Talk:Polish alphabet

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I'm not sure how this should be added, if at all, but Poles use first names when spelling aloud: A jak Adam, B jak Barbara, etc. (This doesn't count for most of the letters with diacritics, though: a z ogonkiem, n z kreską, z z kropką, etc.)

The problem is there doesn't seem to be any standard: "Teach Yourself Polish" (ISBN 0-340-87088-5) has "A jak Adam", while the only example I can find on the internet is this joke (http://www.lokozmin.itime.pl/index.php?id=humor):

Dzwoni telefon. Pies odbiera i mówi:
- Hau!
- Halo?
- Hau!
- Nic nie rozumiem.
- Hau!
- Proszę mówić wyraźniej!
- H jak Henryk, A jak Agnieszka, U jak Urszula: Hau!!!

(The phone rings. The dog answers and says:
"Woof!"
"Hello?"
"Woof!"
"I don't understand"
"Woof!"
"Please speak clearly"
"W for water, o for orange, o for orange, f for fish: Woof!")

Any ideas? -- Jim Regan 15:51, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

Tere is not any standart. It's true: very ofte while spelling we use first names (this most popular). But you can use any other words (nouns). For letters with diacritics: "Ż jak Żaba (frog)", "Ć jak Ćma (moth)", "Ź jak Źrebak (colt)" "Ó jak Ósemka (the figure 8)" but it isn't any rule (simply there aren't many words beginning with this letters). Greetings from Poland. (wnaj@wp.pl)

I think this "J for John" expansion is not specific to Polish - i'd bet it's common in any language; and also the names are made-up on the spot, usually the first word that comes to one's mind. -- Jokes Free4Me 11:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Certainly it's not unheard of in English. Sir P. G. Wodehouse uses it all the time in his books; witness this example from Full Moon.
“ "I'll go and write that letter at once," he said. "The name is Lister?"

"William Lister," said Gally. "L for Laryngitis, I for Ipecacuanha, S for..."

But Lord Emsworth had gone.

 ”
Agur bar Jacé (talk) 17:18, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] The letters' equivalent values should be included

Seeing as how this is an English language article, the Polish letters should have a chart of comparisons, such as the Romanian Alphabet Tev 01:43, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Changing the code for the wikitable

Would anyone object if i changed the 70 short lines of table code in the article to one of the compact versions below? And which would you prefer, as an editor? -- Jokes Free4Me 11:28, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Polish alphabet
Uppercase A Ą B C Ć D E Ę F G H I J K L Ł M N Ń O Ó P R S Ś T U W Y Z Ź Ż
Lowercase a ą b c ć d e ę f g h i j k l ł m n ń o ó p r s ś t u w y z ź ż
Or this: a ą b c ć d e ę f g h i j k l ł m n ń o ó p r s ś t u w y z ź ż
This is much better. However, I don't think the heading is necessary. I like the second line better than the third because of the alignment. Appleseed (Talk) 21:29, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Jokes, I've implemented your proposed change. Perhaps you'd be interested in cleaning up the second table too? Appleseed (Talk) 21:35, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Missing digraphs

I'm afraid there are missing digraphs in the list of the Polish alphabet. They are "dz", "dź" and "dż". Sample words with the digraphs: dzban, źdźbło (or palatalised: dziurkacz), dżem, dżdżownica.


Moreover "ch" is in Polish listed as it was related to "c", not to "h" in the dictionaries or listings (not like in Czech language), e.g. possible surname list in alphabetical order:
- Cap,
- Cep,
- Chanowski,
- Chlebowski,
- Cieszyński,
- Cwaliński,
- Cymbał,
- Czajkowski,
- Czapla.