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Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill is one of the most recognizable figures in modern history. The former British Prime Minister occupied numerous roles during his lifetime – a politician, writer, laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, historian. However, for the purpose of this article we have focused on one of Churchill’s most prominent roles – an excellent orator. The former Prime Minister has been remembered for giving superior speeches that during the war period gave people hope and courage. Churchill found good rhetoric as a remedy for every concern and as the most potent weapon against the enemy. A few well-chosen words wrapped into persuasive arguments that go together with excellent delivery can persuade even the most diehard defeatists. The following article constitutes the retrospective analysis of speeches given by Winston Churchill during the war period (1938–1945). The analysis focuses on the very content of the speeches, not their register. Therefore, we have not analyzed the applied rhetorical devices but the used arguments. The speeches have been analyzed according to the method of textual markers introduced by Piotr Chruszczewski in 2003. According to this method, the analyzed text is divided into small, consistent fragments which correspond to one strand. The fragments are then described by markers that constitute the models of the arguments that were used by the speaker. The social embedding of the analyzed speeches required coming up with additional models of arguments.

Winnie-the-Pooh, a literary work published by Alan Alexander Milne in 1926, has been appreciated by readers worldwide for nearly a century. The story about a little bear and his companions, it originally conquered the hearts of readers in the book version, then became one of Disney’s best adaptations, one that has never been forgotten by its audience. Thanks to its many translations, Winnie-the-Pooh has become known all around the world. The story is rather difficult to translate, for Milne demonstrated great creativity in naming his characters and various places. The text contains many ambiguous expressions, and the majority of the dialogues are characterized by the presence of many intentional language errors made with the aim of amusing the reader. Various neologisms, metaplasms and onomatopoeias serve as names of characters. The name of the eponymous bear, “Winnie-the-Pooh,” serves as a good example of the difficulty of translation, for Winnie, a diminutive form of Winifred, is a female name, whereas the bear is male. The Pooh part has also caused many problems for numerous translators. There are two Polish translations of the story. In 1938 Irena Tuwim published a translation entitled Kubuś Puchatek that Polish readers immediately fell in love with. In 1986 Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska published her translation of the story, Fredzia Phi-Phi. The second translation attracted many negative comments and contemptuous reactions. Many readers disliked Fredzia Phi-Phi, as it was seen as a crime against the excellent first translation – which, however, happened to contain many mistakes and strayed far from the original text. This article deals with an analysis of both Polish translations of selected names and words from Winnie-the-Pooh.