Home is where you feel like (at)

I recently received a phone call from an English teaching Polish colleague of mine regarding a question she had received  from a journalist asking if the English slogan used for the Euro2012 ‘Feel Like at Home,’ was linguistically accurate.  As Euro 2012 is happening in less than two weeks, a quite imposing series of murals circling the central train station have been put up showcasing an array of international football fanatics in their respective country’s colors.   It’s hard to miss, trust me.  The imposing size, the bright colors and the eye catching slogan will undoubtedly capture even the most uninterested pedestrian’s attention.  Despite the size, the relevant thing to many Poles here in Warsaw is the slogan ‘Feel like at home.’ The debate is whether this expression is linguistically correct.    

The headline states that many Poles are upset about the supposedly linguistically invalid expression, yet many native speakers of English are nodding in approval about the expression maintaining that it’s not as natural as many of us would say; however, it’s logical. 

'Feel like at home', and Poles 2012 your hosts!

To the native speaker’s ear it doesn’t sound too wrong.  Anyway, if you look at the article found here(: http://natemat.pl/16321,burza-wokol-hasla-feel-like-at-home-w-szklance-wody-polacy-wytykaja-blad-a-native-speakerow-like-nie-razi   )   you will see that many are unhappy about the slogan.  Nevertheless, as one of the native speakers asked for the validity of this motto, I will reiterate that it doesn’t sound that bad.    We hear a lot worse from you Poles-from the best of you as well to boot.  Anyway, as a little experiment, I Googled the expression and it does not exist.  Of course, the best expression  and probably the grammatically correct expression is the expression ‘feel at home.’  The expression ‘feel like at home’ is a direct translation from Polish.  Regardless, if Poland invites me to feel at home or feel like at home, I will happily accept.  So, Where’s the fridge? And can I help myself to a beer?

Behind the main train station