Day Three...Gin Two...

Really, I should be making Polish cards. But I did, I am happy to say, drag myself away from the computer long enough to do two loads of laundry and rush out to Aldi to buy some supper. When we will eat this supper is an open question, for now B.A. is glued to his computer, too.

The first day of the Ratio Scandal was marked by dismay, the second by giggles, and the third by addiction to the continuing fuss.  I have even gone to Radio Maria to listen to one Polish bishop discuss the words of another Polish bishop, the president of the Polish bishops, Archbishop Gądecki.

Apparently Archbishop Gądecki got his opinion out so quickly because--if I and my source have this story right--he went over to Vatican Radio, where the Polish office was allowed to be open, unlike some of the other offices (this part of the tale is unclear), sat down, and broadcast his displeasure to Poland.

Now, I have met a Polish bishop, and I was quite terrified of him, for although Polish men are pretty confident as a group, and Polish priests even more confident as a group, this bishop was basically one of the kings of Poland, and he knew it. Everyone around beamed at him and giggled happily at his slightest gesture and scribbled notes madly as he made an extempore speech about women in Scripture. If a mad assassin had burst into the room, the whole group would have leaped up to save him. So imagine the actual President of the Polish Bishops. Woo!

I have had an entertaining time inventing some Archbishop Gądecki fan fiction, visualizing how it might have been when he stomped over to Vatican Radio, mad as a rabid bumblebee. Maybe I'll put it into actual words tomorrow. And now I think I really will make some flashcards.

Polish Note: I found an interesting word in my Oxford Polish-English dictionary, and used it happily in a Facebook message to a very respectable young Polish astrophysicist who at once demanded to know where I had learned it. "Probably from you," I joked, but he vigorously denied it. And the moral of the story is that you should always check interesting foreign words with your foreign friends to gauge if the words are (and when they are) socially appropriate.