and 13th May!
When he died the then Polish President Mosicki said of him:-
”The spirits of the kings are gaining a worthy comrade in their eternal sleep. No crown adorns his temple, his hand holds no sceptre. But he was king of our hearts and ruler of our will. Through half a century of his life’s toil, he took into his possession heart after heart, soul after soul, until he drew the whole of Poland under the purple of his royal spirit.
With the boldness of his thought, the courage of his purpose, the power of his deeds, he freed enslaved hands of their handcuffs, moulded a sword for the weaponless, carved boundaries with it and wreathed the flags of our regiments in glory…
He gave Poland freedom, boundaries, power and respect…”
Find out more about Jozef Piłsudski here.
And that "ł" as in "Piłsudski"?...
"ł" is a letter unique to the Polish alphabet. Polish has no letter "v" (although the excellent Polish band Voo Voo clearly think differently) and the "v" sound is represented in Polish by the letter "w". The "w" sound in Polish is taken by this unique "ł". Now you can practice Polish pronunciation with the name of the town the Austrians called Lemberg, the Ukrainians call Lvov and the Poles call Łwow!
Polish also manages without "q" and "x" although it does very helpfully boast the letters "z" "ź" and "ż".
Best Polish words for pronunciation. Try the names of two Polish towns:-
Łancut - pronounced "Wine-suite" and "Przemyśl" pronounced "Sh-emish"!
The Go Betweens "Oceans Apart"
***** "instant classic" - Mojo ... ***** "on rare form ... as good as it gets" - The Guardian ... ****½ "without fault" - Musikexpress ... "a fresh musical inventiveness" - Morning Star ... "a return to past glories" - The Sun ... **** "among the best they've made" - Q ... **** "re-energised" - Uncut ... ***** "The sound of greatness" - Record Collector
Midnight in Moscow
The Russians have every right to commemorate their vast losses and sacrifices in World War II on the 60th anniversary of VE Day. No-one can deny them that right.
What is bitterly sad is Putin's insistence on talking about the Great Patriotic War which started with the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and ended with the "liberation" of the whole of Europe in 1945.
In one vast gesture of sweeping and all embracing deceit he attempts to write out of history the Soviet invasion of Poland in September 1939 as an ally of Nazi Germany and buries the memory and guilt of the Soviet massacre of Polish officers at Katyn which followed upon that invasion.
In talking of the Red Army's "liberation" of Europe at the end of the war he re-writes history to deny the truth that the Soviets occupied, terrorised, suppressed and exploited Central and Eastern Europe for the next four decades!
Russians are entitled to commemorate but they are not entitled to commemorate to deceive! The preservation of historical truth in the face of their deceptions becomes all the more important!
Watching kids misbehave...
I can't understand the current vogue for TV programmes in UK about families with uncontrollable kids. Why do people agree to go on these "shows"? What long term impact does having been on these programmes have on the families and on the children? Who watches these programmes? They are not exactly relaxing to watch. Do other parents with similar problems think they can learn from them? Can anybody explain the interest for me?
Therapy!
So I'm already running three blogs! One for the Liberal Group on Wyre Forest District Council. One as Consul of the Republic of Poland for the West Midlands. One for the Polish Community in Kidderminster. So why another? Personal therapy and self indulgence!
