Comment by Tade0
3 hours ago
He didn't know the nationality of the man in front of him as he's never seen the faces of the two before. It was the mid 90s, so it's not like he could easily look that up.
Also he figured it would be rude.
IIRC the wider context is that my dad, not knowing where the priests were at that moment and having no one to ask in the vicinity, went to a confessional as he saw someone there.
Nie widzę problemu z pytaniem o polskiego księdza jeśli wiadomo, że taki znajduje się gdzieś w pobliżu - jeśli to miałoby ułatwić całą sprawę z załatwianiem chrztu. Nie ma w tym niczego niekulturalnego. No chyba, że tata był nauczony padać plackiem przed koloratką - to wtedy to zupełnie inna dyskusja.
Oh look at me, I'm being rude here - talking in Polish. Because that eases the convo.
But why wouldn't he start the conversation in Polish? If the priest responds, he is Polish. If he doesn't, he is Spanish.
Yea I didn't get this logic either. Why would the Polish person be the one assumed to be speaking Latin but the Spanish (literally a language based on Latin) person not? Who says Spanish people can't learn Latin?
Both priests are assumed to understand Latin. The situation they want to avoid is starting up a conversation with someone in a language they don't know.
So the options are:
1) Use Polish, with the risk of being rude if you happen to speak to the Spanish priest
2) Use Latin and ask "do you speak Polish?", and both the Polish and the Spanish priest will understand.
You could of course argue that it's not so very rude to accidentally try to strike up a conversation with someone in a language they don't know, but apparently Tade0's father thinks it is.