English people attitude towards Poles?

I have just read some of the comments relating to Polish working here, particularly in the construction industry.

First of all I work in the industry, I am a chartered Surveyor. I have seen an increasing number of Polish come here along with other Central Europeans for a number of years ( I have been corrected from saying Poland is Eastern Europe - we still think of it politically as Eastern Europe but geographically it is Central - I digress). My experience is that they are doing what the Irish did 30 years ago. They come here to work and fill gaps in the work place that we British generally don't want to do. I am now starting to see Polish companies starting up in the construction industry, some are good and some not so good, the same could be said of British companies. My own experience is that they are generally hard working and have traditional values similar to what we had 20 - 30 years ago, although I except that is changing with the younger Poles as they travel and integrate more.

I have a number of Polish friends and they are good guys. I travel to Lodz, central Poland every month and I like the country and the people.

Obviously like with any country you will have some bad elements - god knows we have enough in this country. I live in Reading, we have a large Polish community - some 30,000 and our local newspaper is part printed in Polish once a week - I have no problem with this.

On balance there is no question that they are nett contributors to our economy. You will always find someone somewhere who will quote a story of someone coming to this country and abusing the system and yes it will happen. I can also possibly see resentment increasing if our economy slows down and work becomes a problem - history has shown us that in difficult times migrants are quickly viewed as being the route cause of the country's problems.

Good post Neil. You're definitely correct in the last sentence.

indians, pakistanis and muslims have had it bad in england, this great tolerant nation is home to hundreds of racist attacks.. a famous park in east london whitechapel Altab Ali park... people from poland are lucky, another point raised recently about poles being racist in england.. i think it is true there is a video on youtube

yeah, and from what I see and who I know personally, The type of workmanship
he describes is not just a polish problem. if someone is really into this type of
business, his rates will be reasonable, not cheap, the quality of work will be
excellent and you wont have a problem with a guarentee's if something is not
done correctly. its dont right the first time because the man behind the work really
does care and knows this can make bad business if he fails to produce a quality
project..

we have lazybutts here in the states too, from personal experience, my mom had
hired a guy to do her kitchen, they went without running water for two days because
he was inbetween jobs.. which no one expected this to happen, it was supposed to
be a one day project and turned out to be a mess.

really to tell you the truth, its another way of backlashing at the polish for
taking away their jobs, while I do agree that some arent quailfied for certain
work, personally its annoying to keep hearing the same whinning all the time
and my thoughts are get over it already!

Yeah, I hear that a lot of white people get attacked in the Pakistani neighborhoods. There was one recent incident and this was quoted from the aAsian man "We have killed the white man. That will teach an Englishman to interfere in Paki business."

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4460778.stm


LOL that's an understatement :)I know this was about work, but I saw a guy rolling around NYC on a Segway yesterday. I laughed in his face. How lazy can you be? Can't even walk anymore...so pathetic.

wow u r so smart...2 wrongs dont ever make a right... makes you think now how it feels when someone dies.. great britain the great tolerant vioent nation

Fisz, a guy to how many people??

I work hard, my hubby, I am sure you do, and your GF and so many others.

so right now , to that guy its 4 to 1

I agree. that is why I said some, <~who dont want to work, but their are those
looking right now , the economy is supposed to be up, but there is still people
trying to find work..

ive also met my share of lazy's and when they give me a excuse, I say whatever..
you will be the one who suffers later on when you dont even have a pension
to keep you going when your older and want to retire. good luck.

people dont think of that crap when they get a job , they think money for now that
is it, but its money now and later..

Was agreeing with you :) I was just pointing out that walking is becoming tiresome to some. I realize it was 1 man I saw, but for every 1 man maybe 5 will follow...and it goes on from there. Most of us do work hard.


And many are also too picky.


Sarcasm? I know that 2 wrongs don't make a right. I was just posting an article along with your statement about racial attacks. This is the most recent. A racial attack doesn't have to be specific to a race.

This is not true. Thirty years ago there was a boom in building. The Irish didn't fill gaps that the british didn't want to do. They exploited the fact that there was so much work.

A large number of them moved into carpentry or bricklaying while the rest worked as labourers, paviours or in excavation. It is a fact that many of them were unskilled, but because they had organized themselves into teams they were able to help each other out. This last point shows the similarity with the Polish.

Please don't forget that the Irish already had a foothold going back to the days of the navvies. Also, I doubt that the Irish builders were university educated whereas many of the Polish are. On the surface circumstances may look similar, but I would argue that they are very different.

i totally agree neil, well said......

I think that the Polish are rather like sheep. You will find them all over the world, they all look and sound the same but like the sheep-you will never meet a clever one!

do you study law...........poor client!!!!!!!!!

Not bad! But let's take it A step further, because then it becomes more interesting. Most of the Irish worked hard and looked after their kids' education. They invested in housing and built second homes in Ireland. Some were later instrumental in the growth of the celtic tiger. Their kids have now fought their way up the ladder and to some extent have spoilt the next generation. There is a marked difference between the work ethic and values of their parents and the spoilt nature of their children. What do I mean?

I mean the fact that the Poles are the same, but as you mentioned better educated. They are hungry for success and at the same time humble. Humble enough to do jobs that the new Irish generation disregards. These qualities will ultimately ensure their success. We don't have to look far to find Irish multi millionaires that started their careers on building sites and it won't be long before we'll have Poles joining them.

