Americans who call themselves Polish - how do you feel about that?

Bye, I have to go and answer the phone with my American accent.

I read this thread and I am ashamed of my Polish roots. I had no Idea Poles were such snobs. I thought Poland and America were close allies. Am I wrong here. Are all of you saying that because I am second generation Americans I have no right to my family heritage. I feel drawn to my heritage the older I get. I want to be married to a nice Polish girl. This thread makes me think of another Country, not that long ago, that felt that a Pure Blood is the way to be a superior race. If I know my history didn't that country use the poles to suplement there race. Maybe a little Nazi propaganda still lives in Poland. I really wanted to find a way to visit the country of my grandparents. Maybe I should rethink that if this is typical of the way most Pure Blood Poles think.

I think its a differnce between people who are proud and actually practice the polish lifestyle rather then people that just say it to say it.


I also think its shame full when sluts or man ****** say F me because I'm polish.........I dont think people should bring neg aspects to our hertiage meanings

And what gives you the right to judge? Being polish and proud is a good thing......some people have no choice where they were brought in or where they were forced to live.......

Do any other Americans really think they are the only people in the world that dont have an accent?

I am genuinely interested in people's responses to this.

Of course we have an accent to everyone who's not American.

I'm not trying to awkward here but I would still disagree.

Sometime from Texas has a noticably different accent to someone from New York or California, all are still American of course.

No different to the difference in the Irish accent between Cork/Dublin/Belfast, or the Polish accent between Warsaw/Krakow.

That doesn't take dialect into consideration of course.

To a European, we phonetically pronounce most words similarly whether it be a Southern accent or Northern. Some just have more of a twang :), but overall it's a different accent than British English and easily noticed as American.

The reason I was posing the question was because of Beckski's earlier responses on the subject. I wasnt sure if it was a a generally held belief in America that because someone has the same accent as you they therefore dont have an accent.

Understandable on a very basic level. Funny nonetheless.

I would hope people don't think this way :)

Sorry, but I've always thought that way! I never thought of myself as having an accent, but thought of others from other areas of the country or different parts of the world as having one. Is it perhaps that everyone thinks their local lingo is "normal?"

Sure, most people do, but normal for the country that you live in :) To say that we don't have an accent though?

As for accent, I think we're forgetting something.....

all of the American States have a different sound to the way they sound the words their spoken language of "english".

each country in Europe has it's own language, but Europe does not speake one same language as we do. When people from Europe come here, we notice an accent, too! Not only is it European, but also Polish, Swedish, Italian, Irish, etc....

I visited the Greenpoint/Williamsburg area of Brooklyn NY a few weeks ago...this is a
rather sizable Polish-American area of Brooklyn...it also has a lot of new bars, clubs &
art galleries that have opened up in the past 5 years or so...there were many young
Polish women there, I guess students or maybe new immigrants, and they were speaking Polish, and the accents sounded beautiful...and they were very pretty, too.

Hmmm...this issue is a coin: two sides I mean:

a) US draws its strength from its European heritage, so there is nothing wrong with being Polish-American, Irish-American etc...
b) "there are no hyphenated Americans" as T. Roosevelt & John Wayne put it. There can be loyalty to only one country when in US, and that is the US

This is the thing nobody thinks they have an accent but in reality we all do, its only really noticeable when your talking to people with a different accent. ;-)

They're only identifying their heritage. Your question says more about your ignorance of their culture than anything else.

You obviously couldn't be bothered to read the whole thread so I couldn't really be bothered to reply/explain it to you.

Golly, Wally! That was clever. I know I'll be sorry to have missed your enlightening screed.

:[


Prove it...

The U.S. is an immigrant country, not a nation. A nation is made up of one ethnicity, language, and religion, as it should be. Many Europeans don't want "Americanization" in their countries and want to protect their national identity. They have a right to do so and if I was born and raised in Poland I would be the same way. I cringe when I see McDonald's signs dot the Polish skyline, or the skyline of any European city, and I'm completely American. This is why capitalism has beem staunchly rejected by a significant minority of Europeans. I understand Europeans' dislike for America, but I do get rather pissed when they target the American people, rather than the "idea of America." If I heard a British person make fun of our healthcare system, I'd have to give'em a big ol' heartfelt "**** You." But if they make fun of us for being fat, I don't care because I'm not fat and I realize the downside of capitalism.

hahaha, you have issues.

I am a third generation American, born to parents with only Polish blood, but at heart I consider myself a Pole. All my life I was taught to be proud of my heritage, especially by my babcia who always made delicious Polish food and constantly sung Polish songs to me and my sisters. Every year since I was 10 years old, my family has taken a two week trip to Poland which has definitely made me feel much closer to roots. I see no problem in calling myself a Pole despite the fact that I was not born in Poland, a county that I love with a culture that I open-heartedly embrace.

*Renata

I would like to address the OP on this...

First off, you must understand what it is to be an "American". Secondly.. you must not confuse "Nationality" and "Ethnicity"

The only "True" Americans are that of the American-Indian, they were here the longest, everyone else is just an immigrant.

Yes I was born in America, I am an American... America is my nation. However.. My ethnic background is that of Irish and Scottish and a little Polish.

As an american, I have no cultural Identity... I am extremely envious of people from other countries who have this culture.. American culture is comprised of smaller pieces of various other cultures, because the Majority of our citizens came from other countries.

So, If you are born of 2 100% polish people in America, your nationality is American... but your ethnicity cannot be changed... you are Polish... its that simple...

I say: just think about the difference between nationality and ethnicity when using these words to describe your thoughts.

Jesus Northwood !!! - there is no hope for you !

the reason i claim to be polish (and i am)(althogh not 100 %, my name is swedish.) (but that doesn't mean i can't claim that im polish.) is because i am very proud to be polish. i cant help if my pro babci wanted to marry her love.

To Casimir: No, America is a nation made up of many tribes...the problem in America is
when one of the tribes tries a power-grab & steps on the tribes that have seniority...this
happened to an extent with the original European settlers vis-a-vis the Native Americans, but that story has many dimensions...the country was also wide-open at that
time and there was room for different tribes to expand...the problem now is that we are
being flooded with illegal immigrants, and we are a nation with laws that are designed to
regulate this, but they are not enforced...all the European tribes generally lived in peace
with one another, although there was always a pecking order: WASP's were on top for
a long time; but the last 100 years Jews have made the power-grab...also, the economy
although it seems very prosperous, is a house of cards and this makes the immigration
problem worse...every 'nation' is actually a merger of smaller tribes, it's just that the
tribes have to unite for the greater nation...most ethnics were proud to be Americans first while retaining some of their tribal culture.

i always say i'm a Polish American...if not just American.

I am of Polish ancestry and after learning about my ancestors, I am very proud to say that I am a Polish American. :)

both my parents are off the boat and are pure bred polacks. i was born in the states.
the current crop of fellow polacks that come off the boat dont consider me to be a pure bred polack which i find funny.
while the country i was born in is america, my upbringing was 100% polish.
i guess ill just have to wear sandals with white socks and reek of sausage