Is the word "Polack"rascist?

as far as I'm aware the dance polka originatet in the czech/slovak country

I'm half Polish, with a very Polish last name. Throughout my years of schooling in Chicago I was called a dumb polack or polack pretty much all the time. Not only was it used to degrade my nationality, but it was used to describe something that is stupid or dumb to the person saying it. Such as "What kind of polack move was that?" Just the word Polish was/is associated with stupidity here in the US. Personally, after being degraded for much of my childhood by these slurs, I fill with hate and rage when they're directed to me or others.

I find it interesting that something in the Polish language that simply means a Polish man can turn into the offensive(at least for me) word it is now. Fortunately, I let people know that direct that kind of speech towards me are punished swiftly(i.e. get that their ass kicked).

Clink....why though do people in the US....as you appear to do, not seek verbal satisfaction......"sticks and stones will break my bnes but words will never hurt me"...so goes the rhyme....and then think that physically hurting/killing people will settle things, be the civilised way to seek redress?

I know my "get their ass kicked" comment sounds brute and wrong, but personally, I say fight fire with fire. Lets say a black or hispanic person calls me a polack(they have in the past), and I call them a ****** or spic in return, I am the racist while their polack comment is funny and OK. How do you win against that? Whine and complain like many people from all races and nationality do here in US? Not for me.

I would love to deal with offensive verbal terms against myself with less violent behavior, and trust me I have. I tried to make people understand that I was offended by there lewd comments, but everyone would just respond, " Oh it's a joke." Well, I'm tired of jokes directed to the great Polish people.

We have been slaughtered by the millions, without a country, and looked at as inferior throughout history, yet we always recover and build a nation that is stronger. My hope is that Poles throughout the world can be shown the respect they deserve. We have survived near extinction time and time again. Polish Americans especially need to be pround of their heritage. I know too many that don't stand up for Poles when they are lambasted with negative comments. I just hope that could all change.

**** them up.

Well...its a poor reflection on USA society......when any people, race or nation is picked on.

Yes we all have our own preferences........not long ago in the 50s it was ok to put a notice up in the windows of British landladies saying...." No Blacks, dogs or Irish"

The sh1t the Irish have taken for centuries/decades has been pretty unbelieveable....used to be known at times as the negroes of Europe......

So what you do is beat them at their own game......stand up...show how able, robust, well qualified and responsible you are........be proud of your heritage..........give the sh1t right back or call their bluff and involve the law.....employers have a duty of care.......IT IS NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE TO BEHAVE IN THIS MANNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So ignore them...don't respond in the way they think you should.......

I suppose some folks might take offense but I think it's pretty funny, myself. Coming from my friends it's almost a term of endearment. But then again, I'm a Polish girl from New Jersey so I'm used to geting it from all sides, lol.

It is concidered a insult in Chicago to call a Polish person that.

Some guys will want to fight others laugh it off, depending on the context of use.

yes especially growing up i had a lot of polock jokes that were eluding to the term as unintelligent, and i still feel it is offensive, but you learn to live with it and realize people as ignurant when they use that term for a polish descendent. I am proud of my heritage.

An Irish-American relative once sent me a printout of "polak" jokes, which interestingly were exactly the same as the "paddy" jokes that the english tell about the Irish.

I lived in England for a while (I'm Irish) and we referred to ourselves as "paddy" or "mick" - this devalues the cultural nastiness of the term. I don't find tem offensive, and especially not when they're meant to be offensive. We call the British "brits", which they use themselves also. Some English people regard it as offensive. We Irish also have the word "tans" which refers to the English in a more derrogatory manner, but this is a word the English wouldn't understand, so it's not really an offensive noun!

Generally speaking English culture looks down on the Irish (a fromer colony) and this occasionally surfaces even at the highest levels of government. Which we Irish cheerfully ignore :)

Paddy, Polak, Mick... People who use these terms as an offensive weapon are generally the less intelligent ones themselves. The trick is to recapture the word, so it's offensiveness is devalued...

...course then they'll find some other word to use!

My grandfather's parents were Polish.And he didn't look white at all.He had very brown skin,dark hair,and short.People that didn't like him,allways called him a Greek ******. Especially when he got his hair permed,lol. But,his eyes were browninish hazel.

I don't know why he had such dark skin.He sat inside a dark American Legion bar all day.

Hehe. Very nice. I used to see a guy in my old town with a license plate that read "TIKANEIS" (ti kaneis being Greek for "how are you?"). I liked that one as well. It's good to see people keeping some spirit of the old country. :)

Anyway, about the word "polack," I think it depends on what you have been taught. If you're from Maine or someplace, you might not think it's a bad choice of word, but speaking as someone who grew up in the Chicago area, I would never use it myself. There are cleverer ways of being rude anyway, if it's appropriate under the circumstances.

haha all my friends call me Polak

Nope.
It is a Czech dance.
The name comes from Czech "pulka" meaning "half" (beat), which is the rythm of the dance. Eventually "pulka" was changed into "polka" which in Polish means a Polish woman. Hence the confusion.

A similarly confusing one is what is known as "polska". It is a Swedish 3/4-beat dance which has Polish roots.


Much like what Canadians did with "canuck"

No it's not but it's degrading Poles.

I dont mind being called polack as long as they dont mind being called ginny, crout, ruskie or irish prick ect. if you know what i mean. If they can dish it..... they have no option but to take it. thats what go by

a polish person is only a polack when they are an immigrant

Nope. The word, as used in English, is of German origin and has nothig to do with immigration.

