Why do I say antonym, well a colleague a work remarked on the Polish custom and in the same sentence noted "where as you (British) have My home is my castle." I was not sure if I should get offended or just sigh at the ignorance of the remark (coming form an experienced English teacher/examiner). Where is the flaw in her argument? Well, she inferred that the two sayings are talking about the same issue: hospitality and are therefore comparative, whereas in fact they are discussing completely different issues.
The phrase My home is my castle goes to the heart of the concept of English liberal political thought. Whereas in society you may be subject to various constraints and have to do various duties, in your own home you are the sole ruler. This concept has its practical application in the concept of 'possession is 9/10th of the law. i.e. it is up to the Police to prove a crime rather than assuming guilt. It is also the premise behind the need for search warrents etc...
Living in Poland I naturly have an ID card; mine is a EU Residents Card: Dokument Potwierdzający Prawo Stałego Pobytu. However, it is always a struggle to explain to students why In the UK there is no need for one. Recently while discussing this issue a student remarked: "but what if you are stopped by the Police?" This question displays the crux of the problem. He automatically assumed that Police have the right to know who you are and question you. Of course in recent years Police in the UK have been given increase 'stop and search' powers, but even these are limited and must be documented. No policeman in the UK has the right to simply stop you as he wishes (unlike it appears in Poland).
Poland is unfortunately still very much under the dark shadow of communism in Polish peoples acceptance of the controlling nature of the state. I am often met with a quizzical look when I point out the outdated nature of citizen registration: In Poland all people must be registered to a specific abode. Most people take it so much for granted that they can not even see my point at first, yet it is a left-over of a police state wherein citizens were not entitled to freely move around the country. This has its practical problems. For example, my friend works and lives in Lodz, but is registered at her parents home 200 km away. One day she discovered that someone had stolen her number plates on her car. What wouled be a simple problem to solve was made worse by the fact that everything had to go through her official residence 200km away.
Interesting point about visitor culture.
ReplyDeleteAlong with the Brit 'my home is my castle', are the welcome sayings 'make yourself at home' for single visits, 'treat it like your own home' for people staying some time, and other things said to get guests to relax and consider themselves an immediate part of the household - I have even heard 'mi casa su casa' used. Maybe the 'castle' concept is relevant, but in the opposite way to that assumed by your colleague - it emphasises the importance you give to accepting your guests. It does not lock them out.
The concept of treating a guest like a god is a more distant idea, emphasising that the visitor is not part of the family and an outside person, specially treated. How often do you want guests that you have to treat like this?
Actually, I see little difference in practice. Whilst I do suspect a bias in Poland to having guests as a well arranged, well thought out event, with the English tending to pop into each other's homes with little ceremony, my experience on both sides is too narrow to gauge national stereotypes. I can easily quote exceptions, anyway.
Poles also has proverbs like "my home is my castle" -
ReplyDelete"Wolność, Tomku w swoim domku" = "In my own house, Tom, I am free to do as I wish".
"Make yourself at home" also has almost direct translation in Polish - "Czuj się jak u siebie w domu", albo po prostu "Rozgość się".
Other nice proverb about welcoming guests is "Zastaw się, a postaw się" - which means "borrow money if you must, but make the party BIG." I wonder, if sth like this exists in English - it remains from old times, when poor noblemans have to sell their studd to maintain their status when guests came.
Another one - "Pan na zagrodzie równy wojewodzie" = "Pan (regular Polish nobleman title) in his possesion has equal (power) to VIP."
I think our cultures aren't so different, after all.
Thank you for your comments and the fact that you didn't ridicule my typing errors. Why do you notice them only the next day when you look back over a piece? Oh well!!!
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on the liberal issues raised?
Typing errors? There's another saying about living in a glasshouse and throwing stones!
ReplyDeleteI too was surprised at the need to carry ID documents, especially as I felt worried having to carry my passport around with me all the time, fearing, without foundation as it happened, that I would loose it. I was quite ready to go along the 'communist hangover' type of reaction, but I re-rationalised it on the old UK discussion line of 'what do the innocent have to fear?'.
I think Poland is in line with most of Europe in this thinking - have you noticed how only the Brits need their passports to pass border controls? All the rest have ID cards. Liberty and ID cards are a singularly UK discussion, which I can't, from my own feelings, really classify so much as being about freedom, put the pain in the butt procedures of getting one and carrying it around with me.
This doesn't particularly bother me in Poland because its part and parcel of my carrying around driving documentation all the time. Now that's a great thing. If I ever have an accident when I'm driving, I can be pretty sure that they'll have their documents there and none of that UK swapping of unconfirmed telephone numbers and hoping you'll get their insurance details in a week or so, ringing continuously with no answer, etc.
At the end of the day, it isn't so much ideology, as that our minds are so conditioned to believe that what we always do is the right thing to do, we find it difficult to understand why other people feel just as righteous for doing something the opposite. Ourselves rejecting ID cards and Poles (French, etc) assuming them. Even my standard use of a cotton handkerchief has come under attack for this reason.
I agree that to some extent Poland is still in the shadow of communism, but it is so ingrained into the thinking of people that they don't seem to notice.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any kind of Polish ID, I carry my passport and I have a blue piece of paper which confirms my residency (maybe that's quasi ID)
But, and I can't really explain why, the idea of carrying around an ID document is something very alien to me - It almost makes me feel uncomfortable at the thought. I get the point from Pan Steeva that only Brits need their passports to cross a UK border but I like it that way, a passport is something else in my mind than an ID card - although logically I know they one and the same.
Maybe my unfounded resentment against ID cards is just the polar opposite of the Polish acceptance of them.
Thank you for your thoughts (Pan Steeva and TEFL) I agree with both of you, strangely enough. ID cards do make life easier and yes the law specifying you must always have driving documents is just common sense and practical. It is I guess what you are used to; the fact that in the UK uou don't have to be registered is perhaps a false idol as with modern databases (credit cards etc..) we are to all extents and purposes registered whether we like it or not. Very few if non at all leave no digital finger print.
ReplyDeleteI'm programmer, and the real problem for me is the duplication of data - we have unique number already - Pesel that is - why on earth we need to remeber also then NIP, many PINs for debet/credit cards, address of meldunek, family names of parents. Now I have to carry like 10 chip cards in my wallet, it's stupid.
ReplyDeleteAll cards that I should need should be card with my Pesel, and the only number I need to remember should by my unique pin - the details of my curent account, my health insurance, my city transport monthly ticket, and others could as well be stored in databases of each interested institution - that data already is stored there, but under separate indices, some of them duplicated. This is ugly and inefficient.
You'll say somebody could track all of my data that way - if somebody wants, she/he can do this already. But to make this argument null - let's use public-private key cryptography on all sensitive data.
@ ajuc, you are of course right and don't forget your ID card has a seperate number and oh yes your driving license :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I know I shouldn't but I tend to make all my bank PINs the same or else i'd loose track.