Polack/American Polonia/Plastic Pole "culture"

You noticed it too...?

Delphiandomine wrote:


Why just Poles in America? What about Plastic Mexicans? Plastic Irish? Plastic Italians? Plastic.....well....Plastic anything in America?

What makes Plastic Poles any different than the other people living in America that left their homelands to move to America for a better life? Can all of them "get lost" as well? What about my wife that spent her whole life in Poland but is now moving to America with me in January? Will she then become "Plastic"?

Delphiandomine wrote:


I haven't lived in America in 4 years, thus, haven't paid any income tax. Does that exclude me from commenting about my country on this forum?

Delphiandomine wrote:


Indeed.

Like my father who left Poland in his thirties who has a strong Polish accent


Yea according to him you're probably no longer an American

hes a plastic brit living in a plastic house , with a plastic dog and a plastic doll.. oh, I wasnt
supposed to say that... sorry del, didnt mean to give out your secret that you have a blow
up plastic living with you.. and you named her barbie. :)


he thinks that if you dont stay and pay your taxes then you are no longer polish, and
are plastic... he thinks you should stay and fight for poland , even though no wars
are going on currently there.. yeah, I just ignore it anymore.. kinda stupid and old now
and not really worth discussing.

oh and when your wife gets here, she isnt allowed to wear clothes that have polish symbols
or eat keilbasa or anything that is polish cause she no longer pays taxes..

I dont think he realizes how stupid he sounds when he says this, but hey, if the shoe fits.

yep yep.. anyways.

Patrycja19 wrote:


you're probably right.

That's because Nationalism is stupid. I mean, if you can't acknowledge we're all the same, stupid human beings, then you're just stupid.

:)

If we're all the same then why do some look down on others and protect what is theirs(material possessions, borders, national pride etc) so badly????. People point fingers saying they're "unjust, racist, selfish, paranoid " i wonder what those doing the pointing would say if they were on the defensive end. When the talk is about other nations and their possessions everyone is a liberal, funny.

Because that is way they want us to do.

"just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they [i]aren't after you"[/i]

I have always felt that celebrating Nationalist pride is in a way celebrating your ancestors, honoring them, even those from centuries past. I don't see anything wrong with that. As long as you don't hurt or offend someone else, it does no harm. You can't know where you are going until you know where you came from.

I feel saddened to hear that some think that because I was taken from Poland as a young child that I am no longer polish. As if they are better than me because my parents wanted to protect me. That's not right, either. I celebrate my heritage and part of that celebration includes celebrating what I have in common with intelligent amazing people... And some very rude ignorant people who are just mean and hurtful.

Why all the animosity in this forum? If you all hate each other so much, why not go do something else more constructive? I joined to learn more and discuss what I know about my heritage...

Exactly. I never heard the expression 'Plastic Polak" until this thread. This delphiandomine dude has some serious issues.


Girl, don't even think that. There is nothing stronger in this world than blood ties with your family and with your birth country.

Eurola wrote:


I found something stronger:

youtube.com/watch?v=hjUa3oU_wtY

Do you know what your heritage actually is?

There is no such thing as "Polish" heritage, as the country has been a melting pot of nationalities and traditions for countless centuries.

delphiandomine wrote:


that ended up being an all white, culturally homogenous society? i'm not a historian but Poland surely ended up being very "vanilla".

Oh, in terms of colour, of course it ended up that way. But I mean - more that there isn't much in the way of one Polish heritage - it's all a complete mix. You can see this here quite clearly - some families have Eastern traditions, others have Germanic traditions - it's not all the same thing.

Wasn't there a fuss over the American Polonia wearing the "wrong" clothes?

You Claim to speak it badly. It must irritate you when so called Plastic Poles as you call them such as myself are able to speak perfect Polish ;)

there is a nobles heritage, heritage of citizens.......

Perfect Polish? I have my doubts, racist.

You probably speak gutter Polish, as spoken by peasants.

(for what it's worth, why would it bother me? I didn't grow up with people speaking Polish around me)

So then you are saying that American or the US, specifically, has no heritage... Or Sicily... Or England... Or Jamaica... Or... I could keep going. And I know my heritage and love it.

Why do you attempt to be so hurtful? It's wrong. I want to promote the Polonia here as part of my writing career yet I cannot direct people to this forum bc all the threads here seem to end up having at least one person who is hurtful in some way, either through ignorance or purpose, with racist, sexist, or other comments. It's such a waste of time here...


Thank you, that was very sweet of you....

Don't worry what Dolphin says, I guess Joanna Krupa is no longer Polish but American since she's been living here since she was 5 years old,i'm sure America wouldn't mind accepting her lol.

No you see, that's interesting. I listened to the interview (which is amazing in and of itself), and she mentions Eastern European women. Now, I know it's a little thing, but quite a few Poles get very defensive about that term when describing Poland, or Polish people. It's one of many small nuances that just make you cringe. Check the forum for reactions from Poles about identifying as "Eastern European". Central, it's central!...or so I'm told.

I think that main bone of contention is that there is an romanticized version of Poland which is out of touch with the reality of Poland. I personally don't take any issue with it, but it seems to be a case of seeing what you want to see. Dunno. Just my worthless two groszy on the topic.

Dżoana Krupa is not really Polish, her accent is awful and she introduces English words into Polish sentences. I doubt she considers herself Polish.

And yes, it's Central :P

She just said her name in English that's all, and if i can speak English with an American accent and Polish with a Polish one that don't make me Polish too??

landora wrote:


man, you poles sure do have some harsh criteria when it comes to who is polish, who is not.

she was born in poland, spent the first 5 years of her life there, both her parents are polish and she was raised with both of them, she speaks the language very well.....yet she's "not really Polish."

what is it polish people.....do you have to live in poland your whole life and "feel the pain" with the rest of the poor shlubs out here in order to be truly polish?

HAHA good one. Like i said before it's childish playground jealousy nothing else

She was brought up in America, as I said, I don't think she considers herself to be Polish.

Also "możesz być one day on a cover of a magazine" - how is this great Polish?

However, I could agree that the first generation of Poles abroad are Polish, but I will never agree that people, whose grandparents emigrated to America are Polish. They've never lived here, they were born abroad and thye use words like "busha" - no, they are not Polish.


Well, at least try living here before telling us what to do with our country, claiming you're more patriotic or voting in our elections.

I think that's acceptable. busha? anyone who says something dumb like that should just shut up, they're making themselves look bad if you can't speak Polish don't. I've lived in Poland till i was 9 and since i read in Polish daily i speak it perfectly.

This is hilarious. As a Chicago-Pole I always cringe when I hear her try to speak polish. Why would she as a person in the media not take intensive Polish language classes and “brush” up on her Polish. People manage to learn entirely new languages I’m sure she would be able to improve her Polish if she applied herself.

Why does my 18yr old cousin who was born in the states speak perfect polish yet she cannot say a sentence without inserting English words?

If a child is born in the States parents have to force him to speak Polish at home, it's the only place he will, his friends all speak English, in school everyone speaks English to him. It has to be the first language and continue to be into the teenage years.

How the hell should I know ? She is your cousin !

Because it's "Ponglish".

Vile!

But endlessly fascinating too. If some Polack wants to mix English and Polish when speaking, why not? Means her language is "alive".