Steffen Möller's Blog

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"Poles like to address themselves with nicknames. For the first nickname men get „-ek“ attached to their names. Tomasz becomes „Tomek“ and Piotr becomes „Piorek“. Women’s names have „-ka“ attached. Emilia becomes „Emilka“, „Anna“ becomes „Anka“. But almost every Polish first name has several diminutives. The rule is: the more you like a person the further you can diminish the diminutives of his name. „Tomek“ turns into „Tomuś” and „Piotrek” into „Piotruś”. Anna, the most common Polish name for women, offers particularly wide scope for affectionate diminutives: Ania, Ancia, Anka, Aneczka, Anulka, Anula, Anucha, Anuszka and so on. Be sure – there will be enough new names for every new year of your marriage!"

(Steffen Möller, "Expedition to the Poles", Chapter 5: "Nicknames")

"I know now that in Poland one can retract or reverse everything, even at Polish weddings. First on Saturday everyone dances and celebrates into the early hours of the morning. Then the guests go away and sleep. A few hours later they get up and return to celebrate again! There is a special Polish word for this „re-celebration“: „Poprawiny“. That literally means „improvement session“, it means the hangover from the evening before. There is still plenty left to eat – gherkins, schmalz, sausages, vodka – and so they go on improving what hast not yet ruined until well into Monday morning. An English friend, Steve Terrett, who married a beautiful Pole, put it this way: „On Saturday I drank with the Poles. On Sunday I was close to death. On Monday I drank again wth the Poles and on Tuesday I regretted that I had not died on Sunday!“

(Steffen Möller, "Expedition to the Poles", Chapter 14: "Re-writing, Re-celebrating, Re-doing“)