Polack

In the contemporary English language, the noun ''Polack'' ( and ) is a derogatory term, primarily used in North America, referring to a person of Polish origin. 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, in Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, the character Horatio uses the term ''Polacks'' to refer to the opponents of Hamlet's father:

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 entitled "Two waves of immigration, Poles apart", where he used ''Polack'' to describe Polish immigrants who can "clear off", in reference to such immigrants leaving the UK in response to low-paying construction jobs drying up."Two waves of immigration, Poles apart"
– ''The Times''.

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 it became a politically incorrect term, and the noun used for Polish people nowadays 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 "zh", and the sibilant-sounding speech (e.g., ("excuse me") transcribed as "pzheprasham") has been a target of mockery in Russian culture.

In Polish, term ''polaczek'' (sometimes capitalised as ''Polaczek''; plural: ''polaczki'') is seen as a disrespectful or offensive term for Polish person. In Polish-language media, it is usually also used as a direct translation for English term ''Polack''.''Nazwy członków narodów, ras i szczepów''. In: ''Wielki słownik ortograficzny''. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. (in Polish)

See also

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

References

{{Ethnic slurs

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