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Well, in the USA, back in the 1970's, there were alot of jokes about Polish people. Among them was the stereotype about Polish people being "dumb".
I believe the Polish jokes originated from much further back though. Moreso when there was heavy heavy Polish immigration to Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc.
Their numbers were extremely high at their time, and era, and I'd imagine most did not know English at the time. Probably making them the butt of many Midwestern jokes at the time.
Despite that, it also seems to me, that everyone I've met from Poland, and people I've known who've taught English in Poland, talk about this deep intellectualism deeply ingrained within the culture.
Living in Germany I only hear jokes about Polish people stealing. My girlfriend is Polish and she can laugh at them.
(aus was für Stahl wird Autos in Polen gebaut? Diebstahl)
I have been there a few times, visited Breslau but mostly stayed in a rural area. I cannot say much about Intellectualism there, her family is all farmers, the younger generation is all going to study and seem quite well informed and intelligent. The older, say over 30 are fairly simple farming folk, maybe no higher education, and not "Intellectual" but intelligent, warm, open and hardworking people. Lots of respect for them.
I believe the Polish jokes originated from much further back though. Moreso when there was heavy heavy Polish immigration to Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc.
Their numbers were extremely high at their time, and era, and I'd imagine most did not know English at the time. Probably making them the butt of many Midwestern jokes at the time.
Despite that, it also seems to me, that everyone I've met from Poland, and people I've known who've taught English in Poland, talk about this deep intellectualism deeply ingrained within the culture.
I've never heard of the intellectualism ingrained in the culture from other Polish people. Usually, I hear of the Catholic faith being ingrained.
On the other hand, one of the first pioneers in astronomy was a Polish man named Copernicus.
Poles who live in Norway are very smart, have good knowledge of history, are good in maths, and.. can build solid houses....
Poland is ranked within the top three European nations along with Germans and Dutch in terms of their IQ. Average Polish IQ is 106. Although Norway was not tested, I believe we are high as well:]
What I think is that Poles always lived under extremely hard political conditions being crunched between Germany and Soviet Union (or Russia), two main world powers. They had to think hard to survive and hold the country, keep the cultural wealth etc... This is what made their brain cells circulate...
I know someone who has a PhD in Computer Science and does lousy on IQ tests. Wouldn't read too much into this...
Quote:
Originally Posted by norway4life
...which were brought by Germans who came first and poised the well so.. Poles and Germans didn't get along.
huh? No. There has been very little immigration from Germany since the late 40's. Or European immigration in general.
I know someone who has a PhD in Computer Science and does lousy on IQ tests. Wouldn't read too much into this...
huh? No. There has been very little immigration from Germany since the late 40's. Or European immigration in general.
The Germans came in the 18th and 19th centuries. Much of the country was German speaking and there's even distinct German dialects in formerly German areas of the country, like the West Texas dialect and of course the Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) language of the remaining orthodox Amish.
The Germans came in the 18th and 19th centuries. Much of the country was German speaking and there's even distinct German dialects in formerly German areas of the country, like the West Texas dialect and of course the Pennsylvania Dutch (Deutsch) language of the remaining orthodox Amish.
No, it wasn't. They might have been the largest group, but the largest group among many other groups.
The Armish.. that's a tiny population. In 1920, there were 5,000 of them.
Claiming that Polish jokes came to America because of the Germans is far fetched. I don't even know of any Polish jokes. They didn't like the Irish back then, either. So when they came, jokes about the Irish came with them. Why? Because they didn't like them. The same happened to many other new immigrants.
British didn't like Irish.
Germans didn't like Poles.
Generally Catholics were not liked, except for German Catholics.
Maybe Germans didn't come first, but were the most numerous among Europeans.
First Poles came in 1608 to the Virginia Colony, along with Germans. Poles organized the first recorded strike in New World, demanding right to vote, which was extended to them (previously only British could vote). Also Poles first established first bilingual schools. Germans were second in this matter.
Claiming that Polish jokes came to America because of the Germans is far fetched. I don't even know of any Polish jokes.
That's actually a true statement.
The history of Pollack jokes begins with Hitler and Germany basically dehumanizing Poles, to make it acceptable to invade and take over. Essentially, Nazi propoganda.
If you haven't heard of Pollack jokes, you're probably not from a part of the U.S. that has had heavy Polish and German immigration. The Midwest is incredibly high immigrants of both nationalities, and fairly commonplace when I grew up.
I never knew why or where they come from, when I was a kid, but they were everywhere. Kind of like 'blond jokes'. How many Pollacks does it take to screw in a lightbulb, etc.
Just do any google search for 'pollack jokes' and you can be busy for months, if not years, trying to read them all. You can also search the origins, and pretty much all sources lead to nazi germany propoganda.
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