What does it mean to be Polish?

I think that to be 100% polish someone has to be at least brought up in Poland.If someone has polish roots ( parents grandparents...) he can say that he/she is polish but does this person understands our culture? mentality?political, ecomonical reality ....

I have colleauge who was born in Uk but her parents are Italian and even she was going to english school, brought un in UK she has Italian heritage food, language, customs....

she feels like someone between Italian and English.

I agree with the above-you do have to be brought up in the country to say u totally belong to it-i mean when i went to Ireland on holidays to see relatives etc i didnt really embrace my Irishness as i never experienced that much of it.Having said that i love England but dont see myself as totally english-i guess i am somewhere inbetween

I agree to some extent, I can only say, here When people immigrated, yes they
became American or stayed citizens of Poland (never getting naturalized).
they had children, back way before I was even thought of, there were sections
in the town where I lived, hungarian, Italian, Polish, Yes even Irish, all seperate
communities, no mixing that was bad thing to do. The Culture of everyone of these
immigrants was highly practiced. Still is today , I wouldnt say Govt should be
included in a culture, because I think/believe polish is about traditions, what
the people believed in, how they came together as a country.
Just because they immigrated dont stop them from being polish. or their children.

Now I can agree with This. Someone has a grandparent whos all polish, and
another who is all irish, another who is half indian, half german, and then another
who is english and french.

What culture would they be? NONE< there is no specific bloodline there.

for people who have Polish heritage, came to America and their children Married
Polish, 100% everyone is from Poland. then that is Polish. as for the culture
it should be up to the parents to carry traditions on. in my case, unfortunately
no one did. so by blood, yes, polish all the way, by customs (still learning) by
living there, well , the govt says I can still obtain a polish citizenship for those who
lost it between 1920-1989 when they immigrated, so that would be my grandparents
and I know my grandmother didnt get naturalized, both grandfathers did, and the
other grandma was naturalized once she married my grandfather (was the law)
till they changed it and made it so everyone had to get naturalized later on.

I think that even if you are only part Polish and have never lived in Poland you still have it in your blood ie. you are naturally curious about Poland and drawn to Polish stuff.

To really understand the political and economic system, however, you need to either live in Poland or be up-to-date on all current issues etc. perhaps through the media, your family, visits etc. It also helps to speak Polish. For me one of the best things about Poland is the language, I love the way it is so polite ie. "Pani" and "Pan" and the slang is brilliant.

Here are a few of my favourite slang words:

puszysta
laska
zakichany
gosc
splywaj
odteguj sie
nie podskakuj
stul pysk (this one is a bit rude)
wal (tj. mow)
prosto z mostu
ale aparat itp itd.

and the way they make everything sound so little and cute

ie. pieniazki
obiadek
serniczek
pyszczek
berecik
szkolka
mieszkanko
ciuszek
sklepik

itp

Patrycja,

I think that you are polish by blood but customs,culture .....to be honest they change all the time.

I have been living in UK for ( only 4.5 years) and things are changing in Poland all the time.
Even if I visit once , twice a year it is not enough as I don't live there.

I am thinking if I was to come back in 20 years...everything would be different.

NO, My Older Daughter, she tells everyone she has Polish Heritage, but
she is not all Polish like I am, Her father has English, French, German, some other
nationalities, but her fathers side, the history goes all the way back to the mayflower
when they arrived here.

Now, my younger child, she copys everything I do, she wants to learn the Polish, she
also isnt all Polish by blood, she has Polish, German, Arabic, <~spelled wrong, and
Irish, but her heart is into it, she asks all the time about Poland, who is our family in
Poland, which we still do ,and still correspond with them.

I try to spark their interest through my interest, it is only working on the younger one.

Ooops, I wanted to say, the older daughter says I dont care, but i think that goes
along with the age too, she is 14. most dont care at that age about anything but
boys!

Thank you I agree with you on customs changing, even here, the culture has
changed, each family celebrates the traditions differently , everything that my
grandparents did is lost, the only thing I do have is my Blood, <~thank god!

trying to learn it, read about it. feel closer to family. thats all. not so bad.

I think to truly understand any country and culture you need to live there for a long time, so a ‘blood line’ isn’t going to make you Polish in the sense of being somebody who has a deep understanding of Poland, but roots are important to all cultures who have experienced a Diaspora- and the ‘I’m more Polish [insert nationality of choice] than you are isn’t particularly helpful to either party.

Those that return to their cultural identity should be celebrated, not shunned as some ‘half-breed’ fumbling for purpose, it should be enough that they have recognised their roots and have returned, full of new ideas and ready to trade those in exchange for the wisdom of the generations long lost to them.

I'm occasionally asked the same about being Irish...and I am not quite sure at times...all I know is that, I am not the typical Irishman...in certain areas but in other I can identify wholly with the stereotype.

I have often said to people that being Irish was similar to being the "soul" of humanity.....so damaged, so vulnerable, so in touch with the inner pain/conflicts of being a human.

Never quite know when you are right...but curiously, always turning out to be right........living life over the max limit, but having regard for others.

