The BEST Guide to POLAND
Unanswered  |  Archives 
User: Guest

Home / Life  % width posts: 14

Babcia klozetowa alive & well?

Polonius3 1,000 | 12,448
22 Jun 2010  #1
Has the once iconic babcia klozetowa completely disappeared from the Polish landscape? Whatever the case, Pol-Ams returning from Poland these days are impressed by the great improvement in public lavatories. Some remember the old scoot-downs at provincial railway stations and elserwhere not to mention the odiferous fumes surrounding most public loos with the exception of Orbis hotels. Now Polonian travellers come back saying: 'It's almost like America!'
1jola 14 | 1,879
22 Jun 2010  #2
Oh, she is there all right, and she ain't breaking her back spicking and spanning.
terri 1 | 1,624
22 Jun 2010  #3
In Krakow, public toilets near Wawel and others are a pleasure to use. Clean, well-kept, supplied with paper, soap and hot water - for 1 pln you can't get better.

The best ones were the ones in Sukiennice which I used for years and at that time they were 30groszy. Now places charge up to 2pln

I well remember the times, when babcie klozetowe allowed you three strips of toilet paper which you got on your way in...oh, the good old days....
plk123 8 | 4,150
22 Jun 2010  #4
lol.. this may be one of the best topics ever. i am glad you brought such important issue to the forefront here rofl..
22 Jun 2010  #5
What about the guy who does the dubbing for foreign-language films?

Frankly, he sounds absolutely f***ing knackered.
NorthMancPolak 4 | 648
22 Jun 2010  #6
He reminds me of the guy who used to do nearly all the adverts for UK Garage events on pirate radio - talk about having a virtual monopoly! lol
23 Jun 2010  #7
Now places charge up to 2pln

I'm happy to report that in Zakopane near Gubałówka lift babcia klozetowa is alive & well and charging 1,50 zł for the pleasure. Toilets are not so great. At least toilet paper is not limited :) That's colossal improvement.
tygrys 2 | 294
23 Jun 2010  #8

True, but it still like sand paper
southern 75 | 7,097
23 Jun 2010  #9
At least toilet paper is not limited :) That's colossal improvement

I have to visit Zakopane.
jwojcie 2 | 763
23 Jun 2010  #10
Babcia klozetowa is fine, and even in some ways she modernized. She has mobile phone now and in some places she can even give you a receipt :-)

As for dubbing guy he is still there, and I personally would fight for him to stay :-) I hate all those multivoiced dubbed movies except maybe Shrek and a few others... They are usually completely cleaned from emotions. With dubbed guy you can usually hear original voices in the background and somehow "feel the moment"... I suppose it is kind of ability that Poles where forced to gain to mix automatically this background with sober dubbing guy voice. You foreigners just don't get it ;-) It is kind of a movie with subtitles except subtitles are given by voice... The ultimate goal, as Yoda would put it is:

understand the dubbing guy you should, not hear ;-)

I suppose some of you are still in the moment when Luke Skywalker is trying to lift his spaceship from the swamp. I tell you, it can be done ;-)
mafketis 20 | 7,331
23 Jun 2010  #11
I can stand watching movies with lektors if they're not in English. But the lektor destroys the movie for those who speak the original language as their native tongue (no matter how well they know Polish).

And .... when two different languages are being spoken at the same time it just sounds ... ugly, it's a very unaesthetic experience.

Sometimes I wish someone could get a native speaker of English to do an English lektor track over a Polish movie so Polish people could understand how terrible it sounds to other people.

As for babcia klozetowa I can't say I've met any recently. My two favorite memories:

Wrocław train station (early 90's) all the stalls are filled and i'm in a .... hurry. The helpful babcia walks up to one stall pounds on the door and yells at the guy to vacate ASAP.

Near Warsaw old town during 2002 WC, the sociable babcia starts talking to me and handicapping the WC from her post just as I'm getting down to business. I try to keep up my end of the conversation but it wasn't easy.
jwojcie 2 | 763
23 Jun 2010  #12
I can understand that, but that dubbing is made for Poles. What I'm trying to explain is that it is not like some foreigners try to explain to themselfs that it is just dire communists legacy and Poles just don't know better. Well, they know, but better rarely is better :-)

You say it sounds ugly for you because you hear two different languages at the same time. Thing is, that to some extent if "lektor" is native for you, you actually don't hear him, you just understand him :-)

I suppose it would be a nightmare for me to watch ie french movie dubbed with one voice in english because I would have to engage most of my brains limited powers to first hear the guy then cut his message then attribute it to a proper actor and finally translate it, indeed it is a nightmare. In case when dubbing voice is in polish all this is automatic and I can focus just on emotions hidden in foreign language and of course on the pictures...

At least that is the way it works for me.

please keep to the original topic. thank you.
23 Jun 2010  #13
please keep to the original topic. thank you.

Sorry, Moderator, but what the hell is all that about? A good referee would 'play advantage' in this situation - it's not every thread on PF that is as good-humoured as this one (putting it mildly) and it's fair to say that lektory are themselves a Polish cultural icon in much the same way that babcie klozetowe are.

There are times when it is better to keep to the spirit, rather than the letter of your mandate.

Respect, alexw68 (a moderator elsewhere)

Polish lektors have been discussed in other threads.
Among other things... keeping a thread on topic is out
of respect to the OP. I hope this helps.

jwojcie 2 | 763
24 Jun 2010  #14
please keep to the original topic. thank you.

Ok, moderator, you are right, I'm sorry. But what if I find a movie with babcia klozetowa with dubbing ? Anyway, to expiate my sin:

Where is my water pipe

And last but not least, quite old though:

Big Cyc - Wielka miłość do babci klozetowej (Great Love for Babcia Klozetowa)! ;-)

Home / Life / Babcia klozetowa alive & well?
BoldItalic [quote]