What is the reason for POLISH jokes ?

Yes sir, this did happen and no sir I did not say anything racist. I was simply telling what happened to point out that it seems fine for some people to bombard you with jokes about your people ( which in general is fine but there is a limit man!) Being able to laugh at oneself is an admirable trait. Just look at how Jewish jokes are usually told by Jewish people.

Believe it or not sonny, these educated Poles were speaking English! and if it's of any interest to you (now that you have implanted the seed in your head that I am a racist liar) I speak fluent Polish.

I wish folk would stop making those F------ assumptions about people on these forums. Even threads about pierogi etc. end up with accusations of racism, anti-Polishness etc. Surely this tells us something! When I was a kid our home was constantly full of war generation Poles who would sit smoking cigarettes and arguing, usually this would end up with a massive battle of wits and all kinds of crazy accusations flying around ( you commie, you nazi etc etc) Doors would bang, gestures would be made and great comments like "I will never set foot in this house again you @@@@@$#@!7!" Next day everyone would be best friends again and hence the cycle would begin again! It was a bit like a forerunner to PF!

I just invented a Polish joke. I might not be the firt to have come up with this one, and I might go back and edit this post and claim that it was nothing to do with me just in case it doesn't go down well.

Why did the Polish chicken cross the road?
To meet his droga friend.

How did the Polish chicken cross the road?

He pole-vaulted.

Warsaw that one coming :D

He should be careful not to get the pole stuck in the Krak-ow his bum :D

Otherwise it might end up Lodz'd there...

Sorry guys - lame, I know.... :D

That would hurt like Hel.

For those of you who are the recipient of Polak jokes. Do this next time...

After the other person tells you the joke (assuming you are Polish), ask them..

"Do you speak Polish"? When they say "No." Ask them, "How does it feel to be dumber than a Polak?"

:)

to which the reply is...

only Poland would have such a stupidly complicated language

Never looked at Hungarian or Welsh then?

frequently. but rarely hear them go on about it

Hmm... I don't know if that would really be a catty put-down. I speak five languages, though not Polish (YET ha, ha) and really am not dumb.

Then again, I would not be telling anti Polish jokes in the first place, of course :)

Jokes can be healthy. The Poles have many about us Scots. We don't mind, we have maintained good relations with them since WWII, when they came to our east coast to 'shore' up our defences.

I think some politicians deserve all the bad jokes. They have cost Poland dearly.

For those of you who are the recipient of Polak jokes. Do this next time...

After the other person tells you the joke (assuming you are Polish), ask them..

"Do you speak Polish"? When they say "No." Ask them, "How does it feel to be dumber than a Polak?"

:)

Actually, in my reading about languages, they say that most languages have a harder and an easier aspect. For Polish, the easiest part is the spelling and the reading/pronunciation since it is phonetic. (accent is something different)

These poor Polish kids. They have to learn how to spell about 100 words whether it is o with a kreszka or u or z with a dot or rz. Poor kids. (Zartuje). For our English speaking kids, who have to memorize how to spell tons of English words, it is "nothing" to just memorize the few Polish ones that you actually use over and over again. morze-moze, etc.

Sorry, but I still think that this is a bit of a naff put-down.

yep, I agree with you there London chick.

I agree when we talk about "Polish jokes". I was rather talking about forum in general.

It's kind of like the goofy kid in the playground who's got "sticks and stones..." loaded and ready if you see what I mean.

I've been the subject of loads of jokes over the years... being female, Scottish and <pulls a look of disgust> GINGER, but my best advice is to just laugh along with it.

The jokes and banter are all part of colleagues and mates feeling comfortable with you :)

lol stop all the kids who are saying I am going to beat you up and say, no dont
do that, I will do it to myself.. lol


I agree, now that Im older, it doesn't really phase me like when I was growing up.
and of course , I wasnt witty enough as a teen, but after I was out of school
and hanging with my friends, someone bring up the term pollack and point to me
I would say, well, least I dont have a foreign object growing off my lip , oh
yeah thats your mustache :)

its all good, ive burned quite a few people.

My favourite... you may have hair round your lips, but that's no reason to talk like a cun... ;D

With all due respect, wouldn't that reply just be a racist anti-Polish remark?

If a language is complicated it should mean that the people who speak it are intelligent so of course only an anti-Polish Bigot would say the Polish language is "stupidly" complicated.

"Stupidly complicated" is usually an oxymoron and sounds just like someone who is just reaching to say something racist against Poles. If the Polish language is "stupidly complicated" then so are all of the other Slavic languages Russian, Ukraine, etc since they are all of Slavic origin and similar to Polish.

