It’s amazing how much one can implicitly communicate through one’s choice of words. “Znalazłes›?” asked the woman in the big store as I was looking for szpilki. My first thought was, “Znalazłes›? Don’t you mean, ‘Czy Pan znalazł?’” The lady in the small flower shop had used the formal, polite “Pan” with me just moments before, but this woman chose the familiar form – something that would be positively rude to do to unknown Pole. Given the fact that adults use the familiar form with children, I couldn’t help but feel a little insulted at this perceived slight. Putting the foreigner in his place, so to say.

I’m curious how other Poles would interpret this.