"Polish only" law

[Victoria Neufeldt]

Interesting, since 'centrum' and 'biuro' must be Latin (or Romance)
loanwords.

Victoria
Merriam-Webster, Inc. P.O. Box 281
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Barry Popik
> Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2000 3:53 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "Polish only" law
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> POLISH ONLY
>
>    THe AP ran a story on May 10th about Polish-only in Poland:
>
>    A law forbidding the use of foreign languages in Polish commercials and
> leaflets went into effect Tuesday as Poland seeks to strengthen the use of
> the native language as foreign influence increases in the country.
>    (...)  Since the fall of communism in 1989, Poland has been
> flooded with
> foreign-language names and terminology that eventually took root
> in everyday language.  Poles now say they buy goods at the "shopping
center" instead of
> "centrum handlowe," and work in buildings called "tower" or
> "plaza," instead of the "biuro," or office.