Do you think that Polish people are rude?

My last post was sent in error!

Indeed, I do have a high regard for the Poles and their country.

And we Poles DO care! ROFL

??? And again, why would you think anything different?

My great grandsparents came to the US in the late 1870's. Krakow and Warsaw. And I am proud of them. They owned a dry goods store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and were members of high society. The great depression changed that. At that time they were Polish Americans. 147 years later I am an American of Polish descent. And am proud of that too.

I only know a few words of Polish from my father. My great grandparents were very proud to be American and their new home. Our new language was English. This country has been very good to me and my ancestors. Yes, we get the dumb Pollock jokes, but they are done in jest most of the time. I say things to strangers that I see on this forum annoy some. Sorry, how are you, have a good day without thinking. My parents and grandparents taught us this. Why would minor things like that concern anyone?

There use to be a large Polish population in the city near us. Around holidays we would go there to purchase traditional Polish foods where we would mix with those I call true Polish. As soon as they realized you weren't one of them acted as if you didn't exist. I wanted to learn my culture and to feel connected to a country I knew little of. Sadly that never happen. Even at church we knew we didn't belong so we went to the Italian church.

Over the years I began to realize things we did at holidays were Polish with an American touch. I am 65 and still trying to make a connection. Recently we went to Linden, New Jersey which still has a large Polish population to shop for my cousins scattered around the US. A Polish Christmas gift to bring back childhood memories. Even in the shops we visited if was clear we didn't fight in. Laughing at how I tried to pronounce in Polish food I have eaten since a child as they repeated how I said it. At least I tried.

In the end we are the same, but vastly different. I am Polish, but then I am not. From comments on this site some are very unhappy here. I am sure I would if I were to move to Poland. Americans are not going to change to fit your ideal so why bother coming here? That is not meant to offend you.

This is the season of loving or should be. Merry Christmas to you all and God bless! I would have loved to have been able to have said that in Polish.

I think, that as with many educated, skilled Northern and Eastern European nationals often being forced by necessity to work below their level, a degree of resentment builds up over time which can then translate into arrogance when in situations in which many feel as though they are being condescended to by people far beneath their educational or professional background:-)

@time1865
Poles have a different mentality than Americans. What is acceptable in Poland may not be acceptable in the US, and the other way round. Just because you felt offended by someone's behaviour doesn't mean they meant to insult you.

Of course some people are just rude.
To rephrase what you said: Poles are not going to change to fit your ideal do why bother visiting Polish (American!!!!) communities.
I hope your Polish grandparents were lucky enough to meet more welcoming Americans than yourself.
That's coming from a Pole which may sound too harsh but despite saying 'God bless' your post was pretty harsh, too.

Really? A day trip to mix, learn culture and feel connected? Tall order, should've save yourself a bother. Well, you didn't care enough to put some work or time in there. You wanted to invest a one cent and withdraw 100$, try Vegas.


Maybe not nice. You're old enough to know better. I mean did you expect a medal for the effort? Either you care enough to not butcher it or you don't. They are living communities not some tourist-trap.

Older men on a sentimental trip can easily get burn if they expect too much.

My how my post got butchered in that translation. lol "Sentimental trip" not really. I never said this was an occasional day adventure. You made a quick assumption which was completely wrong. Actually I visit the Polish sections of my town weekly shopping. The interesting thing is a large Mexican grocery store nearby has more Polish food than the ones in the Polish section. Sadly those are slowly dying and I try to support them. Just a few days ago I made my hour drive to Linden, NJ that has a large Polish population to do Christmas shopping. We make that drive once a month to go to a wonderful Polish café.

The owner of Pulaski's market in Linden is German and her husband Polish. We began to talk and I said I had tried to learn Polish a few times. The language courses didn't work with me and I wished someplace had offered Polish courses. She laughed and said she never could pick it up and she was now in her 60's. Anyway, I am not saying I am sorry I tried and failed. No I don't want a medal. Too many times I have heard the Polish butcher English. I guess I should have been offended because they "didn't care enough" to learn English before speaking to me? They tried and that's good enough for me. Apparently not you.