But then again the origin of the Polish "jokes" came from German Nazi propaganda since the Nazi Germans felt the Poles had inferior/subhuman intelligence since they were Slavic and anti-Nazi German.

Two of Hitler's speeches after he invaded Poland included subhuman intelligence jokes (Polish "jokes) about Poles. Hitler then proceeded to kill first the educated class of Poland first in an attempt to make his racist notion about Poland having "inferior intelligence" a so called reality.

So basically some good responses to racist Polish "jokes" would be:

-If you want to tell a good Polish "joke" why don't you say it in the original Nazi German language?

-So you agree with the Nazi Germans (who started these racist Polish "jokes") who sayed Poles have subhuman intelligence? So you like Nazis eh?

-Why are most Polish "jokes" so short?
So that the racist Nazi idiots who tell them can understand them.

-What's black and blue and red all over?
A bigot who told a Polish "joke",

Or you can be a little edgy and say this joke:

Did you hear what happened to the bigot telling Polish "jokes"?

His house got unabombed.

LOL

im sure many poles would perceive it as such.

many poles perceive anyone who says anything that might possibly in some way be interpreted as anti-polish as a polonophobic bigot.

people who are aware of this national characteristic take very little notice

after all

it's no hidden fact that the polish language, just like life in Poland, is more complicated than it has to be

Interesting that the jokes that make you 'LOL' are ones about physical violence towards people.

seems to be another common trait amongst a certain nationality living in a certain country.

more so if the violence is being directed towards someone who doesnt have white skin

Tell me more about it or even better provide some sources for your again repeated opinon!

I don't buy it...I never heard Germans bail over from laughing about polish jokes during the Nazi time, you are actually the first one who seems to be convinced of that!

Also that wouldn't explain the tradition of those jokes wherever the Poles go nearly a century now...
Not everything is Made in Germany!

Let's look what Wiki has to say: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Polish_sentiment#.22Polish_jokes.22

First:


Really! So short after the the end of the worlds' bloodiest conflict where the Germans had been the hated enemy the Americans have nothing better to do but to listen to them and to laugh with them cruelly about their brave allies, the Poles???

Highly unlikely!

Then this:


Now that's more like it!

I had always thought that since the early Polish immigrants were simple farm people, uneducated peasants, that Americans simply got the wrong impression.

They had little way of knowing that there were educated Poles, or that during WWII many of the educated Poles were killed.

Also, as the Wiki article stated, the immigrants often did manual labor. From the PF boards it seems that Polish immigrants still have this problem in the Bristish Isles, I keep hearing about toilet cleaners, etc.

However, whenever we get Polish students working for the summers in the USA, it is apparent that they are very intelligent and well-educated. It is almost laughable to hear many Americans who are not so well-informed or educated then turn around and call them dumb Polacks. My boyfriend at the time who went to a very advanced school in Poland did roofing work while here. And the roofers knew nothing about the world, philsophy, art, etc and it broke my heart for him to hear Polack jokes.

To me there are jokes about everything you can think of, in all walks of life there are jokes, about ever subject there are jokes. It is the same for many nations around the world. In the UK there are all kind of English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh jokes that us happy islanders tell about each other. In all seriousness, they mean nothing it is exactly what it says on the tin 'A JOKE' wow that was not so hard now was it :).

I'm assuming the Polish can take a good joke about themselves just like anybody else can, there is nothing wrong with good/bad humoured jokes :):). What is the problem with having a laugh at each others expense now and again??? :)

Nothing, unless that is ALL you hear. Or it is truly believed and not so much a joke. Laughing at yourself is cool when people are laughing with you, not at you.

What I was speaking about was the belief that Poles are actually dumb. That was what was happening on the roof by people who were not educated or particularly bright themselves. But hearing all the Polish jokes made them think my boyfriend was a joke.

But yes, in general I agree that we have to be less touchy and willing to laugh at ourselves and the banter in most cases is harmless.

First of all "it was a JOKE"! And "nothing was meant by it" Isn't that what Polish-haters have told Polish people when they tell subhuman intelligence jokes about Poles dying and getting killed (the ultimate form of violence)?

Hey! You fellas hear the Did you hear about the Polish man that locked his keys in his car?

He had to use a coat hanger to get his family out.

One of my friends is a pollack, and Ill tell ya what, its true what they say about polish men,

they are dumber than a pile of dog poo and smell similar too. Oh yea and have small

dickydos.

It is my understanding that the Polish jokes originated during/after WWII when returning American GIs told stories of perceived Polish cowardice in the war. This is also when the notion of French cowardice became ingrained in the public psyche.