The reason for dumb Polak jokes?

It seems to be surrounded in mystery.

I've heard many theories on it's origins, everything from Nazi propaganda, to Poles being good machinists and people making jokes to try, and drag them down, to Poles being big guys which confused them for being dumb, to propaganda which came from Germans during the time of Bismarck to dehumanize Poles, to early Polish immigrants having trouble learning English, to it being Jewish Liberal propaganda out of the media, and Hollywood.

Do you have any theories?

I happen to think it's a load of gowna, I mean Poland's IQ was recorded by both Rindermann, and Lynn at 99, which is actually high, and Poland's got high PISA scores, literacy rates, and does very well at coding competitions.

But, besides that, I think it's very insulting considering during the Partitions of Poland it's German, and Russian overlords tried to keep Poles dumb, by not investing in Polish education, or even in some cases outlawing Polish education.

Of course in WW2 in Aktion AB by Nazi Germany, and Katyn Massacre by Soviets many Polish intellectuals were killed.

So, if Poles really were dumb as a result, it sure seems Liberals haven't really cared either way.

 

Amusingly enough - never heard a single joke about poles being stupid, nor in life, nor in any sort of media, until got to see Countryballs comics. I guess it's some foreign thing.

 

You never heard the WWII humor (most likely nazi humor) such as Hitler telling his men to march into Poland backward and the Poles would think the troops were leaving???

 

Have no idea what you are talking about. Jokes about Poles are not common in Russia at all.

What intellectuals? I thought they were army officers mostly.

 

Nope. Sincerely, I never did - was very confused when met these jokes for the first time.

 

Indeed. Most jokes I've heard in Russia are about Chukcha and Praporshik

 

OK....Unless you are blind and bed-ridden, you know that Hollywood affects the way most of the world sees people of different ethnic origins.

For example....From a Polish Forum...

"The image of the Pole — and especially the Polish-American as cloddish certainly pre-dates the films of the Second World War era. In the 1930s we had such titles as Warner Brothers’ “Black Fury,” in which Paul Muni played a Pole as a genial dolt. The film “Palooka” of the same era made the prizefighter-probably intended to be a Pole-another dull-witted figure. The film “The Wedding Night” displayed a contemporary community of Poles living in Connecticut as virtual barbarians. The list could be extended. However, it seems most unlikely that the negative image of the Poles waited until the 1930s. It would be an intriguing topic of research to discover whether there was a Polish “type” in Vaudeville in an earlier generation. My suspicions are that the image of the Pole as an uneducated boor was established soon after the mass-migration at the close of the 19th century, when Poles occupied the lowest rung in American society and their ignorance of the English language and isolation from the host society made them seem all the more exotic and distastefully so. Poles did not enjoy a favorable image in American eyes from the beginning of their en masse arrival here and it has only slowly evolved."

Remember, Hollywood also demonized the white male, Italians (gangsters), native Americans ('Indians that were mostly played by Italians).....The problem is that people actually believe the stereotypes because they constantly see it. According to most commercials....Men are overall dolts. Sorry I got off on a rant but.....The Polish were given a bad rap in Hollywood, the media and entertainment.

 

Well, can't say I heard any anecdotes about chukchas for past.. Four? Five years..? - but at least I know for sure they do exist - but at least they had pretty much decent inspiration, chukchas really were slow to acquire modern technologies back in soviet era simply because they live so far in the north-east - much like natives of Alaska.

But poles.. I heard jokes about georgians - mainly about their dull-sounding deep accent, where most of sounds get duller, softer - compared to classic russian pronontiation. I heard jokes about chinese, plenty of jokes about americans, some brief jokes about french, germans, latino-americans, as for british I guess the jokes about butler Barrymore from one of stories about Sherlock Holmes kinda count..? - though they were mainly inspired by his pompous and evercalm portrayal in the soviet ecranization of story. I heard plenty of jokes about classic trio 'Russian, X, X," where 'X' can be literally any nationality, because jokes build around the uniqueness of russians in their approach to tasks, unbeliveable luck, and sometimes a total lack of any sort of wit, such as, for example: X1, X2, and Russian given two small titanium balls each and each locked for hour inside of perfectly square small room with smooth seamless walls. Each have to do something impressive with the balls. X1 reveals in hour to be juggling with them masterfully, X2 stands on tips of his toes and balances both balls on tip of his nose, but Russian wins because he: got one titanium ball lost and accidentally broke the other one.
I guess I may have heard that 'Trio' kind of joke with pole involved, but as I said - they centered around other kind of stereotype.

...as for 'dullness' of georgian accent, so there won't be a misunderstanding - I do not mean 'dull' as 'dumb', I mean as the sounds get dull, as if you were hearing them muffled, but not muffled. It is kinda hard to explain, I guess.

 

This forum also includes Eastern Europe, which would include Poland.

 

Yep. But hey, we're there too and just reported that don't know about such jokes. ^^

 

It is pretty interesting that the West mocks Poles more than Russians do.

 

Coincidentally, I was led to understand that the Poles earned their dubious distiction in WWII fighting nazis. The Polish horse mounted cavalry, charged invading nazi tank divisions with sabres drawn. Yikes.

 

*shrugs*
Well, world is full of weird things.

 

There were also Nazi German Horse units too, something that is rarely spoken of.

Actually 80% of the Nazi German army was Horse drawn.

Yes, they had cavalry units too.

 

Interesting, maybe. Though, appears that cavalry charge is not depicted correctly.
From what I understood, it was not a cavalry charge at armored vechicles, but charge of polish mounted brigade at german infantry that pursued polish infantry, that was withdrawing for regroup. Germans had heavy casualties from the surprise mounted attack, that though soon met the german approaching reinforcements with armored vechicles - and had to retreat themselves.
Polish mounted brigades at the time had, among light firearms and melee weapons, the anti-tank rifles and field guns capable of piercing armored targets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_at_Krojanty

So, apparently that story is more a myth, than a reality.

 

There's a saying or joke in Poland..which is, where did the russian first discover the bicycle..in a German attic! It seems to hold true.

 

Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk. Rude. Very rude.

 

well, we as I told the now banned member PolakPotrafi, "dumb Polak" jokes were created by the Germans and brought to the USA by German immigrants.

 

Why rude...it's probably true, I knew a Belorussian fellow some years back who fled to west Germany after ww2, he stated many soviet/russian conscripts thought a toilet bowl was for washing potatoes and were rather horrified when you turned handle water would disappear.

 

Ok, seriously - is there anybody around trusting in this indiocy?

I am just curious, should I be embarasses for wasting my time on Zcopter, or generally be embarassed for humanity?

 

Lol, listen I'm just quoting what this older gentleman said before, don't shoot the messenger as the saying goes, I know times have changed, so just saying.

 

No, you are using opportunity to insult my nation. That is what you there for - to yapp at the Russians. Because apparently you have some issues, likely an ukranian, and having your sphinkter burning since 2014 AD.

 

And of course, your nation never misses an opportunity to insult others I assume at times , and no ukranian here btw.

 

Unlike some individuals - my Nation is
a) A community of many, many people;
b) Majority of these people are not racist jerks;

 

Pollack jokes died in the 1980's, when the US was supporting Polish independence from USSR control.. and political correctness told all that Pollack jokes were right out...