A: When it is an
ulica. Here we are, on ul. Dumki, well within the city limits of the capital of the EU's sixth largest member state. And yet, within the last week, along the western end of ul. Dumki, not a vehicle has passed. Indeed, not a single human being has stepped foot here.
Above: Since the last snowfall over a week ago, there's not been any new human footprints. I'm the first person to walk along this suburban street for at least seven days. Underfoot, the snow has the texture like sorbet covering a thin, crisp wafer of chocolate, under which there's yet more sorbet. Plenty of animal tracks - fox, hare, and birds.
Above: Talking of hare - there's one! I startled this specimen which took off across the fields. Sadly, I was not armed with my 80-400mm lens, so the 18-200mm had to suffice. The hare's gait is quite unlike that of the rabbit - indeed, here it looks like more like a large cat with antennae or antlers
Above: Still on ul. Dumki. Not a single sign of human activity. Remarkable, since we are just over 100 metres away from ul. Baletowa (
below), a busy thoroughfare. Note passage dug into the snow by the householder. One's civic duty done (of course it helps having a pavement; Baletowa is paved from end to end, unlike ul. Karczunkowska).
And finally, a note for Polish -> English translators. Ul. Dumki is
not translated as Dumki Street, any more than Bahnhoffstrasse is translated as Bahnhoff Street or Rue St. Michel as St. Michel Road. Yes, the Polish word
ulica does mean 'street', just as
Platz means 'place' or 'square'. But
Alexanderplatz is how we'd say Alexanderplatz in English. It's a proper noun. So let's stop translating ul. Marszałkowska as Marszałkowska Street, please.
Above: Since the last snowfall over a week ago, there's not been any new human footprints. I'm the first person to walk along this suburban street for at least seven days. Underfoot, the snow has the texture like sorbet covering a thin, crisp wafer of chocolate, under which there's yet more sorbet. Plenty of animal tracks - fox, hare, and birds.
Above: Talking of hare - there's one! I startled this specimen which took off across the fields. Sadly, I was not armed with my 80-400mm lens, so the 18-200mm had to suffice. The hare's gait is quite unlike that of the rabbit - indeed, here it looks like more like a large cat with antennae or antlers
Above: Still on ul. Dumki. Not a single sign of human activity. Remarkable, since we are just over 100 metres away from ul. Baletowa (below), a busy thoroughfare. Note passage dug into the snow by the householder. One's civic duty done (of course it helps having a pavement; Baletowa is paved from end to end, unlike ul. Karczunkowska).
And finally, a note for Polish -> English translators. Ul. Dumki is not translated as Dumki Street, any more than Bahnhoffstrasse is translated as Bahnhoff Street or Rue St. Michel as St. Michel Road. Yes, the Polish word ulica does mean 'street', just as Platz means 'place' or 'square'. But Alexanderplatz is how we'd say Alexanderplatz in English. It's a proper noun. So let's stop translating ul. Marszałkowska as Marszałkowska Street, please.
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2 comments:
The problem is that in Polish, and I also know Lithuanian and Russian, street names DO get translated into other languages, while English does not translate the world for road, street, square etc.
Also, please remember that in English Road, Street etc are captialised(but not in Polish, Lithuanian , Russian etc).
Finally, the sccepted abreviation for street is ¨St,¨ not ¨str.¨ (that's German)
News - try Googling "British Embassy Warsaw address", then substituting Rome, Budapest, Madrid, etc. Address is an 'ulica', 'Via', 'Utca', 'Paseo', 'strasse' etc.
Moscow, Prague and Bratislava - nothing after the name of the thoroughfare.
Though Vilnius, Riga and Kiev have addresses given followed by 'st', 'str' or 'street'.
Unnecessary, in my mind, and a sign of a slight, dare I say it, inferiority complex with regard to the English-speaking world.
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