What is the reason for POLISH jokes ?

- An interesting theory, but any proof to show it's good?




- But, strangely enough, the 'jokes' are about Poles, and they ridicule anything Polish, including Polish descent.



- So-called Italian, Jewish, Irish, etc. 'jokes' in America aren't one thousandth as nasty as so-called Polish 'jokes.' Read one of Larry Wilde's collections of these slurs. He also published collections of Italian, Irish and Jewish 'jokes' - compare them with 'Polish' ones, and you'll see the difference. Nazi German stereotypes of the Jews are piece of cake compared to the Jewish 'comedian's' stereotypes of the Poles. It's hate propaganda of the most vicious kind.

- Daffy, the 'Irish jokes' aren't one thousandth as nasty as the 'Polish' ones. In the latter Polish people are compared to excrement, Polish children are compared to the s...t that cats bury in sand, etc.

come on puzzy, what country dont you hate?

I wouldn't be so sure - AFAIK the idea that Poles were stupid started in the late 19th and early 20th century, around the same time as the idea that the Irish were stupid, that Italians were stupid, that... well, you get the idea. However, as to their reading and writing skills, considering that these were mainly uneducated peasants (not just the Poles, mind you) this may have played a role.
I remember Polish jokes still being pretty popular in the early 1980s. When I left the States in the mid-90s, you hardly heard them any more - by that time traditionally "Polish" US cities were flooded with new "political" immigrants, who were generally highly educated intellectuals, and hardly fit the "stupid Polack" stereotype. Pope John Paul II and the Solidarity movement's successes didn't hurt, either.

Trust me, I know they are nasty, and like quite a few others in a similar situation to mine, I've been the target of most of them, and yes, they do hurt. Doesn't mean the person telling the joke has any CLUE about Poland or its culture (to be honest, neither did I, growing up-I just figured my name was a cruel joke to make my life...interesting. I was 24 before I knew what a Pierogi was, as my Grandfather who grew up in Krakow died when I was 7) more importantly usually the person saw something easy to make jokes about, and used that.
As for proof, I can offer nothing only anecdotal evidence-which is why it is a hunch. I've been a student, I've worked in a factory, I've been in many places where this can be seen....
Just curious, when did people tell the first ones? I did not realize this was a specifically American thing...there are lots of possibilities I guess. Doesn't make them nice, but not sure the people telling them actually know anything about Polish people, either-they just know they have someone in front of them, and they know a way to make jokes about him...
Again, just a hunch.

have you read any of this forum? lol.. the jokes write themselves all over the place. hahahahahahaha