strange Polish mixes

I said in my intro post that I'm half Polish, half Mexican. People always tell me what a unique mix that is. (I've never met anyone else who is also Polish and Mexican.) How about any of you? Is anyone half Polish, if so what else are you?

Half Polish and Half Greek :) Although its probably not as "different" as yours, its still quite odd I think

Welcome to the forums ;)

one of my best friends lives in US; he was born in UK but has Polish parents so views himself like I do .... a Pole born in the UK.

he now lives in US with his Mexican wife - they have two children , both girls. These girls are like yourself then .... half Polish half Mexican ...... or half Mexican and the rest divided into English/Polish/American !

My friend's uncel married Mexican woman and they have children, so that's maybe not common but not so very unusual either.

My Polish great-grandfather married a French women, who was married to a Dutch man=P

I am half Polish, 1/4 Irish, the rest German, French, Italian, English.

what a european mixture that is ... rather like a box of chocolates :)

Im English born and bred .... but Irish .. Scottish and Polish ancestry (please spare the celt jokes got them all the time when i was younger as i have a predominate Irish First name and Irish/Scottish surname)

Mixed is beautiful!! I know a Polish Turkish family. I have a friend who's Portuguese, Japanese, and Polish. She's very beautiful... showed me a picture of her japanese grandmother and she has the same eyes, but the cute polish face and cheekbones! in America, anything goes!

I have seen Polish-Arab mix. My wife is Pakistani-Persian. Quite excited to see our offspring.

I am 1/4 Polish, 1/4 Irish and 1/2 English.

My mom is 1/2 Polish and 1/2 Irish....which for some reason always seemed like an odd mix to me.

- Are you intellectually capable of identifyng that 'some reason' for which the Polish and Irish 'mix' should appear odd to you, oh ye Irisheyz from USA?

:)
PS. When I lived in North America (US and Canada), I met lots of people calling themselves Irish, even though they actually were Americans and Canadians. Many of them appeared to me extremely arrogant and prejudiced towards us Poles. Actually, I thought all Irish were like them, until I came to Europe and lived in Ireland for some time, and found that real Irish are in Ireland, not in the US or Canada, and that, unlike the fake 'Irish' from America, they are fabulous people, not Polonophobic at all - in fact the least Polonophobic people in Europe.... I also found that quite a few real Irish aren't too fond of the 'Irish' from US.... :)


- Save us God from 'Poles' like you.

Actually, Puzzler, it's very common for Americans to refer to themselves this way. It happens most often when they have never traveled out of the country, or to Europe, specifically. It's not uncommon for you to meet Americans whose parents or even grandparents were born in the U.S., but who call themselves a different "nationality." In these cases, they obviously don't mean that they come from that country, it's just a way of stating their heritage and background. It's not wrong or "fake"-it's just a culturally different way of identifying ourselves, because the majority of the people one meets in the States (depending on where you are, of course) are not foreign, so most people don't feel the need to explain that they are not "from" that country. Might want to think about that a bit.

from what?

- Yes, it is. And it's weird - why not call yourselves simply Americans?


- Hm, so your heritage and background, and identity aren't simply American?


- Do you suggest I haven't?

nope, my heritage is polish, they came over on a boat from Polska..
and yes, I am American, but also Polish by ethnic background.

and although there is abundance of ethnic people living in america. we are all
Americans. but still hold our ethnic bacground .. its not weird.. its reality.
and people share this thru festivals. and shops..familys..

- It appears so, and it's weird.
:)

if you would do that you would admit that you have a heritage that is just about 300 years young (unless you are indian).
by refering to your (mostly) european heritage it is prolonged by a couple of 100 years which makes you look more elaborate.
;)

You talk about being intellectually capable and then you write oczów!!

Yes I am quite intellectually capable....but why do I need to explain myself to you? Especially since your comments were not of the kindest in nature. However, I will say this...to me a Polish/Irish combo just seemed like an odd mix. Its more of a feeling that I've always had based not on the actual countries/nationalities themselves but probably most influenced by the people who my grandparents were. They were complete opposites.

And of course there is the fact that the areas that they both grew up in. My grandfather grew up in a neighborhood dominated by other Polish immigrants just as my grandmother grew up in an Irish community. Both of which were small communities as the area as a whole is highly dominated by the Portuguese. To me it would seem more likely that there would have been a Polish/Portuguese and a Irish/Portuguese match rather than a Polish/Irish...So it just seemed odd that my grandparents managed to get together. Although I am very glad they did...for if they hadn't then I wouldn't be here.


I second this question.

He has a mental block somewhere.

I am an American by birth....but there is nothing simple about being called American for as others have said America is a large country made up of a mixture of people from various nations. Not many people who live here have all of their roots here (unless you are sioux or cherokee or some other native american). I am descended from people who were born in Poland, Ireland and England and I am proud of all those connections. They are my roots. Here in America when people ask what you are they are usually asking about your nationality.

