Slavs

[RadGuy 1,619]

As a Pole, I've decided that we, the Slavs, need our own thread.

Here we can discuss deaths and ideas for future Deathlists - as long as they drink vodka like it's water AKA they are Slavic.

 

I recommend former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for the DL 2016.

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

Dzień dobry, RadGuy.

 

Great idea for a thread. As documented elsewhere on here, I think Anica Dobra is the most beautiful woman on earth, so Slavs are good by me.

 

Also, there were lots of Polish people living in my part of Australia when I was growing up, so I have fond memories of going over to my next door neighbour's on Christmas Day and she would always let me have a small nip of vodka or Napoleon Brandy.

 

Sto lat!

 

 

I can't think, off the top of my head, of any famous elderly Slavs just at the moment, though, although Roman Polanski is always one to keep an eye on.

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

By the way, how is Poland recovering politically from that 2010 plane crash that wiped out your entire government? We never hear much about Poland on the news these days.

[GossipGabe 333]

I can't think, off the top of my head, of any famous elderly Slavs just at the moment, though, although Roman Polanski is always one to keep an eye on.

 

In some Slavic countries like Russia or Ukraine, the life expectancy for males might be more than 10 years shorter than in developed countries (due to excessive alcohol abuse, among other things), so the candidates don't have to be very old in order to be considered viable suggestions. E.g. Even though Gorbachev is only 84, he outlived his commie-era political rivals (Andropov, Chernenko) by 30 years and his successor, Yeltsin by 8 years. He lost his spouse to leukaemia 15 years ago and his health is said to be failing.

[Magere Hein 1,400]

A few more candidates of Slavic origin:

• Alexander Lukashenko (1954)
• Ratko Mladić (1942)
• Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1937)
• Stjepan Mesić (1934)
• Vlastimil Hort (1944)
• Milan Kundera (1929)
• Grzegorz Lato (1950)
• Lech Wałęsa (1943)
• Anatoly Karpov (1951)
• Viktor Korchnoi (1931)
• Vladimir Putin (1952)
• Boris Spassky (1937)
• Valentina Tereshkova (1937)
• Ljubomir Ljubojević (1950)
• Michal Kováč (1930)
• Sergey Bubka (1963)

I admit some are too young to cark it soon and Hort and Ljubojević may be dodgy obit-wise.

[charon 4,943]

 

Vojislav Seselj, born 11/10/54.

 

Released last year from his War Crimes trial due to health, but seems active enough just now.

[maryportfuncity 10,682]

As a Pole, I've decided that we, the Slavs, need our own thread.

Here we can discuss deaths and ideas for future Deathlists - as long as they drink vodka like it's water AKA they are Slavic.

 

I recommend former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for the DL 2016.

 

By Slavic standards Gorby's a fairly moderate drinker, isn't he? Though he is old and has had other health issues.

[Guest pogrom]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yury_Luzhkov

78 now

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Primakov

85

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Ryzhkov

85

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Alexeyevich_Abrikosov

86

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Taimanov

89

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Averbakh(half-russian)

93

Edited March 5, 2015 by Magere Hein
2 posts merged

[Predictor 1,018]

I remember watching this French-Swedish movie from the 1950s when I was younger. The person who played the main role of a Swedish girl was ethnically Russian, I believe. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name, just her face. She must be in her 70s-80s by now.

[GossipGabe 333]

 

As a Pole, I've decided that we, the Slavs, need our own thread.

Here we can discuss deaths and ideas for future Deathlists - as long as they drink vodka like it's water AKA they are Slavic.

 

I recommend former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for the DL 2016.

 

By Slavic standards Gorby's a fairly moderate drinker, isn't he? Though he is old and has had other health issues.

By Slavic standards, yes - since these standards require a minimum alcohol content of 40% for Vodka, of which they consume quite a lot, he wouldn't be alive at 84 if he wasn't. His successor, Yeltsin was just as old as him and an alcoholic - he was one of the most popular picks at our domestic death pool in the '90s, the fact that he survived til 2007 was a small miracle. Oh and his predecessor, Chernenko was suffering from cirrhosis as well, so he must have been a drunkard as well.

 

Gorbi wasn't, and the commies even launched an anti-alcohol campaign at the beginning of his spell as the paramount leader of the Soviet Union, but it wasn't very successful. On the other hand, the death of his wife 15 years ago deeply saddened him according to his autobiography, and he had to visit the hospital a few times last year.

[Predictor 1,018]

I remember watching this French-Swedish movie from the 1950s when I was younger. The person who played the main role of a Swedish girl was ethnically Russian, I believe. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name, just her face. She must be in her 70s-80s by now.

Ah, now I remember. The movie was called La Sorcière (or Häxan) and the Russian-French actress is Marina Vlady. She is quite aged now (77) but appears to have maintainted her good health and looks so I guess we can remove her from "Slavic candidates" at least for now...

 

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Ah, now I remember. The movie was called La Sorcière (or Häxan) and the Russian-French actress is Marina Vlady.

She's a witch! Burn her!

[RadGuy 1,619]

By the way, how is Poland recovering politically from that 2010 plane crash that wiped out your entire government? We never hear much about Poland on the news these days.

Well, the conservative, very religious Law and Justice Party is still crying over it and demanding more and more statues of their supreme leader, Lech Kaczyński. Even the late President's brother, Jarosław, the former Prime Minister, comes to Kraków (where Lech is buried) every month for a mass.

But the rest of the country got over it pretty quickly.

