Polack

Hi
While playing poker on the internet i basically try to stay away from abusive talks at the table and i dont react to offensive remarks (esp. after showing big bluff that i manage to pull off sometimes).

However, one thing occured to me lately and I was just curious to probe the topic here, as most of readers seems to be American.

I am Polish, I live in Warsaw (capital of Poland) and very often i am being called "Pola(c)k", mostly in conjuction with words like "dumb", "stupid" and alike.

I didnt find that particularly offensive at the beginning as "Polak" simply means in Polish "polish (of origin)". But then i realized it has disparaging slang meaning for americans.

Now, i dont complain, i just wonder if my nation has got really such a bad image in US?

I know many polish people left the motherland looking for a better living in America, but was it really the worst sort of them that you meet out there?

One more thing - 99% of players i chat with occasionaly on PS during tournaments are nice people and decent players who can take beating without offending others. My post refers to that 1% who just happen to hit on my nationality - and that makes me wonder what's wrong with that ...

Regards
NF.

[daryn]

basically poland has the reputation of stupidity for no real reason. well i'm sure there was a reason initially, but probably a poor one.

did you hear about the polish mob boss?

he made himself an offer he couldn't understand.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

I'm Polish and awesome, so no, we're not a bad lot out here. Polack is our n-word I suppose (but not so bad), but um...there's plenty of dumb Polack jokes. It's just that we're not as prominent a group as black people are, so we can't do much about it.

[diebitter]

Cut down on your p*ker content on OOT, bud.

It's just an easy target thing. People get offensive online if they're doing bad, so pick on you in whatever way they can, you just get used to it. Poles are supposed to be 'dumb' in some parts of American culture and there were/are tons of Polack jokes there - same for the Irish in England for a looooong time.

If it helps you at all, I'm English, and the only Poles I've encountered or heard about are one really beautiful girl I went out with for a while (tallest I've been out with too, 6 footer!), and the brave pilots that fought in the battle of Britain, so I think Poles are freakin' fabulous! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[tonypaladino]

How do you sink a Polish submarine?

Knock on the hatch.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Inspired by that...

Polish inventions:

Screendoor on a submarine
Air conditioner on a motorcycle
Ejection seat on a helicopter

I know so many, but I've forgotten a lot.

Does anybody know a Polish joke involving football? I vaguely remember hearing one and it was the funniest one I ever heard, but for the life of me I can't remember it.

[ChipWrecked]

'Polish jokes' used to be pretty common when I was a kid (30-odd years ago) although they are almost nonexistent these days. One plus of the PC times, I suppose. Ignorant bigots are drawing on old times to come up with an insult when you beat them.

Also, lots of Americans are of German origin (I kid!)

Eff the haters. Don't worry about it. Just take their stacks.

[daryn]

solar powered flashlight

[ChipWrecked]

C'mon, everybody knows the best invention ever is the Italian snow tires.

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
C'mon, everybody knows the best invention ever is the Italian snow tires.

[/ QUOTE ]

explain plz

[ChipWrecked]

.....dago through snow, dago through mud, dago through ice, but when dago flat, dago wop wop wop wop wop wop.....

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
.....dago through snow, dago through mud, dago through ice, but when dago flat, dago wop wop wop wop wop wop.....

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Man I love really politically incorrect jokes.

[youtalkfunny]

(EDIT: I had to hypenate a word to get it past the censor software. If Archie Bunker could say it on tv in 1975, then I can write it in OOT in 2005.)

MIKE: Admit it, Arch, you're wrong on this. We all know Roger, and we all know he's straight. And even if he wasn't--and I said "if"--what difference would that make? Did you know that in many countries, England for instance, there's a law that says whatever two consenting adults do in private is their own business?

ARCHIE: Listen, dis ain't England. We t'rew England outta here a long time ago. We don't want no more part of England, and for your information, England is a f-a-g country.

MIKE: WHAT???

ARCHIE: Certainly. Ain't dey still pickin' hankerchiefs outta deir sleeve, huh? Their whole society is based on a kind of a fagdom.

MIKE: You, you, you...you know you're right, Archie? You're right! The English are a bunch of pansies. Pansies, fairies, and sissies. And that Japanese are a race of midgets, the Irish are boozers, the Mexicans are bandits...

ARCHIE: ...and you Polacks are meatheads!

[diebitter]

I laughed.

I remember seeing as a kid a show with Alf Garnett (upon whom Archie Bunker was based) actually say, begrudingly, 'well, Hitler was alright...' and being shocked and laughing my head off, even at a tender age...