The word often appears in reference to Poles who were no immigrants at all. You need to brush up the literature of your own country before you get a whack at those you know nearly nothing about. Read Hamlet. You won't have to go far, Act One, Scene One. And that's just one example.

er,you couldnt call them "blacks" though could you,fienian.

Spik,Wop,Polack,what is this,a West Side Story convention,geez.

Thread attached on merging:
Does being called a Polack/Pollak offend you?

Obviously Poles understand that the term Polack is an actual Polish word meaning a male Pole but many times the term is used to demean Poles. For example in the United States the term POLE is just starting to be used but many people whether it's ignorance, not caring or usually just not being aware, do not know that in English a person of Polish decent should be called Pole and not a Polack. I don't really have a problem with being called a Polack but for whatever reason the term has a negative feel to it in the United States.

Just like the Irish, Italians in the past and basically every other culture/nationality in the past has faced being the butt of jokes, it seems that Poles are just starting to get past it and it's fallen onto Hispanics now. How many Polack jokes did you hear growing up? I still to this day will over hear someone saying a Polack joke in the background before they find out I am actually Polish and then they did the whole "oh yeah you know I wasn't trying to offend you it's just how the joke goes it could be a Irish, Mexican or blah blah person instead"

Anyone else have this similar experience? Basically the 'Dumb Polack' ******** that i'm sure we've all experienced at some point in our lives.

I know Americans here who use Polak only for digs at Poles.

Not really no ... though my sister was disgusted at someone calling her a f**kin polish b**ch the other week in a high street store all because she had a pushchair and loads of clothing bags on it ... my sister responsed with the word "OI we'll have less" .... !

My English boy only calls me Ewiwooobear hahah

For the most part I agree, but then again i've definitely been asked how do you say, I'm AN "American" but if your Polish?

You wouldn't say i'm a Polish. Most people still don't know your supposed to say Pole. They either ask me or just say Polack and figure Polack jokes are just like Mexican jokes. Obviously the joke is on them since they are using a Polish word to try and insult an actual Pole.

It would be like me saying someone is a dumb latino instead of mexican. Either way it's stupid and for the most part I do believe we get a raw deal. I dunno where all the Polack jokes originated from or why but I just figure it was our turn to face the same crap every other nation did when they immigrated to the U.S.

On the other hand, me being from San Diego, you don't see/run into many Poles which sucks on one hand but then again you don't interact with the scum/lower denominators of a large population. I've heard stories from my family and seen news clips on Polish channels of Poles in Chicago. Big population = more poor/uneducated Poles which give the rest of us a bad name.

Something odd is that I rarely am asked if I'm Polish. I have a 12 letter last name but usually i'll get asked if i'm Czech, or from Ukraine and sometimes Russian which is really odd to me. I do believe that for the most part Poles get a raw deal and deserve better.

I can't see why we should be offended if someone calls us Polaks or Pollacks.

English people refer to Americans as Yanks, Septics (ie.rhyming slang Septic Tank),
Aussies call Brits Poms .... maybe someone could explain why ?;

I don't see anything derogatory in these terms; it's only when one places fu**ing or some other obscene term along with it that I have a problem :o)

This is exactly how polish jokes started. When Poles began emigrating to the US in the early 19th c many were uneducated (farmers, labourers) and could not even read/write in polish! Hence the term "dumb polack."

Personally I have never been the victim of polish jokes and there are many poles where i live (toronto area). I think it all depends on how you present yourself and your level of integration into society.

When Polish people came here after World War One and certainly after World War II they came with a large section of Eastern Europeans who were officially title by the American Government as "Displaced Persons" because they couldn't speak English they were percieved as being stupid and this phrase "Displaced Persons" becamse "D.Ps" which became "Dumb Polaks" not just Poles but for all Eastern Europeans at the time.

I've been treated like an idiot because I was Polish a handful of times in my life but it's never bothered me. There are many groups in America that face much more resistance and insult than us, thats for sure.

it's not racist as polish is not a race.

polack, pollock, pollack and a few other variations are all meant to be a demeaning term used in jokes and such

the poles are a race, they are somewhere between blacks and gypsies. The nazis knew this too well.

For whatever/many reasons Poles are very quick to "drop" their Polish heritage or atleast put it in the back seat and completely become involved in the United States, especially in places where Poles aren't too common like Southern California. Change their last name, or start supporting everything the U.S tries to do involving Poland like the Iraq war for example.

While it's obviously the easy road to take, to simply become yet another immigrant turned American, I for one am not like that. It's funny at times because when I'm in Poland everyone considers me American - 20 years in U.S and 4 years old when I moved here. Counting the 5 summer trips I've made I've probably spent a total of 5,6 years in Poland but yet when I'm in the U.S i get the common "wait so your a Pollak" question.

Like I stated before, usually it's just out of ignorance not knowing the word Pole is the right term to use but at times it's definitely used to demean me. The oh so common 'Dumb Pollak' jokes and such. Honestly though I would be lieing if I didn't admit it bothered me. I have shared these feelings to my family recently wondering why Poles have such a 'dumb' reputation. I will do whatever I can to try and change that so my children do not have to grow up in the same 'Dumb Pollak' world especially since I PROBABLY won't marry a Polka just based on the percentage of Polish women I meet here in San Diego. I would love to marry one but it probably won't happen so It's my job to make sure my kids stay close to their Polish heritage and are most importantly proud to be a European and Pole.