We don't really care who or how many government officials die. We've gotten used to the fact that our politicans will always be terrible.

[RadGuy 1,619]

Danuta Szaflarska, an 100-year-old Polish actress, still commonly plays sassy grandmas (she is basically Poland's Betty White) has cancelled some public appearances due to health problems the last few weeks.

I won't post any links, since they're all in Polish and none of you will understand.

[gcreptile 11,060]

Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the first space walk. The responsible kosmonaut Alexej Leonov is still alive, now 80.

[RadGuy 1,619]

Fun Fact: In old Slavic tradition (the younger generations don't really continue this tradition), when people say their age, they say the age they will be turning in the current year.

 

For example: If somebody turns 60 in September 2015, he will already say he is 60 in March 2015.

 

So, if someone was born on 31 December 1929 and dies on 1 January 2010, people will say he was 81 at the time of his death, even though he just celebrated his 80th birthday!

[Toast 16,232]

Fun Fact: In old Slavic tradition (the younger generations don't really continue this tradition), when people say their age, they say the age they will be turning in the current year.

 

For example: If somebody turns 60 in September 2015, he will already say he is 60 in March 2015.

 

So, if someone was born on 31 December 1939 and dies on 1 January 2010, people will say he was 71 at the time of his death, even though he just celebrated his 70th birthday!

 

That's similar to the expression "in his/her **th year" . To use your example, some one who is 70 would be "in his 71st year".

Often seen on old gravestones, but I think the usage is less common nowadays.

[Magere Hein 1,400]

This is a question particularly intended for RadGuy, but others may know an answer as well.

 

I've recently become interested in the Polish language. I encounter it regularly in my part of town. I searched on the web for a newbie course. There's quite a lot out there, but much of it is basic conversation; very useful, but not quite what I'm looking for. My primary aim is being able to read a Polish newspaper. Understanding spoken Polish and conversation are secondary targets.

 

Any suggestions?

[RadGuy 1,619]

This is a question particularly intended for RadGuy, but others may know an answer as well.I've recently become interested in the Polish language. I encounter it regularly in my part of town. I searched on the web for a newbie course. There's quite a lot out there, but much of it is basic conversation; very useful, but not quite what I'm looking for. My primary aim is being able to read a Polish newspaper. Understanding spoken Polish and conversation are secondary targets.Any suggestions?

Give up. It's useless and extremely difficult. W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie.

 

...

 

Well, in all seriousness, there aren't many resources on the web. You could get a private tutor, or sign up for PolishPod101.

I'm actually interested in learning languages, and I'm satisfied with FrenchPod101. So I guess you could try the Polish version.

[Magere Hein 1,400]

 

This is a question particularly intended for RadGuy, but others may know an answer as well.I've recently become interested in the Polish language. I encounter it regularly in my part of town. I searched on the web for a newbie course. There's quite a lot out there, but much of it is basic conversation; very useful, but not quite what I'm looking for. My primary aim is being able to read a Polish newspaper. Understanding spoken Polish and conversation are secondary targets.Any suggestions?

Give up. It's useless and extremely difficult. W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w cinie.

 

Cheers, that's encouraging. I already knew that Polish words can have long strings of consonants. Dutch can as well, and interestingly also long strings of vowels. Words like angstschreeuw, herfststruweel and zwartstreepkruiplijster come to mind, and ooienuier.

 

 

Well, in all seriousness, there aren't many resources on the web. You could get a private tutor, or sign up for PolishPod101.

I'm actually interested in learning languages, and I'm satisfied with FrenchPod101. So I guess you could try the Polish version.

I'll have a look. Thanks.

[RadGuy 1,619]

I was thinking about making a DDP theme team for Poles in 2016, but I realized that many potential candidates such as Danuta Szaflarska, Franciszek Macharski and Stanisław Dziwisz probably won't get UK obits.

So I'll probably just make one overall for Slavs, since it will be easier to come up with famous names.

[RadGuy 1,619]

It's the 10th anniversary of the death of Pope Saint John Paul II.

I hate how my fellow countrymen obsess over him so much.

[GossipGabe 333]

It's the 10th anniversary of the death of Pope Saint John Paul II.

I hate how my fellow countrymen obsess over him so much.

Well, if we take some influential Polish people in the last century, I could list about a dozen. Most of these are highly controversial politicians (Piłsudski, Wałęsa, Jaruzelski) with little impact abroad, some are boring artists (Władysław Szpilman) or economists (Balcerowicz) and there's only one bloke that was both charismatic and respectable, the former pope.

[YoungWillz 21,183]

 

By the way, how is Poland recovering politically from that 2010 plane crash that wiped out your entire government? We never hear much about Poland on the news these days.

Well, the conservative, very religious Law and Justice Party is still crying over it and demanding more and more statues of their supreme leader, Lech Kaczyński. Even the late President's brother, Jarosław, the former Prime Minister, comes to Kraków (where Lech is buried) every month for a mass.

But the rest of the country got over it pretty quickly.

We don't really care who or how many government officials die. We've gotten used to the fact that our politicans will always be terrible.

 

Interesting update today on the plane crash....http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3028965/Leak-suggests-pilots-pressured-2010-Polish-plane-crash.html

[gcreptile 11,060]

Concentration camp survivor, resistance fighter and, later, polish foreign minister Wladyslaw Bartoszweski is dead at 93:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3054513/Former-Polish-foreign-minister-Bartoszewski-dies-93.html