I think that many of these Polish jokes came with the Germans that immigrated to America. As said before, some of these same jokes are used by other countries, but not about the poles.
On the flipside, here's an interesting read about Polish jokes about America: staff.amu.edu.pl/~inveling/pdf/dorota_brzozowska_inve11.pdf
I've heard that the Polish jokes came about having to do with Poland losing its borders and/or being erased off the map many times throughout history, the last time being WW2.. I believe they will die off too, especially in knowing that they were the first to break out of socialism and declare themselves independent.. that took balls..
I've heard that the Polish jokes came about having to do with Poland losing its borders and/or being erased off the map many times throughout history, the last time being WW2.. I believe they will die off too, especially in knowing that they were the first to break out of socialism and declare themselves independent.. that took balls..
Two times actually, the second time being during the WWII.
No, I don't think Polish people "deserve" the jokes, but I don't think they're bad either, as long as you tell them in a spirit of fun and not in a mean way. Incidentally, the only times I have heard Polish jokes were when I was visiting or talking to Polish people. :)
The only time I really disliked that kind of joking was when my high school European History teacher, who was Polish, joked about Poland being insignificant in history, because when I got older and read history for myself, I felt kind of cheated that we never talked about Poland in class, because a lot of important history happened there. Oh well.
I also believe I heard somewhere that at the turn of the century, many of the immigrants of all countries were uneducated. There is a book in my college library that contains letters written by Polish peasants back home. It was said that the peasant did well in his village with known norms. and when he became part of a larger society without set values, he was disoriented. The jokes probably stemmed from the fact that rather than the educated and well-off Polish person emmigrating, the poor and uneducated mainly came looking for something better. My great grandfather came and was listed as a farmer and his father-in-law a blacksmith, who did not read or write. Not sure if only not in English or in Polish.
I have heard many Polish jokes, but less now and I believe you guys are right that as times goes by, places like the USA see that Polish people are educated and very intelligent. Just give any American (like me) the grammar rules of Polish see how intelligenet we are!
Right now, it seems that in America redneck and blonde jokes are more popular.
I'm sure most of you know this, esp the Americans (polskiego pochodzenia or not), but it's important to remember that Poles, Italians and Irish have jokes about them precisely because they are loved ethnic groups. There isn't a single American who would forbid his daughter to marry a Pole, Italian or Irishman, and no one thinks of these ethnicities as being any different in any important way from any other European ethnicity. Irish, Italian, and to a somewhat lesser extent Polish Americans are all proud to be of that extraction and don't suffer any genuine shame about it.
This is in sharp contrast with ethnic groups like blacks, Jews, Asians, hispanics, etc that do face genuine racism/prejudice. Mr Average American might have a serious problem with his daughter marrying a Jew, Chinese, black, etc. Jokes about blacks, Jews, Asians and Hispanics are NOT repeated casually, and you will not see them freely shared on the Internet.
I thought I'd point this out because in my time in Poland a lot of Polish people were hurt that jokes were made about them. I told them they were really misunderstanding some fundamental American dynamics if they were offended by them...
Yeah in America, every one has the jokes of poles being stupider than goldfish. I've told people I was polish and have actually gotten remarks like "you don't seem that dumb to me!" Well I'm not... I never knew any dumb polish people lol. Actually, every polish person I know is quite brilliant!! Where does this idea of stupid poles come from? Polish people are smartest people I know, and than Chinese lol (Stereotype, but I think they are smart for different things... in my family people are really genius in music, literature, and linguistics)
Oh and (this is bizarre, and kind of random, but I was reminded so...) but my friends family hates polish people. Well... they hate everyone one... they are portuguese and hate everyone that isn't.
I went to the wedding of my friends sister (She married a norweigan guy, and the family hates him... go figure) and he told me I should be discreet about my background lol... Not that I flaunt it around or anything! He whispered to me (whispering for the hearing impaired) "My grandmother hates Poles, Russians, and Jews" and upon hearing him she cackled (a toothless old lady cackle) and hit him with her purse. Than gave me the stare of death. (why did I have to sit at the family table??)
It was akward!! A bit like Borat's "The running of the jew" only here it was a little polish girl haha! OMG his family is CRAZY... but I brought a bunch of tales to laugh and gossip about with sane people.
So for some reason this thread made me think about that night and I wanted to share...
I would be happy to tell some Polish jokes , thats if i knew any , but i must confess i never ever heard any fun poked at Polish people while i lived in the UK...Perhaps things might change now there are a few more Poles in UK....Most of the schoolboy jokes seemed to be aimed at the Irish , and blacks and asians....I don,t mind telling jokes about other races , but then i can take it if they aim a joke at my race....I know for sure my Polish friends would not take offence if i joked about them , they know i would not mean any offence....
