I'VE GOT DIBS ON MARIE CURIE: Today is, by Presidential Proclamation, Casimir Pulaski Memorial Day, in honor of the father of the American cavalry who came here to defend freedom during the Revolutionary War and gave his life on this date in 1779 at the Siege of Savannah.
Fans of trivia know that he is one of seven people ever given the title of Honorary Citizen of the United States (and may recall my personal affection for this question), and in his honor today we do what we always do on this blog: go ahead, name a famous Polish person or something from Poland that you like.
I'm a big fan of a heliocentric solar system, so I'll go with Copernicus.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is of Polish descent, so I'll take him. Also? Pierogies.
ReplyDeleteMarian Rejewski, Jerzy Różycki, and Henryk Zygalski
ReplyDeletekielbasa
Carl Yastrzemski, of course.
ReplyDeleteI pick a fictional character, Prez from the Wire, and also also pierogies!
ReplyDeleteMy list, in no particular order: the Bielski brothers, Joesph Babinski (of reflex fame), Albert Sabin, Irena Sendler, the pierogi, Gene Krupa, Leopold Stokowski, Bill Mazeroski, Walter Sobchak, and Prez.
ReplyDeleteMarie Curie, and since kielbasa and pierogies have already gotten mentioned, I'll add cabage rolls.
ReplyDeleteBut...we already have a Casimir Pulaski Day! Every first monday of March!
ReplyDeleteReally, this is kind of weird to me as a Illinoisan, since we do have a separate state holiday for the General and I did not know the federal holiday existed (and is apparently older than ours).
And for famous Poles, I have to go with Chopin.
Dude, you just got married. What are you doing here?
ReplyDeleteIt's a true testament to the community here. I was checking the site when I was in labor...but then, I was kind of immobilized with the epidural.
ReplyDeleteMy chorus tour went to Poland, and my small group was hosted by a lovely, lovely woman whom we could not ocmmunicate with. She was the gardener or housekeeper of the wealthy woman who was hosting many others from the chorus, and I don't know if we were imposed on her or if she volunteered. She could not have been kinder. And when she saw how eagerly and appreciatively we ate the luscious strawberries she had at one meal, she went out and got a massive flat of them for us to have the next day. We felt bad (how expensive were they?) but just kept saying <span><span>dzienkuje, </span></span><span><span>dzienkuje, </span></span><span><span>dzienkuje (gen-koo-yeh -- thank you). We were much happier to sit with her in her small house and join her in watching Dallas in syndication (in English, with Polish subtitles) and groaning with her about J.R. than if we'd been staying in the literal mansion that others were housed in.
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Gah, somehow missed the post title. Just cabbage rolls then.
ReplyDeleteI had always believed that my ancestors came from Russia at the begining of the 20th Century, but a few years ago when I entered my surname "Akawie" into the Yad Vashem database, I found a dozen or so listed has having been from Warsaw and Lodz. So I have to acknowlege them.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I've always been a fan of Kosciusko, for both his engineering and his mustard.
Hey, that was two days ago! (But seriously, she's on the other laptop looking for Sunday lunch options. Anyone know which is the proper place for lunch at The Drake on a Saturday? Their website blows chunks.)
ReplyDeleteAs Poland was part of either Germany or Russia until 1918 (and Lodz was under Russian rule, I believe) you're still good.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the Polka!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite polka: Gonznoi Polka, by the Wallets. Davenport, 1986.
ReplyDeleteDanny Pudi.
ReplyDeleteThe Polka is Czech, named after the people they admired at the time. I think relations are a bit more strained now. (If this were about Czech things, I would note the words in English we get from Czech: polka, dollar, pistol, robot )
Krzysztof Kieślowski. I'm sure Pulaski and Lafayette were pretty stoked to get their honorary citizenship 200+ years after their deaths. Not at all pointless.
ReplyDeleteSomeone here knows what the state of citizenship law was under the Articles of Confederation -- was it on a state-by-state basis?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the wedding!!
ReplyDeleteAnd with those three words, "my chorus tour," Genevieve goes from "wow, we have similar tastes" to "wow, we're twins."
ReplyDeleteI had a very similar experience with my host family in rural Netherlands when I went there with, ahem, my chorus tour. Right down to the delicious strawberries.
Sorry that this comment has nothing to do with Poland.
It's a tie between Frederic Chopin and Walter Sobchak.
ReplyDeletePretty much a state-by-state basis, though it's less explicit than it might be. See Article IV, here, which seems to me to be the most relevant.
ReplyDeleteOh, I didn't even think about that! Yeah, I've got ancestors from Poland (as well as much of the rest of Eastern Europe).
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