Of course all Polish people are not rude. Just like all Americans are not like what I have read on this site.

In a few weeks we will make our twice a year trip to Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine in Eureka, Missouri. One of my 15 hour drive "day trips." We also visit yearly the Polish shrine in Doylestown, PA for events there. Can I have a medal now?

The little digs directed at my post are funny. "Older men"? really that is the best you can do? I probably have read more on the history of Poland than it's own citizens. I have researched my family back to the 1500's. I never said I do not carrying on the traditions. I am more connected to my past than many other Polish Americans I know and they don't care.

Anyway, it is the Christmas season which seems to just keep getting longer each year in the US. Still a time to accept nobody is perfect even if they just know they are.

I'm afraid you keep talking about Polish Americans. And you keep looking down on Poles even though you claim you're interested in the history of Poland and its traditions.

Having read your posts, personally, I'm not surprised you don't get a warm welcome.

Many Polish-Americans don't get the welcome in Poland that they think they should get. It's a common story, especially when they start throwing around dollars and expecting people to be impressed.

True. Also knowing polish makes a big difference tho. Persomally I've experienced everything from being considered a cudoziemiec (in pl court of all places, despite being a citizen lol but it was the other side so maybe thays why) to village girls thinking of polams as almost like gods. A lot of urban Poles tend to have a perception of Americans as wealthy, but unsophisticated. They'll have that opinion unless u change it

Nonetheless the poles are pretty happy about the poles working in uk Germany us and spending it in the polish economy

This perception of Americans though, is by and large true, at least for most of the mega rich!

@time1865

Maybe the Poles you are referring to are just trying to assimilate by displaying some Jersey attitude!

In all seriousness, though, you are talking about dealing with shop personnel. It has to be a vulnerable dynamic for them to begin with, and you're talking about the added stress of the Christmas rush this time of year. They are probably dealing with many Polish-Americans who, by your own admission, know less about Polish culture than you. I can imagine that can get tiring, especially if they feel they are expected to "perform" Polish. Perhaps you may find more the experience you are looking for by joining a Polish-American social club, attending Polish festivals, or, if religous, attending a Polish Church.

Somewhere a post saying nothing bad about me trying to connect with my lost Polish background has turned into me attacking Poles. My great grandparents came from Warsaw and Krakow and I am proud of being Polish. What I said was the real Polish and Polish Americans are not the same. Some of us do try to keep up the connections, but over generations they fade. Try as hard as I did my son is less Polish than I and my grandson I give up on. He is completely American.

Over generations the Poles that come here will become more American than Polish. I read an article last night and they believed by the 3rd generation that happens. I am 3rd generation.

Anyway, somewhere this train has jumped the tracks. A cute American saying.

@billpawl

I'm from Jersey, I don't know why you'd expect to get a warm welcome from well, anyone at all.

If the OP is in the mood for some mind blowing Polish food, and where the staff speaks Polish, he should go to Philly. There is the Syrenka Luncheonette thats in Fishtown... The address is 3173 Richmond St. When my fiance and I were in the states we went there for lunch, and I can assure they speak Polish as she was yapping away to them in Polish. There are about 6 or 7 different Polish stores, delis, etc, if you go to Richmond and E Allegheny Ave.

Also, judging from the tone of your post OP, you sound like one of those pretentious North Jersey guys above exit 7A....just sayin...

Umm, I wouldn't. That was the point of the joke.

OK, I give. I am Polish American, very proud of my Polish past and continue to celebrate it. I don't know where anyone got that I thought anyone should be running up to me to hug me. Well maybe if she is a pretty Polish lady. If I continue on this topic soon someone will have me wanting to be included in their will. lol What I really wanted was to learn about the culture from them.

Have a Merry Christmas and I truly mean that. You don't need to reply since I am deleting this website before this conversation gets out of hand.

