Polack

In the contemporary English language, the noun ''Polack'' ( and ) is a derogatory, mainly North American, reference to a person of Polish descent or from Poland. It is an anglicisation of the Polish masculine noun ''Polak'', which denotes a person of Polish ethnicity and typically male gender. However, the English loanword is considered an ethnic slur.

History

According to ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' by Douglas Harper, ''Polack'' meant as "Polish immigrant, person of Polish descent" was used in American English until the late 19th century (1879) to describe a "Polish person" in a non-offensive way (1574). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) based on the Unabridged Dictionary by Random House claims that the word originated between 1590 and 1600. For example, Shakespeare uses the term ''Polacks'' in his tragedy ''Hamlet'' to refer to opponents of Hamlet's father. A quote is given below:

In an Irish-published edition of ''Hamlet'' by the ''Educational Company'', Patrick Murray noted: "Some editors, however, argue that ''Polacks'' should read as ''pole-axe'', and that Horatio is remembering an angry Old Hamlet striking the ice with his battle-axe".The Educational Company
William Shakespeare's Hamlet edited with notes by Patrick Murray
p. 54.

On 26 July 2008, ''The Times'' featured a comment piece by restaurant reviewer and columnist Giles Coren (known for his profanity-strewn complaints), which contained viewpoints that many Poles considered to be anti-Polish."I have never ended on an unstressed syllable!"
Media. ''The Guardian''. In a piece, entitled "Two waves of immigration, Poles apart","Two waves of immigration, Poles apart"
– ''Times Online''. Coren used the ethnic slur ''Polack'' to describe Polish immigrants who can "clear off", in reference to Polish immigrants leaving the United Kingdom in response to low-paying construction jobs drying up. He went on to articulate his views about the role of Poles in the Holocaust in occupied Poland, referencing the fact that his great-grandfather had left Poland for the United Kingdom:

The piece prompted a letter of complaint to ''The Times'' from the Polish ambassador to the UK, Barbara Tuge-Erecińska. She wrote that "the issue of Polish–Jewish relations has been unfairly and deeply falsified" by his "aggressive remarks" and "contempt"."Poland’s role in the Holocaust"
– ''Times Online''. Coren's comments caused the Federation of Poles in Great Britain to attempt to demand a published apology from ''The Times'' under threat of an official complaint to the Press Complaints Commission, which has the power to force an official apology. After the Press Complaints Commission rejected their complaint because the criticism had been of a group rather than an individual, the Federation of Poles in Great Britain lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

Ethnonyms

The neutral English language noun for a Polish person (male or female) today is Pole (see also: Naming Poland in foreign languages). In some other languages such as Swedish, Norwegian or Scots, ''polack'' or ''polakk'' are inoffensive terms for a person from Poland.

In Iberian languages, '' polaco'' is a mild slur for people from Catalonia, though it is a completely neutral way of referring to Polish people in all Ibero-American countries except Brazil, where, much like ''galego'' ( Galician), ''alemão'' (German) and ''russo'' ( Russian), it became a politically incorrect term, and the noun used for Polish people is ''polonês'' (such term is absent from Spanish and other Portuguese variants).

In Ukrainian, the old exonym лях (''lyakh'', ''lyakhy'') is now considered offensive Ляхи (Lyakhy) in Ukrainian Wikipedia. In Russian the same word, formerly often used with negative connotations but not generally offensive, is obsolete. In both languages it was replaced by the neutral (''polyak'').

Another common Russian ethnic slur for Poles is (''pshek''), an onomatopoeia derived from Polish phonology: prepositions and are quite common, with corresponding to the sound of "sh", and the sibilant-sounding speech (e.g., ("excuse me") transcribed as "psheprasham") has been a target of mockery in Russian culture.пшек
''Словарь русского арго'', ГРАМОТА.РУ. В. С. Елистратов. 2002.

See also

* Anti-Polish sentiment
* Polish joke at times referred to as "Polack joke"

References

{{Ethnic slurs

Anti-Polish sentiment
Stereotypes of Polish people
Pejorative terms for white people
English words
Pejorative terms for European people