You must remember that the Poles like everybody may be prepared to start at the bottom in order to establish themselves but then, later, they become just like anybody else and want a bigger and bigger slice of the cake. In GUildford, we bought a house and my brother in law came over a few times from Czestochowa and did a lot of work for us as the house needed a lot of work. He is brillianrt with his hands and I am not at all practicle. By the end and the last visit we had all fallen out as his prices started to go up and he bacame unhappy with what he was being paid. It started out as an amicable agreement as a Polish family member earning a little on the side and returning with some money to nothing but a business. Now there is almost no contact at all and the links have all been broken. So it might also be a lesson not to employ friends and close family. I learnt an expression in South Africa in 1976-'there are no friends in business' and it is true.

Johan123,

Very interesting. You have me thinking.

I think it is great to see lots of Polish people in my home town, they are friendly, hardworking and have good manners.........Good on you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i take my hat off to you johan123...need more people like you here...

that is an awful thing to say.. they are clever probably alot more than you are.. scum only mix with scum,, what do you know about the world.. MARIE CURIE

and who made you the clever one , you cant even handle a argument, I would change
my studies if I couldnt argue a good case.. your sure going into the wrong profession.


this I agree with. whos fault would that be.. their own..

It also could be the fact your an *******

For a start, it was something between my wife and her brother and as you do not even know me, you should not pass comments.

Secondly, I was in Bydgoszcz speaking Polish years and years before you ever came on the scene.

Then when you posted it it was my business too. and I can make my judgements based on your writing as you can about mine. you insulted me(a teacher) on the Teaching Thread and I responded. And you insulted the entire nation with your sheep comment which must include your sheep wife who is an illistration to your point as she was stupid enough to marry you. Maybe she really is a sheep ewwwwe !

The diffeerence is that you are trying to pass on a comment about me that you know as a fact in the sense that you know me personally. That is the main difference. You are saying that I am a *********but as you know, you would'nt know me if you were even sitting next to me on a bus. About you ability as a teacher, I have no knowledge as I have never observed you in class but how you can explain vocab and grammar with a non existant knowledge of Polish does seem a little starnge to me.

Anyway, what has this to do with English attitudes towards the Poles-you are not even Polish.

he calls his own wife a sheep, what a dork.

you post then you tell people to not respond, how bout you just not post?
least then we all wont feel inclined to call you a idiot.

your attitude towards Polish is sickening.. why join if your going to trash them?
your interests are what?? explain this so we can better understand your reasons
for joining??

you want to learn more? or are you the expert of 15 years of marriage to one..
in my book, those who think like you do are really arrogant Azzes..

you dont like everyone else's opinion, but they have the right to state it as you do
so if your going to dish it out, be ready to take it..

you could always join a dork forum, they would be happy to have you..

without stating the obvious which i am going to do - "is a thread that is related to teaching!"


Thats abit harsh to describe somebody you married 15years ago obvious you have no respect for your wife otherwise you would not refer to her as that, is she just a doormat to you? - does your wife take kindly to being described in such a manner? as i know i would not like to be described as a sheep in such a context.


you have an attitude complex issue! As all you keep doing is i can do this better than you and i can do that better than you---by christ (sorry on the blasphemy) but i would love to be around the day you fall to earth with one big fraking thud! Because that day will come my friend and it will hurt!


typing error there in that sentence (didnt proof check did you)! but have you ever thought that maybe just maybe he might not teach a language it could be another subject he specialises in!!


and this thread is just limited to polish comments is it?? Its a general discussion - but you are blatantly just pulling people down and making comments that are not justified and insulting folks.

Like patryjca has asked i to would like to know the reasons for you joining a polish and poland related forum when you have an attitude that is wrong towards polish people and to others for that matter!

One: How do you know my knowledge of Polish is non-existent? as you said I wouldn't know you if we sat next to each other on the bus.

Two: Perhaps I teach advanced english to people who already have a grasp of english grammar(which I do)
Three. Perhaps I share my classes with a Polish teacher who explains grammar more thoroghly than I and I specialize in pronounciation idioms phrasal verbs and teach people confidence in order to better help them learn english.

Four: many people can learn a language without learning grammar we all did as babies with our native languages.
Five: jestes dupek.

I have never had an English teacher that spoke Polish during my lessons. I couldn't even begin to understand how anyone could teach English through Polish.

yeah i took Polish lessons and the teachers only spoke Polish too

I studied Russian and Soviet Studies for four years and met many Polish people whilst in Moscow and from there my interest in all things Polish develpoed and I have visited Poland probably about twenty times over the last twenty three years. I have visited Poland from Gorziow Wielkopolski in the West as far as Augustow in the East, from Gdansk in the north as far as the Czech border in the South. I attended a six week language course at Jagiellonski in the summer of 1986. No, I am not an THE expert on all things Polish but I have probably seen as much as most foreigners have and my experiences do cover a lot of hitorical ground. though I am out of touch now as I very rarely visit the country except for little short journeys to Warsaw where I like to walk around the Old Town.

The word ewwwwe was not my word, and is not a word, that I have ever used. It was quoted at me by The Kruk. In teaching a foreign language I can only say that on my TESOL course, we had to see what it was like to learn a foreign language and for us it was Finnish and the instruction was also in Finnish. I found it impossible to learn a language like that as it was impossible to relate to almost anything! I would scertainly need English grammar guidance-but then again, that is just me. I have helped Polish people to come to my country and find work as well as doing little bits of translation work, letter writing and C.V.'s ect. so I can not see why I have an attitude problem with the Poles. If I remember rightly it was TheKruk, who wrote somewhere that he had an a very limited knowledge of the language but maybe he was writing about a long time ago and again it has been taken out of context.

You said all poles were unclever sheep thus you meant your wife, a Polish woman.
Ewwwww means gross ewe is a female sheep it was a bad pun that I thought was a little funny. Moreover I apologised to you for the name-calling on another thread, not for my comments but the "dupek" was out of line.