Is the word "Polack"rascist?

Well i know what does Polak mean because im a native Pole. But nevertheless if some word is use in negative context it starts to be an offensive word and I heard that polack in english is offensive.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polack

So I suppose its offensive in BEn buy not in USEn am I right?

Well, this has been covered a million times on PFs. You don't hear "dumb Pollack" jokes in the US anymore. I haven't heard since the 80s personally. Probably you like being angry about things in general.

Dude, there was just a controversy involving Arlen Spector and a Polish joke, like, a few months ago. You still hear them in the USA.

It depends on the type of people you're among. Sophisticated people don't tell them or any type of ethnic joke since they are slurs.

In polite society, you can't go telling insult ethnic jokes/Polish "jokes" about Polish people or ethnic or racial jokes about any group of people without getting in trouble. That's why Arlen Specter got into trouble almost 2 years ago when he told some so called Polish jokes. Voters in Pennsylvania today, still haven't forgot about Specter's jokes against Poles.

That's because he told the jokes over a P A with an audience listening. Some rich, drunk dood in a bar can tell as many offences as he likes and no one would care.

It does seem that the intent, or the way the word is said determines whether the word is offensive. My grandparents were all born in Poland, the rest of us in the US. We have always considered Pollack to be offensive, unless used affectionately among friend; the same way that African Americans call each other ******, but God forbid it you should call one of them that. On the other hand, about 15 years ago my daughter wrote a school report about her Polish heritage. He teacher took points off because she used the word Poles, says that that was derogatory. In my opinion that is derogatory only if you dislike Poles.

yes i's derigatory and everyone knows it.. not sure what dummies you hang out with.


huh.. what rock do you live under.. jeez people

If Pollack jokes bother you, you should laugh anyway. Then tell the one about a Pollack, a kike, and a raghead walking through the desert.

Mods, please merge this with the existing thread on the area. Thanks! For all of you that want to start a new thread, please use the checker or search facilities to ensure that it hasn't already been covered. Thanks!

^^ and who the hell made you a mod? sheesh.. ;)

I don't really care who makes me a Mod or doesn't. I help new users of the forum as an experienced user, regardless of title. Besides, I do what I feel I should and let others try and come back at me if they want. Sorry, the only badge I wear is at work.

Is Polak offensive? If thrown in a certain way, yes.

certain way? it's offensive.. there is no certain way..

For more on this topic go here: Is the word "Polack"rascist? and Combating Polack jokes

Jesteś Polak(iem) means that you are Polish. It's all about the connotation and the intention, plk123. Sam słowo Polak jest ok. It is seen as offensive but racist?? What is the Polish race?

That was exactly my same thought.

IMO, Seanus makes for a great Mod.

:)

Oh noez!!!

You can't be racist towards Poles. Or towards Italians. If you don't like a nation ,it's more likely you have had bad experiences with them than you feel superior to them.

The undertones are very much negative. That's the point!

You don't need bad experiences with that nation...

Germans are "disliked" often purely because Poles think Germans feel superior...what's wrong with that??? ;)

I mean who is stopping Poles to feel superior in turn??? :):):)
We could be both best (superior) friends!

English is not polish language. It doesnt matter that english word Polack comes from polish word Polak. What is matter is tradition. If some word had been started to be recognised as ofensive in some society in some point in the past that means it is ofensive no matter what's its etymology.

But ok, I understand that ofensiveness of word polack isnt clear and I shouldnt feel ofended if someone uses that word.

I agree, it has a different meaning in English. It is associated with negativity.

It's an ethnic slur, not racist (note the correct spelling :p ).

Hey, it's not POLACK, it's POLAK! lol
And it isn't offensive if you're a male hahaha
I'm POLKA... :P

"Polak" isn't offensive, but "Polack" (pronounced "POE-LACK") is, but it's an American thing really isn't it.

Oh really? Than the US ppl need to educate themselves on what Polak means lol

Poles should remove the negative connotation the same way AAs did with 'N166A'.

Then again, I've seen numerous occasions when Pole-Ams call each other 'N166A'.

So yeah, I guess it is an American thing... :)

this thread is not about polak but polack..


it is clear and you should be offended or you will be the butt of a joke.

It all depends how the word "Polack" is used. Within the Polish language "Polak" is naturally acceptable.

"Polack" used within the English language, especially in the US is seen by at least some Polish Americans as being deragatory since it was used in a deragatory way during the hey day of anti-Polish slurs from certain elements of the TV media decades ago.

Its possible that some Americans can use the word "Polack" in an innocent way since they probably don't know better and may have heard that term from certain media years ago and it unfortunately carried into certain parts of the American population.

But its no accident that 99.9% of the media today does not refer to Polish people as "Polacks" since even they know it comes across as slur like at worst and slang at best. They generally refer to the Polish as "Polish people", "Poles" or "Polish Americans" depending on the nature of the article.

I guess it all depends on the intent of the person using the word. But in my experiences, although I generally don't hear the word "Polack" in my social circles, the occasional times I do hear it, if I correct the person saying it, its no big deal. They don't use the word anymore and they just say they didn't know about the use of the word and only used it because they went by "what they heard in the past".

But as a rule of thumb, sophisticated people generally don't use the word.

The worst thing is that sometimes the English speaker is just trying to be friendly, because that how it goes in English; they tease themselves if they are from the North, or even a particular town ; say Hull, or the unfriendliness between people of Liverpool and Manchester.

Even worst is the fact that
1. the Polak hearing this gets all paranoid
2. he starts to ponder if they havs a problem with his people ,
3. which makes it worse and worse, his imagination running wild
4. he should jsut ask why they using Polak, not Polish
5. if he knows the other r fuqqin wid him he should just front 'em up about it.

It can be confusing though, but really people are too touchy about this Polak thing, the worsest thing is when people ask you if you are Jewish , especially if they already know from you that you are Polish.

The problem is about Americans not British. British really rarely use word "polack"... they know it should be "Pole".


I've already posted that link, but I see I have to do it again: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polack

The noun Polack (/'polak/), in the English language, is a derogatory reference to a Pole or person of Polish descent[1]. It is an Anglicisation of the Polish language word Polak, which means a Polish male person (feminine being Polka). Although the Polish word has a neutral connotation, the English loanword "Polack" is insulting.

Today, in the English-speaking world, the word "Polack" is considered an ethnic slur:

1. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
2. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a person of Polish birth or descent (The American Heritage Dictionary)


I dont know what ppl do you hang around with... Maybe because you are a german nazi guy, and the only ones you know are radical right-wing poles.

Some Russian people call Polish people of female gender as "Palachka" or "Palaczka" (in Polish) which makes me laugh out loud :))), cuz actually it means "The woman who smokes".

:))) But most of them don't know about that even.