Do you think that Polish people are rude?

Blimey. Good job I got out then.

Actually there is a lot of truth to what you say - even if it's not quite as widespread as you make out. I'm not sure, though, whether there are any social class underpinnings to this phenomenon or it's just individual preference. I'm tempted to associate it with a lower-middle class, Protestant, Daily Mail reading ethos but that could just be the relatively small number of people I know who fall into that category, who conform to the type. 'Old money' does, too, in my limited experience.

I think the rest of us aren't too bad, though :)

Exactly,thats why I enjoyed elbowing Nuns out of the way on Warsaw Trams :)

:-D I always say the Brits have the greatest sense of humour - that compensates for the lack of positive emotions..


For sure what I said was a generalization and pretty much a stereotype, but I think there's a sort of deeply rooted code of expression/behaviour in Britain that is completely strange to many (if not all) other nations - that's why we see Brits as stiff and standoffish. And I believe that's why the British people see others as rude.

No need to explain - this actually sums up my family perfectly. But these days (and this place: London is my benchmark; not, eg, Derby) there is a lot less of it about.

Anyway: Polish people rude? Right, here goes. My one trivial contribution to the sum total of human knowledge was a half-decent MPhil thesis on register in Polish. Statistical linguistics. So, computer says that in Polish there is a hugely wide range between abstract, standoffish, impersonal and the converse - wider than in English for example. So Poles aren't ruder, it's just that the signifier of 'rude' on the same linguistic criteria you'd use to establish how rude someone is in English gives a stronger reading. Actually, Kowalski is not ruder than his English counterpart at all. Same thing holds up the other end of the spectrum: all that Pan/Pani sounds positively Victorian to us - so Poles are politer, surely?

My friends from London say so as well, but I'd say in Derby there's still quite a lot of it


So how rude are we in English? :)


It's quite interesting actually - why don't you use sir/madam anymore? The Polish pan/pani form gives us the impression of safe distance from people we don't know very well - I would expect the English with their reserve and necessity of privacy to preserve the use of formal titles

Now we're getting somewhere. Thank you for the research Alex!

Uhm im not a teacher but i do know that hes tempertantrums if you German or Disagree with him on any occasions.

Here is an example of rudeness, I tell him to stop kindly and he doesn't listen. Also, he talks back to teachers.

well i have short fuse and my tempertantrums are hard to control sometimes but I'm half German. Maybe it's because i was born in Poland. What do you think?


Is he asking questions? Maybe he doesn't speak English? not everyone in the world speaks English, you know

uhm Its not because you were born in poland most Germans Are Greatful but if you think your more polish then you might have a a possible decents of a anger management one but it doesn't matter what you really are inside your probably nice but haven't really thought it about too much.

He does speak English and he disrespects Teachers

OK, we both know that this is not really a Polish phenomenon. This situation, however annoying as hell, can happen just about anywhere. I'm not trying to defend anyone here, it's just the way it is.

If he speaks British already and he's a kid most likely he's going to grow up to be a good British citizen. I think you should put more effort into educating this poor kid.


I really appreciate your thoughtless and the psychoanalysis :)

he probably disrespects his parents too. Some traditional butt whipping and the problem is solved. Unfortunitely our messed up laws don't allow it. (I'm not talking about beating up, just a little spanking).

Close the door and whip it. Just don't overdo it.

My ears bleed some days :)


We do, but less so. It's nothing like as pervasive as Pan/i in Polish. But even Pan/i isn't always a way of denoting distance; it depends on the context: Pan/i + first name (in 2nd person) is quite endearing, for example, Panie Alexiu, niech Pan sobie wybierze - [Mr] Alex, you choose (this from the ladies in the local shop when I'm getting apples).

But in the 18th Century it was the stock of gentlemanly speech - look at any quotation by Johnson and 'Sir' is used almost as a punctuation mark (much like proszę Pana/ią in contemporary Polish).

Where English and Polish do part company, though, is the use of third person Pan/Pani when you're talking to the person. But, but, but: there is an exception to even that. Even as recently as 50 years ago, you could hear lower-middle-class tailors, drapers, waiters etc addressing their clientele as follows: ''Can I interest Sir in the matching tie?" "Would Sir care to try the wine?". Only lower-middle, though. Jeeves, the gentlemans' gentleman, would never have said such a thing. It sounded pretentious and a little silly then, never mind now.

(It's just occurred to me that this could be a calque from Polish, actually - there's a lot of Jewish tailor shops in London. Anyone know? I haven't looked at this stuff in 10 years plus ...)


You're welcome. I should probably post the whole thing online somewhere (it got a precis in the Journal of Sociolinguistics or some such, but I didn't quote enough Derrida or something so it never made it to full print. Anyway, all a very long time ago. As to the thread topic: you want rude? Work with stockbrokers for a living :))

I dont think polish peoples are rude. they seems to be very friendly and helpful at their level best. but ofcourse there are some elements in every society which comes under the bar: unsocial. but also, those elements shouldnt be considered in the overall review.

NO!
There are simple different standards of what is rude and what's not, I think that on average Poles are very polite.

:) Agreed. Nice and warm people.

You'll appreciate this, then:

en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Awful_German_Language

You left out the best part:

Yes, I am polite on most occasions, however, when I deal with morons, I may lose my temper. They unnerve me.

Of course they are rude. They are Eastern European. Not only that, their ugly facial features make them even more rude, and scary. Thats a rudeness that other Eastern Europeans don't have, just the Poles.

Back to the original question

Do you think Polish people are rude? Well that depends on who and what mood you catch us in. If you catch us in bad mood we can be rude and down right nasty. Also some people are more rude then others. Also depends on how you behave, if you are arrogant foreigner then yes polish people will be rude to you.

Isn't this probably the same for most nationalities?

While this may fly in the face of most of the comments I've read on this site, I have to say that the dozen or so Polish people I know are models of politeness and civility. They are extremely kind in assisting me in my attempts to learn the Polish language.

Their generosity and sincerity continue to impress me. Even my asking the inappropriate personal questions (e.g. "How are you doing?) was received with understanding and patience. And they speak English as well as I do.

My Polish students are the best I've ever had. They are respectful and courteous and, though largely self-sufficient, they are very appreciative of anything, however small, I do for them.

I wish I knew more Polish people. And I wish I had discovered the Polish people and their wonderful language years before I did.

Rudeness is less and less visible, even in queues.

Polish people are the same, as the rest, but very much better, than most.

Mike

Saying better is the sign of a trolling idiot! Quite rude to others. Just different, really.

Yes!


Come on, calm down.