My great-parents was born and raised in Poland. My grandfather was first generation and he had the opportunity to claim Polish citizenship and even inherited a bunch of land there from my great-grandfather. But like most first generation Americans who chose to give all that up. He was American and didn't want to be known as Polish. That disinterest in where we came from was passed on to his children and as such there isn't very much traditional Polish about us. Which has always saddened me because I feel as though a part of me is missing without that historical/cultural basis.

My SN I choose over 15 years ago when I knew more about my Irish side then Polish as my grandmother spoke more of the Irish than my grandfather spoke of Poland. It was only later as I got to know my great-uncle better that I began to learn more of my Polish roots. That I was able to get in contact with the family that still live there. To get to know them and as a result learn a little bit more about myself and where I come from. That is part of what it means to be American....to have an understanding of your roots - the places that your ancestors came from.

I am American however, when I am overseas and people ask me what I am or where I am from I say American or America. In America its different because the meaning behind the question is different. I am proud of my roots - without them I wouldn't be me. I am glad that I now have the opportunity to learn more about my Polish side. Part of that learning process is to come here and talk with other Polish about the history, customs and language. I'm fourth-generation Polish much of that information was lost. I love communicating with my Polish relatives but as many don't speak/read English I also come here for help when my limited knowledge of Polish can only translate a small bit of what was said.

Who are you to call me 'fake'? I am not fake anything....I am very real and very proud of the places where my family has come from. I have been to Poland seen the house where my great-grandfather was born. Been loved and accepted fully by people who I had never met before. Who when I was there didn't want me to leave and tried to get me to promise to move to Poland - and to bring all the family that was here with me - since I was Polish and should be in Poland. They don't think that I am fake anything. And I must say their opinion of who I am means a heck of a lot more to me then yours....so go ahead call me fake...ask god to save you from poles like me....it won't change anything about who I am or what I believe.

That's how I felt. I explained why many Americans don't simply call themselves "Americans." There is no singular American heritage, so many people identify themselves with their family heritage and background, despite where they were born. To say that one is American when someone asks about your background when you're in the U.S. doesn't say much. So, hence someone saying that they are Irish, Mexican, French, whatever. In our culture, being "American" has little or no meaning when it comes to identity. For most of us, our identity was heavily shaped by our family's foreign, national background. For example, my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were born in this country. However, my great-great-grandparents came from Ireland and France. Obviously, when I'm abroad and someone asks what I "am" I will say American. Duh. But in my own country, if someone asks me this, they're usually looking for a more complex answer, and that's what I give them.

It's not about being embarrassed about having a young country either-trust me, most Americans have not thought that hard about it :)

I'm not saying you didn't think about it to begin with. But, maybe if you had your post wouldn't have had some rude undercurrents. You shouldn't criticize a group of people over a cultural difference in identification, which is what this is. You seemed rather offended by the fact that Americans would call themselves this way, and, really you should understand that it's a cultural thing. Not every culture is like yours, and that's okay.

Poles are criticized for their culture on this site so much, and it's very wrong. You can't say that an aspect of another culture is stupid or fake, whether you disagree with it or not. In the global community our world has become, this kind of thinking is very small-minded and problematic. Within the context of that culture, it makes sense to those people. I'm not saying you are small-minded, or that you always think this way, but your comments could be construed that way.

I think Irisheyez summed up any other response I could have made quite nicely.

I will also second her thought that many Americans talk about their background because they are proud of it. Most of the Polish-American and Italian-Americans I know are very, very proud of their heritage, and they want people to know how it has influenced them.

For generations my family has lived in the same small area of an ever growing town.

Mexican is a pritty random mix to have with polski, but if the love is there, that's all that counts.

True :):)

- How about the great Mexican writer Ella Poniatowska?
:)


- I thought you didn't like your Polish heritage, but it appears you do. Sorry, sis, and no hard feelings.
:)

yeah.. there is a polish girl in my town who is married to a mexicano and they have a brood so unusual? sure.. but it happens. :)

I, Puzzler, am 100 % Polish, bilingual (English-Polish), yet my family on my father's side seem to be - oh what dread! - the descendants of some weird 18th century Turkish-Jewish converts....

:)


- Hey, Pam, no hard feelings... we're just talkin' and my function is, of course, to puzzle ...
;)

...
Koryntczyk rzecze;
"W tym względzie panią, ile mogę, leczę."

A Jazon dalej: "Kiedyś, wchodzi do mnie
Osoba, oczów prawie pozbawiona,
Ból swój i żałość wyrażając skromnie;
...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwid

Yes, I know... :)

I'm referred to as continental soup. My father is Polish, my mother is Croatian/Slovakian. The ancestors on my father's side had married Irish, French and Lithuanian women. In the 1860's, a female of my family married a son of O'Bria/e?n De Lacy. They were killed by the Russians as legend has it. Apparently De Lacy came from Ireland to asssit in the insurrection. I was quite surprised when one of my best friends several years ago, who is an ancestor of the De Lacy's, told me this after he looked at his family tree.

My lady is Spanish. My father calls my new born son "Little tartar" due to his looks. I honoured his Polish heritage by calling him Lukasz.

Cheers, Dan