Polish Diaspora - many of these 20 million actually speak Polish?

Of course you have to do that. The Polacks are forever claiming how they're 100% Polish - so if they want to say that, we need proof. If not, then we can only assume that they, just like every other European, is just a bloody mongrel.


They are "polluting" if you listen to your average Polack nationalist.

It's spellt Czech, by the way. Not sure why Americans have such problems with that word.

As usual you sound like a crazy Russkie racist nazi.

If you look at Russkie racism it makes Polish racism look like nothing. Russkie racists went so far as killing tens of millions of people who they felt, "did not fit in" with Russkieland.


This sounds like more of your racist Russkie nonsense and my misspelling of Czech was a typo you fool.

Have you taken your meds today?

Where are the people on this forum, much less this thread, "forever claiming" this?


Where are the people on this thread, much less this forum, writing about the "pollution" of Polish bloodlines?
The answer to both questions is nowhere. Delphiandomine is here demonstrating what is known in logic as the "Straw Man" fallacy. Delphiandomine is quite simply a racist who hates Polonia and so he lies about what Polonians say so he can condemn them.

The reason that Poles don't speak Polish in America is because they have a very easy time assimilating. Poles thrive in competitive societies.

In the U.S., speaking a different language, other than English, was discouraged in school-aged children. A lot of parents went along with it. Eventually there were English-only laws. So, there would probably be a lot more Polish speakers if there had not always existed so much prejudice.

When and where were these "English Only Laws?" For how long were they? How would they have been enforceable within the confines of the home? Would those laws have been in direct conflict with any elements of the American Constitution?

I am doubtful as to how such a law, if it even existed, could be responsible for the "poles" who can't speak Polish in the U.S. Feel free to prove otherwise.


Two mutually exclusive events. Assimilating has nothing to do with retaining a language. In fact if your assertion were correct, they'd have had such an easy time assimilating that they'd have loads of free time and energy to maintain their cultural roots. Feel free to prove otherwise.

Really, the USA does not have an official language, thats why they are up the brown stream without a paddle with massive Hispanic immigration and the expansion of Spanish everywhere.....well ,thats what Ive been told jajajajajajajajajajaj

My question is, why do certain individuals have a problem with people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland? Why is it such a huge issue. I see a Korean on the street, I stop and ask them what nationality they are, they reply "Korean" in perfect English. No one quizzes them on what languages they know. No one tries to argue them out of being Korean. Their Koreaness is as plain as the nose on your face.

Why the double standard with Polish?

just for the record, I do not have any problem with Polish Americans

making out that they can do a far better job of running Poland than the elected Polish politicians somewhat gets my goat
and as for the rose tinted imagery of Poland as Paradise Lost (no doubt told to them by a gibbering grandparent) it is just
a red rag to a bull

Everybody talks about the places they are born with a certain nostalgia. I've known Vietnamese whose parents were from Vietnam and they talk about how beautiful and wonderful it is. It's normal for people to idealize. Get over it!

Harry, come on... you think it's funny ? It's pathetic, get a life old man, you are polluting the public space here with this nonsense. You are not funny, you are not cool, you are pathetic. You are as "cool" as a guy farting in public.

As it happens, yes I do find it rather amusing to see people banging on and on about how proud they are to be Polish but then when asked what they have ever done for Poland, they suddenly change the topic!

You really are bitter over PiS losing, aren't you?

I do not need to get over it
I am not the one living in a fantasy world

You never idealize anything? People need their ideals so why deny them? Some people have a romantic vision of Poland just like they do for every country. There are good and bad in everywhere Some people exaggerate the bad parts while others the good.

what utter tosh. read my post about the Polish wedding.
you can respect your heritage and be proud of it by all means
and the wedding video sums this up perfectly

I will reiterate, I found it utterly charming

big difference between keeping traditions alive and sticking your beak where it does not belong
in an environment you know nothing about

If they have never been there then how do they know?

Because they either visited when young or were born there and left when an infant or their parents told them or they saw a picture on google.

And beautiful photos taken by people pointing their camera at the best bits, and a print of Zakopane or Lwow on the wall. To be fair, foreigners with Polish roots aren't the only ones who do that. Go into your average Indian diaspora family's house and you're far more likely to see a picture of the Taj Mahal than the slums of Calcutta.

The vast majority of people who claim "ancestry" to somewhere be it Polish, Irish or Eskimo tend to have never been to the "homeland" so when they wax lyrical about the old country they are really talking out of their arse.

bit strong Sir, however perhaps the following anecdote might be appreciated by our colonial friends

I have never been to Portugal. I do not have any family from Portugal but I know plenty of people who have been there
I have heard lots of nice stories, know that they produce good food and wine and believe it to be a nice place

I would not try to give Portuguese people advice on how to run their country, neither would I vote in the Portuguese elections if allowed

Only 27,000 out of 11,000,000 Polish-Americans voted in the 2007 Polish national elections. That is less than one quarter of one percent of the Polish diaspora in America and so focusing upon it is misguided when one is trying to speak about the Polish diaspora as a whole. As for giving advice, Polish-Americans live in a republic, as do Poles, and they thus have more knowledge of what does and doesn't work in a republic than do interlopers from constitutional monarchies.

The OP is interesting for revealing that Canadian Polonia is more likely to be fluent in Polish than is the American branch, but it would be misguided to make speaking Polish the litmus test regarding authentic Polishness. Polishness is above all else a style of living. Polishness is about bravery, heavy drinking, and a healthy disrespect for authority. The Polish character was formed in a glorious past and hardened in the forge of oppression by foreign powers. Poles have emerged as a special people with an unbreakable spirit and a sympathy for the downtrodden.

I appreciate your reply

so are you saying 'being Polish is not a nationality, it is an attitude'

or perhaps you are alluding to Quentin Crisp when he said 'being Polish has nothing to do with geographical location, it is a state of mind' ?

Quentin Crisp said Polishness is a dangerous pathology and so it may appear to effete people. It is not for nothing that Poles didn't enter "history" until the start of the second millenium. They were too busy living righteous lives in natural freedom and today people of Polish descent are the beneficiaries of an undepleted national vigor regardless of where they live.

The exact quote, if I remember, was: "Poland isn't so much a country as a disturbed state of mind"!

Actually, nationality is a fairly new concept. Ethnicity is a much older concept.

I have not seen the film in 20 years but I am sure he said being Polish has got nothing to do with geographic location it is a state of mind

I have not read the book

I am sure he did not say that being Polish was a dangerous pathology. this line certainly did not appear in the film

I am interested in DD's theory about what is the essence of being Polish. He raises some good points. Thanks for that

Being Polish is clearly an attitude

27,000 too many.

As for giving advice - by your estimation, those living in tinpot banana republics are somehow more qualified to speak than those who live in modern liberal democracies. It can only therefore be concluded that you have a love of strong governments, ruled from the centre. Were you a keen supporter of the events of December 1981, comrade?


Can't speak Polish, can't be Polish. It's as simple as that.


You really are living in a fantasy world, aren't you? I mean, you've never been to Poland, what the hell would you know about the country or the people?

Either that, or you've been drinking some of bzibzioh's special medicine.

And 27,000 more than the number of them who'll do a single thing to help Poland, not even when all their costs are paid for them.

utter rot

do you speak Gaelic?
erm no doubt the answer is likely to be a big fat no

does that make you any less Scottish?

I have met lots of Polish people born in Poland who moved abroad with their parents
and they returned to Poland without being able to communicate in Polish

does that make them less Polish?