Second gen Polish-American with little exposure

Psiakrew. Pretty strong for a women of that time :)

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Yes, it is psiakrew - dog blood. My grandma said: Crootsa fix! You can guess what it means.

What is "second gen Polish-American"?

Interesting question Rich. My wife is kind of a wordsmith/language type person. I asked her what she thought "first generation" meant because I wasn't sure I knew. Is it the person who came to the new country or the child(ren) of the person who came to the new country? After some research (admittedly not a lot though) we had to conclude that it is not really clear. Maybe someone has better info than we could find, but our conclusion was not conclusive one way or the other.

@Rich Mazur


An American born & raised person (whose birth parents are also American born & raised) who has one or more Polish born & raised grandparent

OK, how many cycles does it take to remove that hyphen?
Just this week I asked my US-born daughter if she ever feels that hyphen. She said, no.
Good job, Rich.

Someone born in the US, even if their parents are from Timbuktu, is AMERICAN, zero hyphen necessary!!

I agree. Before you pop that cork, what you just wrote is racist.

Ethnicity and race are different things.

@Rich Mazur


If you and your wife were both born & raised in Poland, then your US-born & raised child(ren) = "first gen Polish-American(s)", and your US born & raised grandchild(ren) = "second gen Polish-American(s)" etc

Racist??

@Paulwiz, came across this site and thought it might interest you, all in English. Nice mixture relating to Poland:

News & Politics
Business
Art & Culture
Science
Sport
History
Life

thefirstnews.com/

Thanks Atch. Again.
The headline says Poland exports set a record and exceeded a trillion złoty. That's very cool! Congratulations!

On a second item, my Polish lesson program talks about the distinction between casual and formal conversation. Are there any guidelines as to when to use the formal speech? If I ask a stranger for directions do I use formal? If I am talking to a priest do I use formal? In German it used to be that you used the formal as a default until there was an agreement to use casual.

Thanks again Atch.

Yes. Informal is used only with close family and friends. You should formal with older people even if you're related to them if you're meeting them as a visitor from America :))