Do you think there is a "Polish" problem in the Uk now that it's become the 2nd language in England?

[NomadsLand]

I've been to Poland and I like Poles a lot as a people. I think Warsaw is a great city and I have nothing against Polish people.

My mother complained back in 2007 about the number of Poles in Liverpool changing the 'culture'. What she meant was that she loves to banter with people in shops and restaurants and she used to get a lot of chat back (Liverpudlians are generally very funny - IMHO - and love a bit of verbal 'how's your father'). She complained that this had changed and that she was increasingly met with blank stares. This is high insult to my mother!

I didn't think much of it. But I am now finding the same - I approached a new restaurant outlet at my local services today and joked about them selling hot dogs and milkshakes and what a welcome addition to the usual (was hungry and about to make an irresponsible food choice!). I got the same blank stare. Didn't understand a word I said.

I finally understood what my mother has been saying. AIBU?

[DopeyDazy]

Ive never heard of a Polish suicide bomber
Dowidzenia

[OvariesForgotHerPassword]

Total zombie thread... but no, it's not a problem. I'm learning Polish, it's a great language!

[OhtoblazeswithElvira]

ZOMBIE THREAD

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Pizda...to samo słowo w języku rumuńskim.

[scottishdiem]

Communities do change. Coal communities have changed. Heavy Industries have changed. Fishing communities have changed. Gentrification changes communities. New roads and railways stops change communities. The closure of shopping malls and online shopping changes communities. People come and people go.

Immigration changes communities. Emigration changes communities. Language changes (who will use n*r, pi and c**k in their "banter" now?)

Humanity changes and the changes happen quickly sometimes and slowly sometimes but change is inevitable. At the moment its Polish but give it a generation or two and they will be absorbed and amalgamated into local languages and jokes. Third and Fourth Italian immigrants and Indian immigrants in Glasgow & Edinburgh have the local patter.

Why should we stand still? Why should we not change over the generations like we have always done. Even the BNP used to refer to 1066 cause that was the last big white immigration into the UK, changing the white peoples already here.

If it was bad change, changing what rights we have and what freedoms we have through an occupation then I can agree it would be bad. But its not. It is part of who were and who we have always been.

[LittleOldWineDrinker]

You do realise that something has to be the second most commonly spoken language in the UK?!

[Pranma]

No problem at all, lovely people with a proud history of service to the UK.

[Manijo]

No

[Hcmp1980]

No.

[zeeboo]

For goodness sake will everyone stop replying to a thread from 2013 as if it's a recent one!!! I especially love the poster who blamed Brexit for the post started 3 years ago

[wishparry]

I dont think we have a "polish" problem.
I think we have a "racist" problem.

[Jabuticaba]

BratFarrarsPony thank you, if I ever go to Poland I'll give that a go.

[Isitjustmeorisiteveryoneelse]

Blimmin ell, wos goin on lately? MN has more zombies than TWD at the moment.

[corythatwas]

I know it's a zombie, but it strikes me as particularly ironic that the OP tries to establish her credentials by explaining that she likes Poles, she has been to Poland. So what language did she speak there when she made that visit and discovered that she liked the natives? I think we may safely assume it was English.

So does that mean Poland (along with the rest of the world) has an English problem? Or is it only a problem when it's somebody else who doesn't speak the national language?

Have the Poles and the Swedes and the Italians not had their culture changed by compulsory English lessons/English as a requirement for many jobs/English as a teaching language at University? But this is not a problem: is it because the rest of us are so level-headed that we can cope with a bit of foreignness without losing sight of who we are- or is it because our culture wasn't much of a loss anyway?

[HerOtherHalf]

Protecting our culture is just one of the many attempts the bigots and xenophobes have concocted to try and rationalise and make acceptable their foaming-mouthed hatred of foreigners.

What is this supposed culture anyway? It doesn't exist and never has, not as some kind of static clearly definable entity, it's a myth. What is if you miss or worry might be lost? Morris dancing? Sunday roasts? Cream teas? Spotted dick? Bowler hats and flat caps? Builders intimidating women in the street with crass remarks and wolf-whistles? Football casuals and lager louts? Horrifically racist TV shows like The Black and White Minstrels or Mind Your Language? Or shows that promote and trivialise groping such as Benny Hill or countless others from that era? Or is our culture a kebab or curry on a Friday night, trick or treating, rap/soul/RnB/hiphop, burgers/spag bol/noodles, Christmas largely themed on a Coca Cola marketing campaign, karaoke, fireworks, ballet, opera, Hollywood movies, US TV shows, a language strewn with foreign words, etc etc etc etc.......

Our island's culture, if such a thing has ever even been definable, has changed and evolved on a daily basis since the first humans settled here and it will continue to do so. That culture has been influenced by countless different races, colours and creed's, some that travelled here in search of opportunity and some that we colonised by force. Open your mind and embrace the rich tapestry that a multicultural world offers or sit in your room reading The Mail and fretting about all these bloody foreigners - I know what I prefer.

[CaptainMarvelDanvers]

Oh it's a Zombie thread.

[CaptainMarvelDanvers]

I've only read the first page but anytime someone describes a group of people as a 'problem', their certainly on rocky ground.

[Ratonastick]

Bloody zombies, sorry!

[wenchystrumpet]

Even though I mistyped pizda in my irritation, oops.

[Ackvavit]

Really? I'd say of all the people who have moved here the Polish are the most articulate. I'm embarrassed that I wouldn't know a word of Polish yet many arrived here and were fluent in English AND found work ASAP. My son works with a young Polish guy who frankly speaks better English than some of the English guys he works with. There are communities who do not integrate and learn to speak English but they certainly are not Polish. Goodness me OP what were you thinking?

[wenchystrumpet]

always a useful phrase.

[Ayeok]

Well said Wenchy yes I had to google it

[BratFarrarsPony]

@ wenchy

[wenchystrumpet]

Spierdalaj ty glupia pizd, OP.