What is the reason for POLISH jokes ?

Polish jokes were unknown outside the Polish American community until Archie Bunker popularized them in "All in the Family".

Poland was not a fourth Allied power. They're a very young country who have only been in existence since the 1920's.

Chicago Pollock wrote:


not really, man. redneck jokes and polish jokes are completely different.

xzqbq7 wrote:


hahaha, why of course. the US "abandonded" Poland and therefore, out of guilt, needed to make up jokes to make Poland look dumb. hahaha, that's great.

Yeah, I've heard that many didn't speak English very well and didn't know how to explain the spellings of their last names, which gave them the reputation for being less than smart (and also caused many misspelled surnames in the U.S.).

Nope, Chicago Pollock is spot on. Both are insider jokes who one way or the other turned mainstream. While Polish jokes are almost extinct nowadays (almost 20 years in the US, have lived in numerous States and am yet to hear an American tell me a Polack joke) the redneck jokes are very prevalent.

Hm, so it's suggested here that Polish jokes were the first jokes ever made about a different group of ppl? Not really, some 400 years ago in NL there were sort of stand-up comedians who told the listeners jokes about Germans. Same content, same tendency. Later on it became Belgians. So jokes about Poles aren't by far the first jokes to be made about different ppl. Unless you're solely talking about the US, then it's the Irish who were the subject of jokes first.

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

skysoulmate wrote:


it's possible i misunderstood the point of comparison, but if we're talking about the actual nature of the jokes, no, they are far from the same.

Polish jokes (at least the ones i used to constantly hear in America) suggest that Polish people are simply dumb.

Redneck jokes have differences. A redneck joke is joking about their culture and habits, being out of touch, and yes, sometimes their stupidity.

redneck jokes:

"You know you're a redneck if you've been married 3 times and still have the same in-laws."

"You know you're a redneck if your hunting dog had a litter of puppies in the living room and nobody noticed."

polish jokes:

"Hear about the Polish 727 that crashed into a cemetery outside of Warsaw?
So far they’ve recovered over 7000 bodies."

Polish jokes simply suggest stupidity 99% of the time. Redneck jokes focus far more on their cultural habits, many of which only Americans would truly understand.

They share some similarities, but they are not the same.

I can say the same thing about other nationality jokes. None of them are like polish jokes... Actually I think that polish jokes can't orginate from Europe. They represent typically american sense of humor, certainly not german.

I know the very same joke about Belgians:

A Belgian 747 has crashed with 200 ppl on board. Did they all die? Yes, they counted 5000 victims. 5000? How come? It crashed on top of a Belgian chipper.

(a lot of jokes about Belgians are being made in connection to their habit of eating chips)

>^..^<

M-G (tiens)

Listen, I've heard the same or similar jokes about Arabs, blacks, blonds, while living in Sweden about Norwegians, etc., etc. To have a joke paranoia is simply silly. This is a pointless discussion as many here have this preconceived notion of some kind of anti-Polish bias when it comes to those jokes. It's ridiculous but hey, y'all believe whatever makes you happy. If thinking that people are out there to get Poles by making jokes about them - by all means go ahead and believe that...


Are you certified in the knowledge of the American humor? Does it take a certain degree to figure that out? Because I've lived in so many different States here for so many years and find that many of the jokes you hear in the Southeast for example are the very same jokes you hear in the Northeast but now poking fun at the other side.... Rednecks versus Yankees, etc., etc.

Next time you hear a Polish joke (and I never do) just smile and move on, stop blaming others and you'll live longer.

i don't really know what you're getting at here dude. all i'm saying is that the two are different. you and Chicago Pollack are saying they're the same, I'm disagreeing, and I gave my evidence as to why. i have first hand experience with rednecks in america, along with polish jokes. in america, they are not the same.

you on the other hand have "almost 20 years in the US.....and am yet to hear an American tell me a Polack joke" so one must wonder where you derive your comparison from.

There are German and American polish jokes.In German jokes Poles are represented as thieves and in American as stupid.

steffennet.de/witze/polen.htm

die-witze-seite.de/witze/polen-schotten-witze

Exactly. And the German jokes are more recent phenomenon.

It seems Poles do not steal much in America.Just kidding.

number of soldiers ..

You can find examples of the good and bad/peculiar behaviors of individuals of any ethnic group. You find these same examples of other ethnic groups as well. You name it, Black, Hispanic, Jewish, Irish, Italian, Arab or whomever.

