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Where did Polish stupid stereotypes come from?


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Don't know the answer but always thought it had something to do w/ using cavalry (because they didn't have any armored tanks) to attempt to stand up to the Nazi tanks invading at the start of the war.

 

Probably didn't start there/then, but no way that helped to diminish the stereotype.

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Here is a Polish joke which is often told in my family. Remember hearing it almost 50 years ago.  I am German but I am in a blended family and my mother's first husband was Polish ("Pokojski") so I grew up with a lot of Polish traditions.

 

A Polish man finds a genie bottle and rubs it and out pops a genie.

"For freeing me you get three wishes." states the genie.

Polish man states "I want the mongols to attack Poland".

"As you wish" states the genie and the mongols get on their horses, cross Asia and attack Poland before returning home.

Genie states "That was interesting ... give me your second wish."

Polish man states "I want the mongols to attack Poland".

A bit confused the genie states "As you wish." and the mongols get on their horses, cross Asia and attack Poland before returning home.

Genie states "Your wish was granted.  What do you want now? Gold? A palace? I promise no tricks."

Polish man states "I want the mongols to attack Poland".

Perplexed Genie states "As you wish." and the mongols get on their horses, cross Asia and attack Poland before returning home.

Genie states "Your wish was granted.  Grant me some clarity. Please explain to me why you had mongols attack Poland three times and I will give you another wish."

Polish man states "I had only three wishes and this way I got the mongols to tramp thru Russia 6 times pillaging each way."

Genie states "That sort of makes sense. As if I do not know what is your final extra wish?"

Polish man states "I want the mongols to attack Poland".

 

Lesson: Stupid people think Polish are stupid.

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Must've been envy by the Germans and Russians. Poles have the man who said the sun was the center of the solar system (Copernicus) and the first non-Italian Pope in over 400 years (JP II).

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14 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

I just read the whole thing.  Heavy.  Sorry to bring a funny thread down!

 

I never really took much offense to them, because only an uneducated idiot would use them. If it wasn’t for poles, the west would be speaking Turkish.

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2 minutes ago, bbb said:

I thought it was because somehow a lot of Polish people who were born in America had Polish accents.  That made no sense and made them sound stupid. 

 

Like one, two, tree.

 

??

 

Both my parents are Polish, my father's mother right off the boat as a child in the 1920's.  Parent's learned Polish in school.  They were married in 1962 and wedding announcement was in the Polish newspaper (Cheektowaga).

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4 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

 

Like one, two, tree.

 

 

 

Exactly.

My grandmother came from Mexico when she was 17.  Her parents were from Spain.  She spoke with a heavy accent and we laughed with her about it all her life.

 

My grandfather was from Spain.  He died when I was two months old, so I never knew him.  There were funny stories about him screwing up English his barber customers, though.

 

My mother spoke Spanish and no English until she went to kindergarten.  She never spoke with an accent............But, this somehow was how Poles would still speak with Polish accents who were never in the country of Poland! 

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30 minutes ago, bbb said:

 

Exactly.

My grandmother came from Mexico when she was 17.  Her parents were from Spain.  She spoke with a heavy accent and we laughed with her about it all her life.

 

My grandfather was from Spain.  He died when I was two months old, so I never knew him.  There were funny stories about him screwing up English his barber customers, though.

 

My mother spoke Spanish and no English until she went to kindergarten.  She never spoke with an accent............But, this somehow was how Poles would still speak with Polish accents who were never in the country of Poland! 

Yep... My father still has the hard "th."  He  was born in Cheektowaga.  Same here with the stereotype Chicago accent. Like: "Da Bears."  It's that real short, then terse grouping, hard syllables... If I am explaining it well enough! 

 

There is a bridge operator here.  When you here him on the marine radio, you just want to crack up... He could be in an SNL skit:

 

Words typed simply can't do it justice!

 

Where the hell did that Polish American accent come from and across such a large area!

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11 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Yep... My father still has the hard "th."  He  was born in Cheektowaga.  Same here with the stereotype Chicago accent. Like: "Da Bears."  It's that real short, then terse grouping, hard syllables... If I am explaining it well enough! 

 

There is a bridge operator here.  When you here him on the marine radio, you just want to crack up... He could be in an SNL skit:

 

Words typed simply can't do it justice!

 

Where the hell did that Polish American accent come from and across such a large area!

 

I don't get it.  I'm half Irish, but I don't speak with a brogue.

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11 minutes ago, bbb said:

 

I don't get it.  I'm half Irish, but I don't speak with a brogue.

Exactly!

 

I wonder if anybody ever delved into this.  :lol: Maybe some crazy federally funded study? :lol:

 

Maybe it is the generations and years passing.  Does it exist for other immigrants now? I guess other Eastern European are for some reason the most pronounced and extreme.  That's not saying Scandinavian isn't either... Ever hear how they speak English up in the UP of Michigan, or through Minnesota, the Dakotas?  Samev w with Wisconin.  Not political, but Sarah Palin is another classic example of that accent/hybrid (Scandinavian sounding).

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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True story.  My father's younger brother came over one time to show my dad his new car.  My uncle showed where he put the mud flaps on.  They were backwards! On the front of the wheel wells!:lol:

 

My father is like:

 

"JESUS CHRIST!  This is why us Pollacks get a bad name!"

 

Also.  My father never believed in that oil additive stuff like STP.  He called it:

 

"Stop Teasing Pollacks"

 

:o:lol:

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6 hours ago, bbb said:

 

Exactly.

My grandmother came from Mexico when she was 17.  Her parents were from Spain.  She spoke with a heavy accent and we laughed with her about it all her life.

 

My grandfather was from Spain.  He died when I was two months old, so I never knew him.  There were funny stories about him screwing up English his barber customers, though.

 

My mother spoke Spanish and no English until she went to kindergarten.  She never spoke with an accent............But, this somehow was how Poles would still speak with Polish accents who were never in the country of Poland! 

 

False. My grandfather spent most of his early life in Poland and had a thiiiiick accent, but my father had none.

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