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?

No. I do think there's a right wing twat problem on mumsnet now though. Hth.

I just checked the ONS stats for 2011 and given that the number of people whose
first language is Polish is approx 1% it's hardly overwhelming!

i don't really have anything to add other than
-popty ping is indeed welsh slang for a microwave. the proper word is meicrodon which isn't nearly as fun.

• i've never heard pysgod wibblywobbly personally, but it might well be a thing. sglefren for is the correct word (again not as fun!).
• we DO learn welsh literature and i'm a bit confused by the poster who said we don't. In Welsh Medium schools, Welsh is taught the same way English is in other schools, sometimes with translated classic texts, but also with Welsh texts.
• the OP is a twpsyn as we say on this side of the border.

YABU. I live in an area with a large Polish population and I love to hear them chat in their own language, makes me feel positively metropolitan. Plus they are excellent workers and have a wonderful attitude to life. There are also a lot of Italians as well in this area and they all speak their language when you go to a restaurant. It's just lovely to hear other languages being spoken.

I've found british people and newly arrived to be rude and friendly in equal measure (south east).
In fact, in the service industry I've had more humour recently from people where English wasn't their first language. I think they enjoy being able to get to grips with the colloquial side of language. Some of them were funny, some not- I always laugh along politely regardless!

Perhaps they just didn't want to talk to you? And perhaps what your DM classes as hilair banter is in actual fact just shit small talk?
Just a thought
YABU

"hilarious banter" cringe.

Yabvu, the very few poles I have met have all been incredibly friendly. In fact my parents single male polish neighbour told them off for not telling them they were getting a large delivery as he wanted to help them to carry it. Btw my parents are not old late 40s but look younger and in perfect health. So if this is the culture that they are bringing, I'm happy with that

I think Polish and Eastern European people are amongst the nicest, most friendliest people I've ever met. And for a population that isn't as used to non-white people as the rest of Europe, they tend to be far less bigoted than white people born in western europe. At least in my experience anyway.

FWIW-I hate the word banter. Bloody banter.

There are lots of Polish residents where I live, I work with two also. We're also really lucky to have a fab little Polish deli down the road (superb fresh bread and garlicky sausage much cheaper than the supermarket).

Oh, I love how this has turned into a I love all things Polish I am fancying some lovely fresh bread sausage and a now.

YABU we don't have a polish problem. We have a xenophobia problem.

We also seem to have a problem whereby an increasing number of brits feel they are "too good" for certain jobs. These jobs need doing. Polish people are prepared to do them and work hard at them. Thus more polish people around.

Oh. For a moment I though you were talking about Mr Sheen.

Yes of course you are being unreasonable.

I do love popty ping for microwave, I heard it a while ago and it make me smile.
OP, you strike me as a xenophobe, one of those who says hugely bigoted things preceded by "I'm not racist but...." Britain by definition is not one culture, I like the fact we have many different languages, cultures, faiths and nationalities, it makes life a lot more interesting and enjoyable. You might want to work on your crap jokes before you accuse an entire nation of changing the culture of Britain because nobody laughed.

I met s young Polish woman, she'd come to my church enquiring about baptism. I asked her what school her daughter was at she couldn't tell me her English wasn't very good I then asked her how long she'd been here, six years! And she couldn't understand me!

Liverpudlian " culture" is a mix of many many nationalities. It's been a port for hundreds of years and is a real melting pot of people from all over the world. If it IS changing due to the Poles then it's simply evolving as it has always done.

No, I don't think there is a Polish problem in the UK. Culture is not a static entity and evolves all the time. I guess you never a Chinese takeaway, or eat lasagne, or go,to Macdonalds with your family.

Let's hope it's no representative, but it's quite scary that someone feeling snubbed because someone else didn't laugh at their joke could attribute this feeling to there being "a Polish problem".

The term "problem" here is sinister. Remember Hitler's "Jewish problem"? The term implies that there needs to be a solution.... Chilling.

I dont live in the UK any more (am an emigrant myself). Have been out for about 10 years. But I come back regularly to visit family in the midlands, and each time I definitely hear more and more Polish being spoken when out and about, particularly on the high street when out shopping on a Saturday. Last visit it did feel really surprising how much Polish I could hear all around me, not just in one town but two or three that we went to. Lots of Polish shops had also opened up.

But I can't get from 'wow, it's quite strange/new to hear so much Polish everywhere ' to 'the culture is changing' 'this is a bad thing'. The culture of the down itself hasnt changed at all as far as I can see.

I think considering the amount of Polish in the UK and Ireland there are in fact very few problems.

Once again ZOMBIE THREAD from 2013.

What I'd be quite interested to know is why Zefiro made their one and only post on Mumsnet in order to bump a zombie thread from 2013? It could be a genuine mistake with google - googling to see attitudes to Polish immigrants, didn't spot the date, wanted to make sure we weren't all frothing racists... Or it could be someone who just wanted to stir up trouble in the current very disturbing atmosphere of racism (Daily Express and Daily Mail, I'm looking at you).

Anyway, if the former, I hope they're reassured by the mostly "YABU" responses. If the latter, please could they crawl back under their bridge?

sonlypuppyfat
"her English wasn't very good"
I usually hate it when people correct spelling, punctuation or grammar in people's posts, but your hypocrisy forces me to make an exception in this case. You're criticising a Polish woman for her poor English, yet your post makes it sound as though you have a punctuation deficiency. Perhaps, in fact, your communication is not great and that prevented her from being able to understand what you meant?
You mention "my church" - does your religion preach tolerance?