But isn't it the sign of prejudice by Hollywood and the TV media to DEFINE Polish people by the worst of them and push that imagery of them? Assuming in fact that you did not just make up those examples.

Why did the TV media and Hollywood single out the Polish people for bashing?

What about all the good and industrious things Polish Americans have done? Why didn't Hollywood and the TV media push a stereotype about that?

So what about Auschwitz Polish Christian survivor Michael Preisler and many other Poles like him reporting on these same type of subhuman intelligence jokes being told to them by Nazis? You do realize the Poles were seen as having subhuman intelligence by them and many inferior intelligence "jokes" were made to Poles by Nazis. What do you think Nazi propaganda was all about in reference to Polish people????

I have talked to older Polish Americans and they said before the 1960's they never heard any of these inferior intelligence jokes about Polish people. Only kind of so called Polish jokes were about Pierogis, Kielbasa, Poles having thick accents, etc. But they said they all of a sudden noticed a wave of the "Polish people have inferior intelligence jokes" in the 1960's. Surprise Surprise....just when National TV had TV shows like "Laugh In", "All in the Family", "The Tonight Show" letting loose on Polish people with inferior intelligence jokes.

Can you please explain to me how these jokes against Polish people came about in areas where there were NO Polish people? Afterall you keep saying Polish people started them.

Do you really think Polish people would tell jokes that favor the Nazi Germans over the Polish people? Like when Johnny Carson of NBC-TV said on newyears day of 1968/1969 "My favorite year was the year Poland was invaded". That's a JOKE??????? to you?? Joking about the murdering of millions of Polish people? No my friend that was pure maliciousness by NBC-TV of that time.

George Schlatter who was the NBC-TV media boss during those years acknowledged that repetition of TV skits and "jokes" about Polish people would degrade their image. He admitted it to the Polish American Guardian Society. He basically was saying to Polish Americans, "I'M going to use my media power to degrade you Polish people and there is nothing you dumb Polacks can do about it".


So tell me.

Assuming you didn't just make up these stories, do you really think these Polish people who supposedly made these Polish jokes meant for ALL Polish people to be ridiculed constantly for years by the powerful TV media as having inferior intelligence?

When the constant ridiculing and mocking of Polish people by Hollywood and the TV Media lead to some Polish Americans getting their houses vandalized by idiots who lated cranked called them telling them the SAME Polish jokes they heard on a TV show the night before, was this the objective of the these Polish people who you allege started these hate-through-humor jokes against Polish people?

Were the inferior intelligence jokes about Polish people heard by Polish Christian survivors at Nazi death camps a way to relieve thier day?

Sure sure people like to start propaganda that leads to thier identity being ridiculed and mocked to relieve their day. LOL Are you crazy???

What next are going to tell me, that Black people started ape jokes about themselves to relieve the stresses of the day?

Are you going to tell me Jews started rat jokes about Jews to "relieve the stress of the day"???

I think you're exaggerating now. I have been to the US many times and I have actually never heard a Polish joke at all, let alone I never seen any ridiculing of Polish ppl on TV or heard it on the radio, so I think there is no problem at all.

>^..^<

M-G (jeepers)

You are partly correct.

I was referring to the years when the so called Polish jokes were at their peak like in the 1970's.

You are correct in that most Americans today don't push jokes against any ethnic group if they feel it offends that group. Be it Polish people, Italians, Black people, Jewish people, etc.

Things have definitely changed a lot in the past 30 years for Polish people in the US for the better.

The fact that former Senator Arlen Specter apologized to both Polish Americans and non-Polish Americans for his Polish jokes of Dec 2008, shows that most Americans don't tolerate biased comments about ethnic groups.

Arlen Specter's disproportionate election loss to a relatively unknown candidate, some say was partly due to his so called Polish jokes that voters didn't forget.

Although these so called Polish jokes pop up once in a while in the mainstream media, as like with other ethnic groups, I do agree with you that in general you can't openly ridicule Polish people on TV, radio, etc. (like years ago). Unless of course the person is going out of their way to be aggressive or controversial.

Huh? You can't be serious. He lost because people finally figured out what a scumbag and a weasel he really is. Good riddance!!!!!!!!!!


