This week's Pretzel Logic look at both the Polish side of my family tree, and also my last name in general, might just be enough to push the Nightspots spell checker into the danger zone. My apologfies inm advanze iff taht shloud happin.
He Was Originally Known Fields Magdziarz
According to online records at Ancestry.com, a person named Macey Magdziarz arrived via ship at New York City, from Hamburg, Germany, on November 18, 1901 with a final destination city of Chicago.
For This Guy 'Magdziarz' Was The Easy Part Of His Name
After looking at a scanned image of the passenger list, as well as information listing him as a friend of an immigrant by the name of '??rzyna Pasik', it turns out Macey's actual name was Maciej, which is of course a huge improvement over Macey.
Although My Guess Is That The Chances Are Pretty Dammed Good I Am Whenever Anybody Has That Particular Last Name
Just to be accurate, I don't have any actual record that shows I am related to Macey/Maciej Magdziarz.
Easy Names Run In My Family - Part One
According to records on the same web site, my grandmother, Suzanna Czajkowicz, arrived in New York on October 19, 1912.
Easy Names Run In My Family - Part Two
My great-grandfather's name is listed as 'unknown' on my grandmother's death certificate, but on the passenger list from 1912 his name is listed as an illegible scrawl.
Easy Names Run In My Family - Part Three
And apparently they run as fast and as far away as possible.
Ve Haff Vays Uv Makink You Read Pretzel Logik
Suzanna Czajkowicz was born in Bryly, a Polish city that, at the time of her birth in the 1890s, was annexed into Austria.
I Hope He's Not two-Faced
There is a Polish mathematician by the name Janusz Magdziarz.
Follow Janusz' Bouncing Balls
Janusz and some other guy wrote a book entitled 'Testy Z Matematyki.'
Alphabet Soup, Anyone?
The Full name of the book, including the subtitle, is 'Testy Z Matematyki dla Licealistów i Kandydatów na Studia.'
Yeah, But Can You See Uranus?
There is a Polish astronomer by the name Pawel Magdziarz who has co-authored a slew of astronomical books and other manuscripts, including 'Broad-band X-ray/Gamma-ray Spectra of NGC 4151 and their Theoretical Consequences,' which is an 'Analysis of broad-band X/gamma-ray spectra of NGC 4151 from contemporaneous observations by GRO/OSSE, ROSAT, Ginga and ASCA, shows that the data are well modelled [ sic ] with an intrinsic spectrum due to thermal Comptonization.'
Families Can Be Such A Drag
In going through an old box of family photos that used to belong to my grandmother, I found one that appeared to be taken no later than the 1920s that included a woman who looked a hell of a lot like me in drag.
Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
Just for the record: I don't do drag.
Not That I'm Insecure Or Anything Like That
I just meant that, hypothetically speaking, if I were to do drag, which I don't, but if I did, that woman would look how I would look, or rather how I assume I would look if I did do drag. Which I don't.
Here At Pretzel Logic We Aim To Please
I wonder if this less-than-serious look at my Polish background will piss off anybody as much as my look at the Native American side of my family background pissed off one particular reader a couple years back.
If you have old family photos of long-dead, anonymous relatives who look like a transgendered version of yourself, please feel free to send me a copy at PretzelLogicDave@aol.com
Je_eli wy jeste_cie Polscy i by_y obra_ane obrazi_ przez co_ napisz_, prosz_ posy_aj_ mnie poczta elektronowa przy info@pierogi.com ( and yes, I used a web site to translate this, so don't bother to tell me how incorrect the Polish is -- or the English for that matter ) .