Haha do you think its only jokes about polish people? the problem with most of the poles is that they cant take a joke when its about them, they dont know how to laugh about them selfs. Polish people are to proud
I remember hearing a few Polish jokes as a kid in the US. Funny thing now is that my friend Grzegorz calls me a redneck all the time and makes redneck jokes because I am a Southerner in the US. I might have to try some Polish jokes on him and perhaps he will get the point that I find his redneck jokes offensive because I am NOT a redneck.... Thanks for letting me vent... I feel better now!
Make sure you keep your carp clean, preferably in the bathtub, prior to the consumption of said carp. Gives it a chance to cleanse itself of any nasty impurities found in the water in which it lives.
Got to stay out of those dirty ponds. Hopefully not with those wonderful "Mushroom Entrepeneurs" one finds on the side of the road in PL.
(inside joke with the żona and I - prostitutes by the side of the road... driving by with our kiddies in the back seat, I would often comment "where are her grzyby?")
That brought back memories of funny moment from my past On our second trip to Poland to bring aid to a kids home here we brought along my girlfriends sister...She is a nice person , but shall we say , is not streetwise....After passing many women selling mushrooms and apples we eventually passed some pretty young ladies in short skirts stood next to a camper van....She remarked that they had done really well to sell all their goods , and thought perhaps more people had stopped to buy because they were young and pretty...I was laughing to much , my girlfriend had to explain what they were actually selling....
3 soldiers were caught in Iraq. A German, a Frenchman and a Pole. They were all lined up in front of a firing sqaud. They were instructed that they'd be set free if they could successfully name an element in English. The German is first forward, eh, 'water' he says. They let him go. Up steps the Frenchman, eh, 'earth' he says. They ponder a little but let him go. The Iraqis stayed true to their promise but they were beginning to regret it. Up steps the gallant Pole. Oh, k**wa, eh, fire!!
Not unless you believe in the anti-Polish Nazi German propaganda (about Polish people having subhuman intelligence) that ironicallly the left-wing media and Hollywood has pushed.
ORIGIN of Polish “jokes” came from Nazi German propaganda that was then pushed by Soviet communist sympathizers in Hollywood.
The racist stereotype that Poles are intellectually inferior or have subhuman intelligence came from Nazi German propaganda and Soviet propaganda.
For example, the MYTH that Polish horses were used to attack German tanks in WWII was total Nazi German propaganda that the Nazi Germans repeated over and over until it took a life of its own using the BIG LIE technique.
The Soviet Communists saw the value of this myth and the racist notion that Polish people have subhuman intelligence, so they had their Left-Wing sympathizers in Hollywood push it using Anti-Polish Television and Movie imagery to the American people.
The image of Polish people having subhuman intelligence was useful to the Soviet Communists, since then, people would not mind too much if Poland is occupied by the Soviet Union if Poles are portrayed as having a Slavic culture that is inferior and less then human.
Nazi German hatred of Polish people:
As for the German Nazis (and even the Soviets) they then killed off the educated class of Poland first to make their racist stereotype of Poles a reality.
Polish "jokes" were in Hitler's two speeches after he invaded Poland.
Hitler ridiculed Poles in his Sept. 19, 1939 speech in Danzig (today called Gdansk) and in his Berlin speech in Oct. 6, 1939 with these hate-through-humor anti-Polish “jokes” and references.
Ironically, Left-wing Hollywood and the TV Networks (like NBC-TV) pushed these racist Polish “jokes” even though they claimed to hate Nazis. Hollywood and NBC-TV evidently hate Nazi propaganda but not when its applied to Poles. Hollywood and Network-TV (NBC) have a deep hatred for Anti-communist, Pro-American, Pro-Catholic Poland.
The recent movie “Katyn” shows the German Nazis and Soviets killing the educated Polish class in Poland in order to make Poland “intellectually inferior” and easier to rule. This was during the time Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were collaborating with each other to destroy Poland as per their Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to destroy Poland together.
Polish jokes did not predate the 20th Century since it was introduced in America by left-wing bigots in Hollywood and TV networks like NBC-TV in the late 1960’s and 1970’s with anti-Polish “shows” such as “Laugh In”
Many Polish Americans who lived before this time have reported that they never heard these racist jokes until AFTER they were introduced by Left-Wing networks like NBC-TV in conjunction with Hollywood. NBC-TV launched Polish-bashing shows such as “Laugh In” which ridiculed Polish people constantly. In addition late night bigots were encouraged to bash Poles with “jokes” that portrayed the Polish people as having subhuman intelligence. Therefore the power of Television and motion pictures was used to demean Polish people with repetitive big lie type propaganda.
Anti-Polish movies such as “The End” were some of the earliest movies meant to degrade Poles with racist humor. In addition other anti-Polish shows such as “All in the Family” were used to degrade the Polish people even though the left-wing producer claimed the ruse that the show was suppose to be “against bigotry”. “All in the family” was filled with racist anti-Polish sound bites such as “Dumb Polak” in an attempt to influence its viewers to have the same anti-Polish prejudice, that the Left-wing producer of the show (Norman Lear) had.