Realising that every mom is your mom and vice versa......knowing that craic/laughter...freeing yourself from the constraints of your mind ( usually through alcohol), that feeling of wanton abandon....but yet having the weight of mankind on your shoulders.............being a victim....for so many endless centuries.........but in the end being the victor!

I suppose, some of this isn't much different to being Polish........but there ya go.....

PS God, I'll have to start taking the meds again...

I agree with this, like I said, I took interest in learning, that is a choice I made,
I try to encourage, but ones interest is not there, the others is, for how long
I dont know, my heart is in it, it does upset me though when someone calls you
a wannabe Pole<~that is rude, as you said "celebrate" that others want to be
a part of that culture.

They have choices, or they can not choose at all, but I will keep on doing what i am
doing to learn. something I want to do.

I live in Poland from the beginning and this word is "so plastic" and not really "true", but well you can say "odteguj się" as well as "zategować"

Im Polish, I was born in Poland and Im proud to be Polish...

and if u never have been to Poland, u will never understand..

I love it. Short, simple and straight to the point.

Poland lives in America too, plenty of Polish culture here.
We might not pay polish taxes, or have daily news on Poland issues.
but it is still a culture. a way of life. traditions. I pay taxes and hear the news
daily. our president sucks here in the states, and your presidents sucks in
poland. we have shady people who run congress so do you.
we have poor people, so does poland. we have rich, so does poland.

culture is not rich, poor, shady,or how bad it sucks.
it is what Polish stands for- the polish eagle-someone tell me what that symbol means!
like the recipes krysia posts, beliefs of people, traditions that they have, what
religion, background. I know living there helps. but the problems are no
different then any place else in the world, so if its based on that. then its not
a culture. I dont feel that way, and ya know what, ya aint gonna burst my
bubble, I know poland has problems.

right now my goal is to learn the language as hard as it will be.
I may not ever get to visit, my hopes are to visit.

I got a story (oh crap here she goes again).

my cousin sophie (zofia) went to poland with one of her friends with a group
and she went into a small shop, with all kinds of neat things, she spotted these
handmade curtains so she was undecided if she should by them
or not, she asked the price, and she told her, they were priced to high. so she told
the lady no, she didnt want them.

the lady rattles off in Polish, stupid americans dont want to spend their money
so cheap!

is that Polish culture? cause we get that here too only its everyone.

My cousin knew what she said, she didnt say anything back, she wanted to, but
she felt she would let the woman know nicely that she knew what she said by
saying, lets go, we can spend our cheap money elsewhere.

"eyeballs got big"! yes, polish lives in America.

My identity is that of a white european. Being both French and English (born in Scotland) and marrying a Pole. My race is my religion. 14 words.

What does it mean to be Polish?
Hmm.. It means that you don't have to feel guilty after drinking some vodka before 12 am!

But seriously there isn't just one definition of being Polish. After the end of WWII people that stayed in the borders of the new Poland were basically the "ethnic Poles", thus the perception of being Polish focused generally on the "blood" aspect. But it didn't always used to be like this.

In the times of the Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów (Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth) a Pole was a synonym for a noble man. After Poland and Lithuania joined the Union together the Lithuanian nobles interested to acquire the same rights as the polish noble class slowly started to “polonaise”(is there such a word in English? ) themselves, and in the end became in fact real Poles. The same situation happened with the rest of nobles from the incorporated new lands like today's Belarus, Ukraine, etc... They spoke polish, took polish customs, beliefs, etc and of course added something new from themselves to the whole picture. This people took and also contributed to the polish culture, so regardless of their roots they felt and in fact they were real Poles.

And what about the German settlers that eventually perfectly assimilated with Poles? I already wrote something about it somewhere in this forum, but I think it's worth repeating. If you would check the names of freedom fighters that fought with the Germans during the Wielkopolska Uprising yop would notice that there were many German sounding names.

Of course I agree that in order to understand the Poles of today you would have to have some sort of a contact with the country. But then again, who is more of a real Pole: a person that lives in Poland but actually knows more about cowboys and ninjas than about the history of their country or a person that lives abroad but still is genuinely interested in Poland and it's heritage?

Thanks Maciej, u do add value to this forum!

At the beginning I thought that being Polish means especially to speak polish, but what is more important to have POLISH CONSCIOUSNESS

"Polish Diaspora" had to be much more patriotic than native Poles, they do not need to interest in Polish culture, history and tradition, they speak Polish and live in Poland so this make them Polish - whether they want it or not, but Poles from diaspora are Polish because of their choice, I think that "blood" is not enough when you are living abroad you need to be interested in it to claim.

Feb 20, 07 [11:08] - Attached on merging:
What does it mean to be a Pole?

Culturally, societally, et al.

How do you feel it is seen abroad? how is it seen at home.

What expectations do you have of your society, realisations, dreams, etc.

Topic attached on merging:
For those who are Polish????

What does it mean to be Polish???

I am writing an assignment and trying to get some help… That’s all

Thanks