What is the reason for POLISH jokes ?

I'm watching a Reginald D. Hunter stand-up video at the moment. He's an American who makes satirical jokes on race and class differences between the UK and US.

He made the joke that when he went back to America a friend asked him,

'Are they racist over there[in UK]',

He replied,

'Yeah,some.'

His friend then asked

'Do they have Mexicans over there?'

He replied,

'Yeah, but they call them Polish'

Got a big laugh.

^That might have been the same guy that made a joke about German prostitutes. Basically, it was about how an American man came to Germany to try out a German prostitute. He couldn't find one though because there were no German prostitutes in Germany. All of them were Polish/East European.

I almost fell off my chair the first time I heard that one.

So there are proportionally about as many Polish people in England as there are Mexicans in America? Is the Polish population that big in the UK?

By the way, I believe this guy Reginald Hunter was referring to Ireland and not the UK. So you are somewhat inaccurate.

But if I'm not mistaken, there is a sizeable Polish population in Ireland. Maybe you in your infinite wisdom can confirm that to me.

The joke wasn't centered on their number, though relevant, more their standing - low skilled economic migrants trying their luck. I live in Ealing with the highest concentration of Poles in the UK, though if I see a Pole on my street they're more likely to be here to service someone's house then coming home.

Nope, I just double checked the DVD, it was Britain. So you are somewhat inventive. Possibly, it translates just as well to an Irish audience. I'm not sure of the stereotype the Irish have of Poles.

So according to you, the English people think Poles in England are like the Mexicans in America?

So the English think Mexicans are low class and are not capable of rising above low level jobs?

But speaking about the Irish, why have the English made inferior intelligence jokes about the Irish for many years?

I see the stereotype of Americans not understanding irony is true in this particular. Your logic is spurious. It is not about where the capability can take them. You have shown your own racist view on Mexicans with your statement. It's about the situation now.

The joke was made by an American, yet the British audience 'got it'. How British hear Americans talk of Mexicans is not dissimilar to how Polish here are spoken of. There is a thread on PF about Alabama and its immigration issues. Started by a Polish immigrant to American, ironically Many of the posts you can swap out the word Mexican for Polish and would not have a problem seeing that as a Conversation happening in England.

Below are a few British jokes I have heard that I consider satirical with the first one having a dash of irony.

"
I went down to the local corner-shop earlier.

"Get back to your own country," I shouted. 'Coming here, expecting special treatment.'

'Calm down sir,' he replied.

'I won't,' I plied. 'My mate Mohammed lost his job because of you... Polish prick.'
"

Simple word-play with racism and regarding the flow of Poles to the UK:
"
I was with the missus in Tesco and saw polish remover.
Couldn't help thinking, "Finally, a solution for those bastards next door."
"

There is a tv ad for cleaning products named Mr Muscle, with the tag 'Loves the jobs you hate'.
Simple satire:
"
Mr Muscle... loves the jobs you hate...

He's Polish then.
"

There are coarser ones on par with what used to be called Irish jokes, or 'Insert nation here' jokes where the nationality of the 'victim' had no relevance. You may have already heard them.

As for Irish jokes, from what I remember of the school playground they were the equivalent of American Polish jokes, where customs had noting to add except to enforce the idea that Irish were thick when they were the fastest rising immigrant group to England. They still are the largest immigrant population but are less noticeable due to accent, colour etc. I went to Catholic schools I'd guess 80-90% Irish.Though British by birth Poles and Asians were overrepresented in the top sets with Jamaicans invariably in the bottom sets. Yet I have never heard Jamaican jokes about their intelligence as a nation. Possibly jokes aren't allowed to be too close to reality...unless it's satire.

You're obsessed with stereotypes like some kind of child.


My God what a hypocrite you are. YOU are accusing ME of a racist view on Mexicans when YOU were the one who brought up a joke about racism concerning Mexicans and took delight in it?????? Are you out of your mind? Talk about spurious logic.

Go back to your post # 463 which contains your joke which is specifically about RACISM in a country and then compares racism against Mexicans and Polish people which you take delight in.

