Is the word "Polack"rascist?

it's not racist as polish is not a race.

polack, pollock, pollack and a few other variations are all meant to be a demeaning term used in jokes and such

the poles are a race, they are somewhere between blacks and gypsies. The nazis knew this too well.

For whatever/many reasons Poles are very quick to "drop" their Polish heritage or atleast put it in the back seat and completely become involved in the United States, especially in places where Poles aren't too common like Southern California. Change their last name, or start supporting everything the U.S tries to do involving Poland like the Iraq war for example.

While it's obviously the easy road to take, to simply become yet another immigrant turned American, I for one am not like that. It's funny at times because when I'm in Poland everyone considers me American - 20 years in U.S and 4 years old when I moved here. Counting the 5 summer trips I've made I've probably spent a total of 5,6 years in Poland but yet when I'm in the U.S i get the common "wait so your a Pollak" question.

Like I stated before, usually it's just out of ignorance not knowing the word Pole is the right term to use but at times it's definitely used to demean me. The oh so common 'Dumb Pollak' jokes and such. Honestly though I would be lieing if I didn't admit it bothered me. I have shared these feelings to my family recently wondering why Poles have such a 'dumb' reputation. I will do whatever I can to try and change that so my children do not have to grow up in the same 'Dumb Pollak' world especially since I PROBABLY won't marry a Polka just based on the percentage of Polish women I meet here in San Diego. I would love to marry one but it probably won't happen so It's my job to make sure my kids stay close to their Polish heritage and are most importantly proud to be a European and Pole.

I think America has its more pressing problems, but whatever floats your boat. In terms of Polish-Americans dropping their Polishness, I've found that Polish are some of the most proud of their heritage of all the etnic groups, even in SoCal. We have Polish-American groups, Polish-American churches and festivals. I can't speak for San Diego, but in LA despite having a tiny Polish population, we are all very proud.

wait, i thought blond and blue eyed was the master race? now all of a sudden it's not?


i sure don't take any personally and tend to laugh hard at most of the jokes.

Just to clarify...

dictionary.com

race:

1. a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.
2. a population so related.
3. Anthropology. a. any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negro, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use.
b. an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.
c. a human population partially isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans.

4. a group of tribes or peoples forming an ethnic stock: the Slavic race.
5. any people united by common history, language, cultural traits, etc.: the Dutch race.

So yes, it could be deemed as rascist. But like with most of these examples, it very much depends on the context in which it is used.

The Dutch race???
The Dutch aren't a race!
There are the White Race, the Blacks, the Asians.

Poles, Germans, Dutch etc...belong to the same race, the white Race.
Why is that so problematic?

Noimmi will never understand that, how could Poles belong to the same race as Germans and Dutch?! ;) We're sooo different, aren't we ?....... :P

I thought it could be racist but two of my polish friends told me it was what a person from Poland was called. I made the mistake of saying "polska" when refering to the language and he told me that it was the country and the language was "polski", so I called him a "polski" thinking with the the whole gender specific thing (ending in a = feminine, i = masculine) and he told me it was polack for a person.

poor old noimmigration ....writing absolute crap as usual !

And everyone feeds into this noimmi fella. It's obvious he lacks.

The Polish where I live don't take offense. "Pole" or "Polack" are ok if used in a respectable context.

I was told by my neighbor that Polack was a term used for Polish Jews. My neighbor is Jewish, so I guess he know's what he's talking about.

Woah I agree with MarcinD
I live in New Jersey and Poles here often drop their heritage and start to join in with the rest of the people who find it funny to pick on Poles.

The word Polak is usually considered the equalivant to calling a black guy the n word in America.

If any of you are interested in history, the reason why this is an offense is back when Poles were immigrating to America on mass. When the Poles (not polacks, see the difference?) were moving into america they did not speak english at all. So when americans talked to the polish immigrants, the Poles said "i am Polak" "I Polak" "ja Polakiem" "Ja Jestem Polakiem" or something along the lines. These were the ONLY words the Poles spoke. This created situations where Poles were easy to make fun off, and from there the stereotype of the "dumb Polack" originated.

