Social control in Polish communities in Ireland, UK and elswhere

Social control or social conditioning ?

but you were soooo sweet before :-)

I still have some in my back yard... But I won't bother shovelling it.

No accounting for taste... How are their doughnuts by the way!

A bit of both: social control, because I was wondering if ppl would really bother if they would invite non-Poles over to a party or something where the rest would be Polish, what the ppl they know would say about it (and I know for certain there are Polish ppl here in Dubs that don't want to know anything about non-Poles, if you know what I mean), and social conditioning because they may be embarrassed to have a non-Polish friend over at an all-Polish event.

M-G

Where I work, I did a lot to break down the barriers. The results of my efforts include the following:

I've had two great holidays in Poland.
The Polish chaps popped a couple of bottles of Vodka into the drinks vat at the summer barbeque.
I started learning Polish, and one or two of the Poles were helped to improve their English.
One of the Poles was given a full-time job (and somewhere nice to live with a kitchen and everything).

My good Polish friend invites me Polish parties often and only sometimes do I accept. It's fine at the start of the night when people are kind of sober and speak English (to benefit me I guess) but as the drink flows they naturally slip into speaking Polish and my friend really tries to keep part of the conversation while also keeping me informed of what is being said. So sometimes I say No to invites. I'm always welcomed though.

It's the same if I am going somewhere where there will be no Polish people, I invite him but he doesn't always say yes.

excellent point. I would lean more towards the social conditioning based on the reading on this post I have done so far.

not that I reacall, but I like your take on that
thay don't have any. However, there are some really expansive pastry. Robbers.

My wife gets invitations to Predominantly Polish functions from time to time. The "non-Poles" are treated well. Although a lot of conversation is in Polish, the majority of the Poles will go out of their way to converse in English with the "non-Poles"

I am not sure of how many Exclusively-Polish events we haven't been invited to, though.


You said it.... PS: your former avatar was soooo sweet! the Pączek

Miranda is not Sweet :) Sour, Salty, Bitter; take your pick :)))

M-G (just kidding, M, you know that)

PS: just FYI: Cats eat rabbits, you knew that? :)

I presume that you know the taste very well. Mniam, mniam

I am sweet, with the amount of sugar I have consumed there is no other choice. That is why I changed my avatar - the paczek was really too much temptation for me. HEY M-G - have you had one? They are very addictive;)

M-G - cats do kill rabbits in your dreams;)

Yeah, our Szaruś (guess what colour she is...) left parts of a rabbit all over our back yard last year. Kiddies are still scarred by the experience.


yes.

One other factor I can think of contributing to this behaviour is status. See, I have a quite high status (don't mean to be arrogant, it's just an illustration), being a manager and all and most of my Polish friends are not. Their friends consist of bricklayers, shopclerks and the like. I'm saying this because one time I coincidentally came across two friends of a friend, they were construction workers, the both of them. I talked to them and their English was not that good, although they had been in Ireland for over 4 years. But I had fun with them. A while later I spoke to the friend over the phone and he kinda worrying asked me "And? What'd you think of them?" A link is then easily made: they might be afraid of showing their (Polish) friends to me. But still: even though I understand the reasons, I still think it's very rude to mention the fact that you had a party without even apologizing that you weren't invited.

M-G

Hm, haven't got any comments on this one yet...

M-G