YOU then say in your post #466 the joke is centered on the British people seeing Polish people having a low standing in Britiain and NOT because of the large number of Poles coming into Britain which is parallel to the large number of Mexicans coming into the US.

Racism and prejudice against a given group of people is generally based on the prejudiced notion that those people are in the "lower" part of society.

So you as a Brit are proud of the fact that the British have a racist view towards Polish people?

WOW!

Lovely!! LOL

Well at least I get to see your true mentality.


So what did the British get?

According to that joke, it seems to me the British got the fact that in the UK, there unfortunately is racism in the UK against Polish people the way there is racism against Mexican people in America.

But that's not what YOU get out of the joke. Your take away from the joke is that British people have the viewpoint that Poles are at the lower end of British society and that you take great delight in that. No??


So that's a good thing??

So according to you, when the British hear how Americans (not all) talk of Mexicans, which is in a negative way.......the British are not more sophisticated then those unsophisticated Americans who talk negatively about Mexicans? So this is why the British talk negatively about Poles?

You really aren't doing the nation of Britain a service by saying these things about Britain LOL


Yes I see you like dabbling in racism.

What about those famous "Paki jokes" you Brits have?? You Brits seem to like to knock just about everyone LOL

I see you take pleasure in any kind of joke or remark that degrades people.

I've talked to Irish people who came from England and they say the English are into making negative jokes about other people. He said as an Irishman he got a lot of abuse from the English. There are also videos on youtube of English people making joke slurs of various ethnic and racial groups.

You seem to take enjoyment at ethnic slurs about other people, so you probably like those Brits on youtube making ethnic slurs.


I thought you told me before the British didn't make jokes about the flow of Polish people coming into Britain?


Well there are negative jokes about just about every group of people having inferior intelligence. In America its been about the Polish, Italians, Irish, Mexicans and Blacks.

Its generally pushed by the MEDIA of that nation.

I didn't notice jokes about Irish people having inferior intelligence until Irish people told me about the English people mocking them personally and through their media in England.

In the US, for decades in the 1800's and 1900's there were many jokes about Irish having inferior intelligence as in "Irish and dogs need not apply" and "Irish are like white monkeys". Guess who pushed those bigoted jokes? You guessed it. LOL The English in America who controlled the media at the time.

These anti-Irish jokes started to subside when more Irish got into the media and other fair minded Americans in the media started to highlight these anti-Irish jokes as bigotry. Its similar to how more of the diverse/expanding American media today (like newspapers) is highlighting how old Hollywood/TV media 1960's-1970's inferior intelligence jokes about Polish people is bigotry.

Silly simile. Jokes on nationality are based on sterotypes. Is that beyond your ken?


Hypocrite? You brought up the claim that Mexicans are not capable of rising above. No where was that inferrable by the comedian or me. Voices in your head. If you don't know what the word hypocrite means, it is better to stay silent and be thought a fool instead speaking up and proving it, as one of your formwe presidents quipped.


Yep. I find satire delightful, hilarious in fact especially in light of what the PolAms write on PF.


Yep.


You do not appear to understand the meaning of racism. The joke is racialist. Your use of the English language is dumbed-down perhaps from too much media watching. Over 90% of Polish are in low-skilled employment. Far from high society. There is a joke about what is the closest a Pole has been to high society. I'll spare you the punchline.


The joke. That's why people go to see comedians. Duh!


Britain is not a nation.


Yes so you shouldn't take it so personally dear boy. The cornershop joke is a "paki joke".But you are too wrapped up in yourself to notice. If you are going to quote read it first, save looking dumb.


You're blind. Not any kind. I am not going to repeat the points on satirical comedy if you are too ignorant to understand what that means after I furnished you with examples. You just gonna have to live with your dulled comprehension. I won't explain satire again.


Post them, and I'll let you know.


I said it wasn't the central theme of that joke. Loads of jokes about the flow there is a million a year turnover! I suppose the point I made on Irish jokes starting with high immigration was too subtle for you.


Proof indeed that you do not know the difference between a joke and racist commentary. Were the media sending out these 'jokes' by morse code? After that the main media newspapers were controlled by William R Hearst - a Scottish American who publicly voice his dislike of the British. Pulitzer was the main rival, he wasn't English either far closer to Poland than England. Your knowledge, especially given your name here, makes me laugh all the harder and not just because the irony of it is lost on you - your ignorance of your specialist subject makes you a fool.