Well, trying to be cordial here so I'd appreciate if you refrained from calling me dude. Mr. Dude however is very ok. :) Dude, I'm totally kidding here. ;)

My point is that you've chosen some very mellow redneck jokes and pretty mean "Polack jokes". Yet I've heard some very mean and demeaning redneck jokes and I'm sure there are some funny, innocent Polack jokes.

I personally don't feel very engaged in this issue because I think it's way overblown. At the same time it seems to bother you and some others here and although I disagree with you, I do respect you being upset over what seems to be important to y'all. I just think it's silly when some members here (not you) exclaim that those jokes must originate in America because they represents the "typically American sense of humor." Talk about being judgmental...

I'll butt out of this discussion as I honestly don't have many feelings or thoughts on this subject. In my view it's a storm in a glass of water viewed through the magnifying glass of "us versus them" mentality.

Just to lighten things up:
A Norwegian airplane was getting ready to land at Stockholm airport. The control tower contacted the pilot and asked for his current position. The Norwegian pilot seemed surprised and didn't answer. So the tower repeated the question: "Please report current position." The pilot finally understood and replied "well, I'm right here in the front seat, ...as I always am..."

Q: How do Norwegians forge ten crown bills?
A: They scrape one zero off a hundred crown bill."

Yes you are right. I should have stated the obvious that Arlen Specter is a scumbag weasel and then some. Its usually those types that like telling ethnic and racial jokes about others.

By the mid 80's Polish jokes were a no-no. Whenever I was about to hear one I would stop the joke teller in mid joke and ask him/her what their ancestry was and ask them to use their heritage in the joke. The 'look' on their faces always made me smile. Only one instance led to violence and that was when the joke teller attempted to hit my fist with his face (yes, yes, he started it).

Today, the only acceptable jokes are the ones shown in sitcoms and advertising where the male is the acknowledged buffoon.

My grandmother's parents came to America from Poland and they knew how to read and write. I learned in school that the Polish jokes got started when the Germans and the Russians were coming into Poland and the Poles didn't try to fight them off. I thought everybody knew this. The Poles were actually smart because they knew they would not be able to win with those two powerful countries on their land. My teacher said you can't find any record or document of the jokes before WWII. If someone can find any such thing then please let me know.

I don't understand why people get so riled up over Polish jokes. Most Polish-Americans I've met find them hilarious.

Yeah the so called "Polish jokes" are hilarious until non-Polish Americans start treating these Polish Americans like they're "Polish jokes" LOL. At least as in the so called "Polish jokes" that portray Polish people as having subhuman/inferior intelligence.

The Pierogi and Kielbasa Polish jokes are OK but I don't know too many Polish Americans that like the subhuman/inferior intelligence jokes about Polish people that were introduced into the US in the 1960's. The subhuman intelligence jokes about Polish people were simply renamed "Polish jokes" by Hollywood and the Lefty TV networks like NBC-TV when they were introduced into the US decades ago. I don't know any Polish American groups that like them.

Insecurity and most probably false outrage.

That means that they are indeed stupid people if they laugh with jokes which pokes fun on them

How many Poles does it take to change the world? - Two: A shipyard electrician from Gdańsk and an archbishop from Kraków!

Or it's maybe because they don't give a **** and they're not so sensitive about jokes...

Or maybe they have no self respect and therefore don't mind other people disrespecting them with insult jokes and hence are too cowardly to defend themselves... and like walking around with a "Kick me I'm Polish" sign on themselves.

Some people go through life looking for acceptance by others by being a verbal punching bag for their peers, while others don't.

Thats a very stupid way to put it to be honest. A sign of how great a person can be is their ability to rise above it. It's only a joke for god sake and only Poles would take them to heart. Stop crying about them and have a laugh back. Some of the best comedy ever made was due to the fact that people were about to poke fun at themselves and their peers.

What did the Polka ask the Doctor when he told her that she was pregnant?
.
.
.
Is it mine????

:D

No it's a sign of self respect.


David many of those jokes are really aggresive and tells me that I'm genetically mentally disabled. And I should laugh from it?!

Problem is also that Poles wouldn't find that kind of joke funny. Even if I replace the ethnic for some other I just don't find it funny. Just silly.

Btw. Will I find a African American laughing from jokes about backs? No they would consider it racist. Even if it was really funny.


I would start tell a the same jokes about American and check their reactions. I wonder if they laugh...