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?

[PacificDogwood]

YABU.
I cannot be bothered to elaborate frankly.
Populations have always moved and changed.

[marriednotdead]

YABU. Why is it a 'problem'? I've yet to met a Polish person that is anything other than friendly and hardworking.

There are many people of various ethnicities in England and without them all, our culture wouldn't even be the one your DM is so nostalgic for.

[NomadsLand]

May I remind you all that I said that I like Poles and I think they are very hard working.

What I am saying is that the preponderance of one group of people is changing the culture more than I thought it would.

There is no need to be PC about this fact.

[MammaTJ]

Our whole British culture is, in fact, a mix of other cultures!!

[CashmereHoodlum]

I welcome a change of culture. The Polish people I have met have been far more cultured than the typical Brit where I live. As a rule they speak more than one foreign language, are more highly educated, and have more knowledge of (what I call) culture, as opposed to many of the locally born and bred people who often have an extensive knowledge of popular culture and little else.

[chickensarmpit]

Would you be saying this if they were Muslim or Chinese? Or is it just acceptable to say this shit about white, europeans.

[Zara1984]

YABU

They're friendly, hardworking, pay their taxes, here legally and just trying to get on with life. What's the problem?

I bet people said the same thing as you and your mother when Irish started moving in large numbers to the UK. Or people CEO the Carribean. Or India/Pakistan/Sri Lanka.

[winnybella]

YY, Viva. Battle of Britain, anyone? Squadron 303?

As far as I can tell (as a Polish person with English DP, not living in the UK, but have visited lots of times) Polish and English have lots in common and I really can't see how some Poles settling down in the UK will dramatically change the British cultural landscape.

DP is ranting now about 'fucking xenophobic idiots'

[MammaTJ]

MaryZ, you're not wrong but the Liverpool accent is very sexy!

[Zara1984]

Oh - and maybe the reason you got a blank stare was because your joke wasn't funny.

[allnewtaketwo]

Tbh I frequently get blank stares when I try to talk to "English" people. Nothing to do with language, some people just don't want to engage

[CowboyPie]

I live in Liverpool. I've NEVER noticed a 'difference' when I get served in shops. YABU.

[SomeKindOfDeliciousBiscuit]

YABU. I think you've met some unfriendly people, or people with limited language skills, that's all.

I was going to make some kind of cheap crack about my Polish mil not visiting until next weekend, but the poor woman's ill and very nice so it seemed a bit shit of me. So imagine some far less offensive joke which has a general feeling of integration and much friendliness.

Just wanted to add, YANBU to suggest there may be a problem with immigration as I think there probably is, but I think the Poles are more like the British (in terms of culture and expectations) than the majority who come and are less likely to integrate.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Do you know what preponderance means OP?

[winnybella]

OTOH I can easily see how Brits have changed the cultural landscape of southern Spain, for example.

[HoHoHoNoYouDont]

I think nostalgia is a good word to use for the OP's mum. She wants to chat to people who share the same lifestyle etc which she won't get from newcomers who probably aren't great fans of Corrie or Eastenders! She probably feels she has nothing in common with them.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Seriously are you actually from Liverpool? You know that world famous PORT, home of one of the worlds oldest Chinatowns, the huge population of second and third generation Irish immigrants, the multicultural, multiracial, LIVERPOOL that I used to know and love.

[Theicingontop]

[nickelbabe]

I think the only Polish problem is that the language isn't taught in schools.
it's increasingly becoming a mainstream language and woyld be great to have it available as a modern language option.

[larks35]

I wonder what the 2nd language in Poland is, or Spain, or Germany, or France (though they'd never admit it).

YABU I think. As for your mum saying that the influx of Polish is changing the local culture, my mum would agree but with a different perspective of enjoying the new culture - Polish shops with interesting and cheap new foods to try, a much larger congregation at their local church.

[NcNcNcNc]

Isn't it stereotyping just as badly to keep saying 'oh wonderful work ethic' ? Really? All people from Poland have a wonderful work ethic???? Have you met them all then?

Also sounds very patronising, like someone from the deep south saying about 'Mamee' that she had a 'wonderful work ethic' in Gone With the Wind.

[mummybare]

I don't understand your joke either, OP.

YABU.

[Isildur]

For quite a few years Liverpudlian culture was strongly influenced by Irish Catholics.

It isn't such a leap to Polish (Catholics).

Things change, cultures evolve, crap jokes are crap jokes wherever they originate.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

nickel - Polish GCSE courses exist (I just looked it up), so maybe it is increasingly being taught? I agree, it'd be a good language option.

[herethereandeverywhere]

YABU!

I live in London, beside a Polish retirement home, round the corner from a Polish social club and church and the usual Polish delis etc. London is a melting pot of different cultures, if I walk 5 minutes in the other direction I'm absorbed in all things Indian/Pakistani/Bagladeshi. I LIKE this. I also like every Pole I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. All honest and hardworking to a fault.

Also OP - I'm slightly confused about the point your mother made about Liverpool (my parents are from there, I'm from the Wirral). Liverpool, as a port and former gateway to the rest of the world, has always had large communities of "other cultures and races" settling there. It has the second oldest Chinese community in the world and a large black Afro-Caribbean community and its famous Irish community. It's ALWAYS welcomed new settlers and that's part of the charm of the city.

I must also share this anecdote: I was buying lunch in a branch of EAT in London when the server clocked my accent and asked where I was from (near Liverpool). He asked where exactly, I explained and also stated where my parents grew up. He gave us our drinks on the house because he loved Liverpool so much and regularly visits his brother who lives there. He was Polish!