Geez man make up your mind. Do you complain, brag or just share a story. If you are up for a chat it is OK with me although it is a wrong forum for this kind of activity in my opinion.

So what exactly happened? Some people laughed at your brave attempt to butcher Polish language. Not very sophisticated people, simple people, maybe not a very bright or well mannered people. What it has to do with their ethnicity? Such people can be find anywhere. Was it a malicious laugh? Is that terribly important to you?

Did they hurt your feelings? Did you communicate to them your displeasure at they behavior? What do you expect from the strangers on the internet?

Given (according to your words) that you're about 60 years old I would think you could bring some perspective, a philosophical stoicism and a tad of wisdom to the table.

Fun fact - 7% of Americans believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

Aside from your digs at me that are quite unbecoming you. I enjoyed your story. Honest.
If you could deliver more of the same. (minus digs) I would like to read it.
Now that I know you want to share stories.

I took some time and did some searching on YouTube. I found several videos from American and Polish expats that answered my questions in only a few minutes about smiling. Yes, we are different in the way we react to each other in public and now I understand why. Now when I interact I will try to keep it in mind. You are not being rude and we aren't crazy. Well maybe a little.

And history repeats itself.

Yes, it will have to wait now until next year probably and the 75th anniversary. It shouldn't be like that, but that seems to be the way of the world. Each country has it's own specific anniversaries and nobody cares about the collective anymore.....

Oh, did they get to Poland?
Pffffff

Nobody throws dollars around. We just stick a credit card into a slot and wait until it reads: remove card.


After nearly 150 years? That would mean that every American is forever hyphenated. I know you didn't use one, but you might just as well. I personally hate hyphens. As in African-American. They use this form for political reasons and they know it's bulls***. How many years have to pass for one to drop the hyphen or the adjective in front of "American"?

Your past is not Polish. Your heritage is, but the past. You are as American as one ever can be. If the US and Poland were at war, would you suffer from a split loyalty?


That was a mistake. The US should have set the conditions and the payment schedule for liberating the Euro-a-holes AGAIN. Germany, under the Mazur plan, would forever be under American control, rapidly depopulating until gone.

but you don't have a 'Polish past' do you?
No , you have an American past.
How can you be 'proud' of where your grandparents ran away from?
My father came to the UK from Ireland, 60 years ago. He left because at that time there were no jobs. Not sure I can be 'proud' of that.

If anyone askes , I say 'English' because I am not anything else. I would look like a right tool if I went over to Ireland and started going on about how I was really Irish, a right tool I tell you.

Exactly.

My Poland is the 1966 version. I had a job that paid less than it takes to sustain life. I wasn't free to leave the normal way so I had to lie and connive to pull this stunt off. And now I am told that I am supposed to "love" it because it was my motherland. Siberia is also somebody's motherland. And so is Somalia.

So your roots mean nothing?
Everyone needs roots.
You can only understand who you are and where you are going if you understand your roots and your chosen home.
Without both.you are a lost and confused soul.

My roots were in the German occupied Poland. Then, in the Soviet occupied Poland. Then I cut myself loose before I hopped on that train in 1966.

What a man needs more then roots, is a pair and a clear head.

Roots tie a man down, just like shackles. Roots are meant for the objects that are not supposed to move. Anybody who has roots is a prisoner.

My grandmother looked like a Polish babka (sp), she was deffinitely of Slavic origin.

I've been fond of Polish culture since little and like being around Poles more than other Slavs. For example, Russian people rub me off the wrong way. I instantly get coldness from Russians. I find Slovaks and Czechs also totally weird. Not so with Poles. So what's going on there? Call of blood? I thought Czechs and Slovaks are related to Poles? Or maybe Poles are more pure Slavs (Czechs might be Slavicised Germans and Slovaks Slavicised Magyars)?

No one is as rude as Slovaks

Most of the time, rudness is earned.

Russians, Slovaks and Czechs gives Slavs a bad name. They're like antisocial wild animals. Poles are generally more human and civilized, despite the worse things they've been trough.