Newspapers arn't expanding. There contracting. None of the jokes were regarding intelligence. This is your own obsession.
I don't know if all the empty space was a metaphor for you state of mind, it did make it cumbersome to quote. Try wasting less space next time.

@Irlandczyk. Shock Horror! Polish people, it seems, have a sense of humour too!

You have heard of negative and hateful stereotypes, have you not?
So you think negative stereotypes of Blacks, Jews, Russians, etc are OK?
You have heard of bigoted jokes and racist jokes, haven't you? Or is that beyond your ken?

What about all those Irish jokes that Douglas Murray of the Telegraph newspaper had on his blog after he asked people in Britain if they knew of any Irishman jokes? Were they funny? Is the stereotype that Irish people have inferior intelligence OK with you?


No I was explaining why there is racism against Mexicans in the US in response to your afformentioned joke comparing Mexicans and Polish people. You brought up this joke in furthering your anti-Polish feelings that Polish people are an inferior part of your British society.

So nowhere is it inferable that the comedian who made that joke recognizes that there is racism and negative feelings toward Mexicans in America??? REALLY??? Are you that thick?

So why did the comedian start off a joke about racism (by using the word "RACIST") that first off contained a reference to Mexicans?? Its a joke about racism and prejudice against groups of people in various countries. Are you too thick to understand that??

If I'm wrong, then you tell me Sherlock. What was the punchline and why were the people laughing?

Here is your comment and joke again:



So tell me, what groups of people have gone to another country in large numbers and started out in the middle class or upper class and did not work their way up from the bottom over the generations??



Don't avoid my question. If they got the joke as you say, what did they get? What was the punchline of that joke comparing Mexicans and Polish people??


No the newspapers had writers who made Irish jokes about the Irish people as in "Irish and Dogs need not apply" and talk of "Irish white monkeys". They also had joke cartoons of Irish people.

They pretty much more or less did it the same way a guy who works for the British newspaper Telegraph, Douglas Murray did when he made some Irish jokes not long ago. The difference here in comparison to old American newspapers that made Irish joke comments about the Irish, is the new blog function of newspapers. This guy made some Irish jokes and then asked his readers if they knew of any good Irish jokes and many of them obliged writing a whole bunch of them on the Telegraph blog.

Did you find those Irish jokes funny?


Lately in the US there have been jokes about Russian stupidity. Do you think those are funny?
Are jokes about stupid Russians funny to you?


So you deny that there were any Irish joke slurs or Irish joke cartoons of Irish in old American newspapers??


Hardcopy newspaper circulations are contracting, but their blog presence on the internet is growing substantially. New news services on the internet have also been expanding. That's what I also meant, but I guess that went over your head.

Why do I get the feeling that MediaWatch has never left America and certainly doesn't understand the European culture of us all mocking one another freely?

So tell me - in what other European country have a million new people arrived in a five year period? The people who were already there are entitled to express their feelings about this through humour.

I get the feeling that Mediawatch obsesses about ALL Polish jokes. It's a good thing 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' wasn't called 'My Big Fat Polish Wedding' - he'd probably be holding a placard outside the cinema.


Doug Murray (who was by the way a very longstanding acquaintance of my family) is from Ireland. The Falls Road to be specific, if that means anything to you. He was also blind and was a font of jokes about that too.

You have clearly missed the point of his article, looking for imagined offense without understanding one whit about the context.


Indeed.

I also think that he just doesn't understand the European humour - we all mock each other freely, no-one takes offence and everyone is happy. In fact, it's often said that Americans simply don't get European irony - and here is a perfect example.

Mocking Poles is meaningless - they mock us, we mock them and we get on with being Europeans. Meanwhile, Americans take offence on our behalf and succeed in pissing everyone off in the process.

You really have the most laughable reasoning skills. How does it follow that negative stereotypes are OK. Oh that's right you don't get it so, oh mighty arbiter of good taste, it is negative. I've already said people here are not so dumb that they can't separate jokes from reality.

