Quote:
Originally posted by bermuDa
yeah... pollock was a painter, polacks are from poland!!
I have nothing against them, although I don't really know anyone from poland... sounds like just another stereotype to me.
Although, having read The Jungle... I have a theory. Back when there was a huge influx of european immigrants coming to america, it was important for the more established groups to generate stereotypes and animosity towards the other. I think this is the origin of a lot of those stereotypes and derogatory attitudes towards foreigners and immigrants. Poles fresh off the boat had a hard time with english, so I'm sure it was easy to label them as stupid. Why it's still considered true by anyone shows just how strong a meme like stereotypes can be.
and I wouldn't be too smug about military failures if i were french 
|
I have always seen that theory as why there are polish jokes.. before them, I'm sure most of the same jokes were Irish jokes (I rememeber the "INNA" signs in the early 1900s.. well.. don't remember.. but remember reading about them in history class)... before the Irish, I'm not sure. I haven't had a US history class in 6 years. But I'm guessing the jokes would be about whatever "wave" of immigrants came before the irish.
I am pretty sure a similar thing happened when the Asians came over to the west coast (a lot worked on the railroads)... the newest immigration wave cops the most abuse.
Now, the US is so big (population-wise.. there is no "wild west") and people come from so many areas that there isn't just "one certain group" that has jokes made about them. The Mexicans, Cubans, Polish, and some others I can't think of right now all have a large amount of jokes about them (some overlapping).
Oh, btw.. INNA = Irish Need Not Apply. They'd put them in store windows when advertising for jobs. It doesn't relate to the "joke" subject exactly, but I think it speaks volumes for the attitude in America (New York) at the time.