Why the stubbornness and narrow-mindedness of some Poles?

Why are some Poles so stubborn and narrow minded at times?

Do you have any examples?

Yeah, we want all dates when you met stubborn Poles... places.. please provide a source for you statement etc :)

My Dad is Polish and he is about as stubborn as a bull.

my partner is stubborn as an ox.. is that more or less stubborn than a bull though???

stubborness is a personlity trait.. its nothing to do with being polish

a rather common trait amongst the poles i would say along with being negative and short sighted, rather than seeing the bigger picture.

you are entitiled to your opinion, but it seems you have another trait of discrimination

MY DAD WAS POLISH AND BOY WAS HE STUBBORN! SO AM I- I DONT GIVE UP-SO I THINK IT IS A TRAT-MY POLISH BOYFRIEND IS VERY STUBBORN TOO

Feh. You should meet the Scottish family that lives down the block from me. :)

Seriously though, how do Poles not see the big picture? Dude, without the Solidarnosc movement we would have delayed one of the world's most important social/political revolutions by at least a decade.

Narrow mindedness is indeed a personality trait. You'll find it in a pub in London, a conservative convention in Texas, a goose stepping rally in Berlin or Paris.....etc

Yeah!!!!

Stubborness and narrow mindedness is a human trait my friend not just a Polish one.

try humans as a whole sweetie.. people can be this, any nation, any day of the
week.. except on saturdays!!

I think you were really bored when you posted.


there ya go.. good answer :)

So true. Some of these threads are just plain stupid !! They're human traits applicable to any nationality. Wish Polish Forums was more truly about Poland and it's people !!

yes but its important to appreciate that some traits are more prevelent in some groups of people than others - groups of people include nationality - until people are able to accept this they will remain in denial

what's wrong with stubborness?

Huh ?

he's saying that brits are drunks and we better accept it. ;) lol

Lol...........and if you don't then you are stubborn, I expect <g>

its fairly straight forward LiR...

how many countries/cultures have you lived in, how many countries/cultures have you experienced other than just a brief visit, can you honestly say that whilst living and experience life you didnt notice these traits, these differences...?

hic!

Who's stubborn?

I can understand if you say that people have certain similar facial characteristics as other people of the same nationality but to come out with normal human traits that can apply to any nationality (and it does) is, in my opinion silly.

Stubborness is a human characteristic and doesn't relate to which Nationality you come from. Labelling Polish people as stubborn is stupid in my opinion.

No matter where you have lived and what experiences you have had, you have only met a very small percentage of that population and it may well be you came across some e.g stubborn people in a certain country but that doesn't , in my opinion, make that a trait, that is pertinent to all the people of that country.

:)

and when i say 'you' up there i mean 'one' it's not personal :)

telefonitika touched on it briefly when she talked about cultural 'norms' - its a very interesting subject and these characteristics, traits, norms , whatever you want to call them, do exist....

spending a significant time in a country as a foreigner helps you see this, understand this, appreciate the differences and if you are lucky, be able to look at your own nationality and its/your own traits from a new perspective

these norms play a role in the creation of stereotypes - stereotypes, in one for or another, do exist. the chances of meeting someone who fits every single characteristic is highly unlikely but many people will possess some part of their nationality's stereotype... good and bad

as you say, regardless of how long you spend in a country you will probably only ever meet a small percentage of the population however, its possible that you will meet a broad cross-section from which, whether your conducting a statistical survey or just making a personal observation, you can draw conclusions

someone said earlier that brits are a nation of drunks - obviously this is a generalisation but there is some truth in it - as a nation, we drink in a very different way from others and it is not an unfair observation to think we are all drunkards

i remember when living in italy i liked to go for a couple of bottles of beer after a day at work - less than a pint most evenings. for me, and my english boss, this was a perfectly normal and acceptable thing to do as we unwound from a day in the office. because we drunk these 2 small beers in not much more than half an hour, which for the locals, used to making a beer last forever, was pretty unusual behaviour, we quickly found ourselves supporting the stereotype of british p*ssheads...

It is I agree :) And you make a lot of valid points.

Obviously if you have visited many countries you will get a flavour of that country and it's people. I wonder though if language and mannerisms can affect a visitors views ? It's easy to mistake some things and then interpret it in ones own way (i.e. depending on which country you were raised etc) .

If someone doesn't know the local language, mannerisms and customs well then they will view it with their own experience and make certain assumptions maybe ?

This would account for some of the differing views we find on this forum at times as well ?

Interesting topic nonetheless :)

i was just kidding man..


italians tend to drink a whole bunch of wine.. way more then the couple of pints of beer you and your boss did.

what i am trying to say here is that stereotypes may be made but hardly ever are really right on.

i think this is inevitable - as will the cultural norms of your own nationality


very much so - especially at the start... culture shock


kidding or not, its a fair point.


i think the people of europe all like a drink... perhaps what makes the difference is the way they drink and i believe that the british are fairly unique in this

can you delve deeper on this? what's unique about the british consumption of alcohol?

there are a number of factors influencing the way the british drink but the consequences can be measured both in terms of quantity and the speed at which they have traditionally drunk it. i believe our standard measure of beer, for example, is larger than other european countries and because of our licenceing laws we have developed a culture of drinking quickly

Real ale. No-one else really seems to touch it.

I think there are northern and southern European ways of drinking.

About language / culture coming across as rude or whatever, I stood behind an American tourist at a market stall selling noodles. He kept pointing and saying: "Can I get..." which to many British ears sounds rude. Maybe he was being polite in his own culture's way!

perceptions

i had a gf from another country who i knew to be a lovely, kind woman... but when in the uk, her mannerisms, both verbal and physical, were perceived as rude by my friends

poles have been labled as stubborn, rude and narrow-minded. whether or not they actually are is not the point - the point is that they are perceived as being so and this is what is causing people to make these accusations.

when in italy i wasnt comfortable as being perceived as a british p*sshead as i didnt think this was fair... so i changed my drinking habits and started drinking at home.