Racial profiling is abhorrent to me. Individual jokes I take on merit. For example:
"
A survey asked, Are there too many Poles in the UK?
40% said 'yes'
60% said 'Nie'
"
This is funny to me and I'd bet by Polish in the UK. I would gladly bet money that it is repeated by Poles here in the UK also. If you can't see the humour in the joke. It is playing on something ludicrous and patently not true - you get it straight away or not at all.. Exchanging jokes is close to mandatory amongst men in conversation. The joke that has been made about the Polish Firing Squad for example is funny to me. The nationality isn't important and is an 'insert nation here' joke. That one is actually funniest when you replace Polish with UN as it metaphorically parallels what the UN are like. Jewish rabbi jokes - funny. I havn't read D Adams but I'm sure I'd laugh and some of the posts, most of them. I know plenty of Irish but am able to separate fictional jokes from the reality thery're all successful.

In the UK anyone will admit 2nd generation do better, much better. Children of cleaners can become Doctors. I know first hand of a doctor that came to work at a hospital I worked in who 'boasted' of this. The black ghettos of America - still there and they seem to be getting worse. Still at least you don't make jokes about them, never mind the reality.

At the start of Obama's presidency he was depicted as a dead monkey in American papers wasn't he. Were you up in arms? Did the Polish community write to their senators? Hypocrites. In England only the crudest would make that joke and privately at that amongst racists it would never become currency. It would certainly never reach print.


I havn't avoided it. I thought it is so obvious and so did everyone in the audience what was to be gotten. Mexicans and Poles are known for being economic migrants, low paid low skilled jobs. How many times...This is like talking to RainMan. I'm pitying you now.


There are exceptions, Many from West europe go to Spain or Austrailia to live the life of Reilly. Immigrants from Nigeria come here now with Master's degree in hand. The Brits in Poland seem to be doing well. Some also muck-in with charity work I hear on this site.


I've already said these are not jokes. They are racist commentaries.Not social/observational ones And if acceptable then the readers and the nation are racist. Still havn't shown that these were created by the English.

Do you find looking backwards into the past more important than the present? Is it constructive, or merely whinging.


Russian pop. here is small, I havn't heard them. I've said before show me some. Don't forget the youtube ones of the English that you have seen. I'm interested.


I deny your foolish lie about an English conspiracy. Our mockery is equal opportunity - The Paddys, the Jocks, the Frogs...Get over yourself.


You are wrong. News is now sourced from many locations across the net.Newspaper corps are losing sway. Only the simplest and elderly. still uses one newsfeed like in the days gone by that you keep obsessing over. Couldn't infer that from what you wrote.

That's ******* awesome dude, you nailed it the right link considering the dialogue.

There's nothing wrong with ethnic humour, and it can be quite amusing. It is often told by members of the group it is satirisng. Irate Scotsman complains to local newspaper: 'If you don't stop printing those Scotsman jokes, I'm going to stop borrowing your paper from my English neighbour.'

The problem is when one group is victimised and others are out of bounds. As a multi-ethnic conglomerate, America has long been known for jokes poking fun at different groups, but the Polack joke craze of the 1970s and later went overboard. You coudl joke about Poles and cut things Polish to pieces, but not about blacks or Jews. The taboo on blacks is understandable -- their acnestors were brought over against their will as slaves and for decades their American-born descednants were kept down and underprivleged. But the Jews? America's financial, professional , academic and cultural elite. What possible reason could there be for giving them preferential treatment and not joking about them in polite society?

Merged: The Polack joke from an historcial perspective

michiganquarterlyreview.com/2013/08/whats-in-a-joke

Thsi article in the Michigan Quarterly Review attempts to shed some light on the anti-Polish joke from an historcial perspective.What's your take on this?

It's incredibly poorly written and makes little to no attempt to actually explain where they might have originated. It's just your average "oh, I'm living in Warsaw, and I'm SO in tune with the country that I live in to the point where I get OFFENDED on behalf of them!" essay written by an English graduate, nothing else.

