> I hope you are not offending my nation, sir?
> :)
I wrote:
> I am presuming they chopped the ends to a point, then fire-hardened
the poles; this made it easier to set them up.
Well, considering Polish history, it is probably accurate to speak of
'fire-hardened Poles', like fire-hardened steel. Polish butts did get
chopped some, but then, this made for a very tough integument.