SO now you people know where this word in america originated and it is demeaning in America.

If you see someone from Poland, and if you dont know how to speak Polish. Going up to him and saying "hey your a Polack right?" would be extremely rude. The proper way would be "hey your a Pole right?"

(btw If you do call a pole a "Polack" pray the guy doesnt know english because he will beat the living sh1t out of you. Poles dont **** around with their heritage, true Poles dont anyways...

EDIT: also another big indication the Polack is offensive is that its spelled wrong. In Poland its spelt "Polak". So Polack is a diffrent word , geared at slandering Poles.

You got it all wrong, the word Polack came to English language directly from German "Polack" a Pole, and the American usage was influenced by the Germans. Originally derogatory towards the Jews. Karl Marx used it regularly, he once wanted to sue the London newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, which he said was owned by "polack Jews". The word itself is much older than that; first notation in the Oxford English Dictionary comes from a letter by Sir Philip Sidney in 1500s.


It was also used by Shakespeare himself in HAMLET


and North Plutarch


In all those examples Polack means Pole. It just shows you the ignorance on Americans part. There was only one poster here that mentioned this earlier on one of the threads.

really?

I always thought it was because of the immigrants ... hmm

maybe that's its latest association.

Great post brother !!!

By who? Lunatics? It's not even in the same category. I'm a proud Polish American and nobody, but nobody is going to put my heritage down but compared to the n word "Polak" is nothing. When someone says "Polak" it is taken as a sort of a joke, a throwback to when the word was more commonly used. The n word represents 400+ years of hatred and bigotry. It's not even in the same boat. It's apples and dumptrucks.

Exactly, jestem Polakiem is somehow self-debasing? I think not

yea it was back when they were immigrating to America.

If you look at it from the American point of view, The poles didnt know english and somehow only knew how to say "Polak"

The americans started to call Poles Stupid and the word "Polack" stook with them


And yes the word Polack is the degrading way of referring to a Pole.

And wait EbonyandBathory, the Word Polack is not a joke when someone calls me that. Especially if this person is American.. and he is trying to discrimate or make me look stupid because im polish.

I dont know where you live but around Greenpoint and mostly all over new york city, if you call someone a Polack thats considered very discriminating.

May I add that the word N1gger is overblown into proportion in America.

Somehow rappers can make fun of white people and call their own kind n1ggers, but when a white person even hints n1gger, al Sharpton jumps out of a hole and sues you for discriminating against black People.

In this time and era the whie Catholic Male is the most discriminated against in the world. (this is called reverse discrimination)

Example:

When applying to a university, A white male would have a GPA of a 3.4. This would make him very competitve.

HOwever, lets say a black person applies to the same university and has a gpa of a 2.0.

Geuss who is getting into that university... The black person bceause of affirmative action. (Even though the white person was more qualified)

I truely belive that Blacks are overusing their civil rights. But thats a whole diffrent discussion.

They would have to have some first to do so. Listen, I never said that the word Polak when used in a derogitory fashion isn't offensive. But let's have a little perspective. Poles in America, while they have had there struggles in America are not in the same catogory as Blacks in America. No ethnic group is. Just because of your "example" and your race baiting, Mateuszoflv, doesn't change the fact that Blacks have hoed a much more difficult road. You're using the double standards that whites created against them and that isn't fair. Polak, while a reprehensible and offensive word when used in America, I've been called it myself, doesn't not put Poles on the same suffering plane as Blacks in America. It just doesn't. I'm usually the first to say that Poles get a raw deal but I have enough perspective to know we haven't had it as bad as others.

Yep,sounds about right for you guys ....;)

I personally dont like when people say "polack" i take it offensive and i usually correct them. I am a polish woman, and if someone is going to refer me as "polack" i will and i do get upset. So i guess everyone looks at it diffrently, you dont have to punch a person for callilng you that, but if you dont like that name i would definately correct them and make sure they dont call you a "polack" again.