Anti-Polish jokes are more an American thing. Are there (anti-)Polish jokes in the UK? If there are, they must be very recent.
Here are two interesting links:

polamjournal.com/Library/The_Origin_of_the_Polish_Joke/the_origin_of_the_polish_joke.html

The Origin of the 'Polish Joke'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_joke

There is actually another thread about this on PF (you were actually the last one to post, Polo): https://polishforums.com/life/reason-jokes-6419/2/

The "reason" and Origin of "Polish jokes" is Nazi German propaganda which was then imported into America via the anti-Polish element of Hollywood and the TV networks like NBC-TV. These were originally Nazi German propaganda subhuman intelligence jokes about Polish people, that Hollywood and NBC-TV RENAMED as "Polish jokes" to the American public. The anti-Polish Bigots in Hollywood and American TV networks like NBC-TV (and other American TV networks) made SURE not to tell the American public the Nazi origin of these subhuman intelligence jokes about Polish people.....otherwise they would have rejected them.

polishamericanreview.com/par_002.htm

The irony of it was that most of the anti-Polish garbage was churned out by American Jews such as Carol Burnett and Rowan & Martin. The anti-Polish joke craze reached its apex in the late 1960s and throughout the 70s possibly as a backlash to March 1968. Traditonal Jewish hatred of Poles was re-ignited by the the Polish commies' anti-Semitic purge.

Back in 2007 one PF-er commneted:

there used to be/still is a 'culture' of Irish jokes in the UK, mostly focusing on the 'stupidity' of the Irish and I wonder if the Polish joke thing in the US has some simillar basis, that is, perhaps because many incomers from Ireland were single labourers/working men who were not considered 'brainy'.

also, and I digress, there is no single direct way of saying 'yes' or 'no' in Brythonic languages which gave the English further 'reason' to think people from Celtic nations were shifty'stupid, as that way of speaking was transliterated into English.

anyone who think it is amusing to tell jokes focusing on the stupidity of one nation is a bit lacking themselvess tbh

GrandeSande

Actually, many Jews are Poles

Polish people lacking in education is still fairly common. Ex: some polish person in my building posted a letter on the bulletin board that was totally incoherent. Even the polish version didn't make sense as they were referring to an apartment 350 which doesn't exist. It was written 350 in both languages. So it's not just a typo. Another thing was a complaint that "it's warm outside so why did apartment 350 turn off the heating?" Not making much sense right? It's just a candidate for the stereotypical polish joke. Sad really.

A good Polish joke, is that Poland beat Germany, U.K, France, Australia, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Israel, and the U.S.A in overall PISA score performance.

It started before the nazi involvement as the higher classes tend to joke about those beneath them. Furthermore, the false beliefs made it easier to "justify" cruel treatment and persecution. It followed them however, due to being a minority in America. It doesn't help that the media poked fun at Poles, this reintroduced the stereotypical bias they endured and fled from previously.

I didn't read through much of this thread, but have this to add:

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, I heard Polish jokes. It bothered me, but I figured, 'whatever.' Over time, I heard fewer and fewer.

Now in 2014 I have kids of my own, and they don't even know jokes like that existed.

Maybe times have changed, maybe it's the company we keep.

Germans regarded Poles as being too lazy and lacking motivation to be as materially advanced as Germany so to them Poles were little more than cattle (as once a German professor remarked to me over coffee).

My grandma was from Poland and she told me Polish jokes were jokes made by the Polish people about the Russians.

These jokes tend to be universal. One nationality always tells them about a neighbour or friend and they indicate more about the human sense of humour than any of the groups involved.

In America, it is not only about Poles. They make fun of everybody who is not like them. Chinese, Japanese, French, English, Poles, Indians. The limit is they make fun of their own kind too. A person from one state in USA makes fun of a person from another state. A New Yorker called an Iowan "Iowa's Pig Farmer". This Iowan had a good IT position and was good at his job and everything else. Sarcasm towards those who are not like them is their daily life. What does that tell you about americans !! Most of the rest of the world got over racism and racial bigottery. Americans are still living in 1800's. But surely, they hate to be pointed at for that. Let them be racist, but don't say that they are! How dare you !!

This site laughs at everyone.

jokes4us.com/ethnicjokes/index.html