[Brom]

I remember the first I heard of the word was when I was playing in a club and everyone else were friends there, but kept calling this one polish dude by that name. He seemed to take it in good nature, so I took it to mean simply someone of Polish origin. Some time later I busted it out in a different venue (in a joking fashion), it was like I had just dropped an N-bomb. Everyone just looked at me and the music scratched to a halt. I needed it explained to me that it was derogatory.

However, most of the people that use an adjective in front of it like "dumb", "stupid", etc. probably do mean it in a demeaning way. I think that they would refer to any foreigner the same way though. Dumb Jap, stupid Russians, Lazy Spaniards, etc. Just consider it good old fashioned ignorance.

[ChipWrecked]

Chicagoans holla, that's where I heard 'Polack' used a lot when I was a kid. Usually by Germans, as there are huge numbers of both Germans and Poles in Chicagoland.

[daryn]

[ QUOTE ]
Chicagoans holla, that's where I heard 'Polack' used a lot when I was a kid. Usually by Germans, as there are huge numbers of both Germans and Poles in Chicagoland.

[/ QUOTE ]


hmm, now that i think of it, michael stivic was from chicago!

[ChipWrecked]

Chicago has more Poles than any other city in the world besides Warsaw and Kracow.

[Dominic]

When I was a kid, there used to be these books of racial jokes! On one side, the cover would have Polish jokes, you'd turn it over and the other cover would have Italian jokes - two books for one!

There was a bunch of them - Black/Jewish, French/Irish, etc.

Very politically incorrect...and the covers would have the most reacially insensitive charicatures imaginable!

[Lazymeatball]

The majpority of polish jokes I heard growing up came from people of polish origin.

So is the consensus here that the word "polack" is offensive? or is it more like a context thing like the word "jew?"

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Um...don't come to Greenpoint (NYC's Polish ghetto) and start saying Polack. As far as I know, you can call a Jew a Jew to his face, but you can't call a Pole a Polack to his face...

Unless you're speaking Polish, in which case, Polack is actually the right word...

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
basically poland has the reputation of stupidity for no real reason. well i'm sure there was a reason initially, but probably a poor one.

did you hear about the polish mob boss?

he made himself an offer he couldn't understand.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard that Canadian versions of these jokes replace Pole/Polish/etc with Scotia/Scotian.

[Ed Miller]

[ QUOTE ]
Um...don't come to Greenpoint (NYC's Polish ghetto) and start saying Polack. As far as I know, you can call a Jew a Jew to his face, but you can't call a Pole a Polack to his face...

Unless you're speaking Polish, in which case, Polack is actually the right word...

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought Greenpoint was all trendy now.

[imported_The Vibesman]

[ QUOTE ]
When I was a kid, there used to be these books of racial jokes! On one side, the cover would have Polish jokes, you'd turn it over and the other cover would have Italian jokes - two books for one!

There was a bunch of them - Black/Jewish, French/Irish, etc.

Very politically incorrect...and the covers would have the most reacially insensitive charicatures imaginable!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I have one of these, but it's not racial; one side is jokes about Democrats, the other jokes about Republicans. And like most ethnic jokes, the jokes on each side are pretty much identical, but with the names of the parties reversed.

[elwoodblues]

They changed them all to "blonde jokes" and they are equally hilarious /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Eh, money's moving into Greenpoint thanks to the Williamsburg yuppies, but it's really Williamsburg that's trendy. Some yuppies have moved into Greenpoint too, granted, but Greenpoint is still a lot of cranky old Polish people going, "[censored] yuppies...". It's a matter of proximity.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Um...don't come to Greenpoint (NYC's Polish ghetto) and start saying Polack. As far as I know, you can call a Jew a Jew to his face, but you can't call a Pole a Polack to his face...

Unless you're speaking Polish, in which case, Polack is actually the right word...

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought Greenpoint was all trendy now.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is. Brunch at Enid's anyone?

[djoyce003]

they are just spoofs on blonde jokes, aggie jokes,etc.

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
basically poland has the reputation of stupidity for no real reason. well i'm sure there was a reason initially, but probably a poor one.

did you hear about the polish mob boss?

he made himself an offer he couldn't understand.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard that Canadian versions of these jokes replace Pole/Polish/etc with Scotia/Scotian.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, most of our jokes revolve around Newfies. I've never heard of a "Scotian" joke -- maybe that's the group that the Newfies make jokes about?

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

Yeah, but come on, go past Enid's and you still have a VERY Polish neighborhood. Manhattan Ave. is the edge, especially that close to Bedford. Whatever, I'm probably overly protective of Greenpoint.