ZenonPolishOrigins Team Leader
Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1532
Location: PolandBack to top |
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 5:11 am
Post subject: Ah to be Polish!
Message sent by a friend from Chicago with comment: This is definitely everyone of us who have grown up with our Busia's and Dziadzia's from Poland. No one can ever erase our beautiful memories.
I just had to share it here  . Have fun 
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If you come from Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit or Milwaukee there is a large church called "Saint Stanislaus," or "Saint Hedwig,"
within one block of your childhood home (that is, unless you're one of those suburban exiles, in which case the church is within one block of your babcia's house!)
You wear red on St. Patrick's Day.
Your knowledge of the Polish language is limited to 'naughty' words
ie:., dupa, gowno, kurwa, etc, names for food ie: pierogi, kapusta, etc, and drinking toasts ie: na zdrowie , sto lat, etc.
You call your grandma "babcia" or "busia" and your grandpa
"dziadzia." You know how to dance the polka, but you only do it at
weddings after kicking back a few generous shots of vodka.
When frustrated, you slap your forehead, shake your head, and say "O Jezu
Marija!" (ouch!)
You have one grandma that wears a babushka and galoshes every single day of the year and another grandma that wears a lot of jewelry and too much make-up.
You have at least one uncle named "Stan," or "Stas."
Your relatives have strong devotion to saints, the Blessed Virgin, the Pope, the Democratic Party, the U.S. Steelworkers, etc.
Your grandma has a shrine complete with votive candles and a picture of
"Our Lady of Czestochowa" or "Infant of Prague."
Your parents have at least one crucifix or religious picture mounted on a wall in their house with palms tucked behind it.
You get your food blessed at Easter and your house blessed at Christmas time.
Your family has a wigilia meal on Christmas Eve at which you share oplatki and kiss everyone..
You always prefer rye bread to white or wheat. Your dad has forced you to eat horseradish, claiming that it will "put hair on your chest", even If you're a female!
You know the words to "Sto Lat" and sing it at all birthday parties.
You can out drink all of your friends.
You have waited in line at a church or bakery to buy pierogi or paczki.
Words like kiszka, kielbasa, and kolaczki actually mean something to you.
You actually know who Kosciuszko and Pulaski are, and why they're
important.
You have at least one relative who plays the Accordion.
You're completely overdressed for every occasion.
Your idea of "healthy" is boiled pierogi then fried in butter
w/onions, light beer, and filtered cigarettes.
You have at least one bar in your house - usually in the basement.
Your family always has an excuse to hold a "poprawinie" - e.g., when
someone dies, or when someone gets married.
You've never been to Poland , but you have mysterious relatives there to
whom you send gifts and money every Christmas.
You collect "prayer cards" from funerals.
You often visit cemeteries ( light votive candles for dead relatives and
generally spend an unhealthy amount of time obsessing about death..)
People often have trouble pronouncing your last name.
You think having a "highball" is high society.
Ah, to be Polish!
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Skrzypek
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Replies: 1
Location: Mississauga CanadaBack to top |
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:41 pm
Post subject: ah to be polish !
Very funny ! Stas played the accordion. Or at least he took a couple of lessons. He was uncle Stan to my boys. Maternal side emigrated to Chicago and then Toronto. Paternal side to Toronto via Northern Ontario. Generation 1 emigrated to Chicago. Generation 2 born in Chicago, grew up back in Poland, only to return a number of years later, allowing the parents to work. Generation 3 born in Toronto. Generation 4 born in Toronto (me)....My children were born in Montreal - Generation 5.
We have a St. Stanislaus is in town and St. Kazimierz. We have our Roncesvalles Ave. Kielbasa at Czehowski was the best. Closed their Queensway store. We now have 2 Starsky's. My Tat was sure to teach me all the swear words....LOL. My limited Polish vocabulary somehow understands everything my Babus and Ciociu say to me. I, of course, speak to them in English.
Our Lady of Czestochowa and Pope John Paul II have the dusty dried palm frond on them. Have the crucifix too. Rye bread rules ! Just about everything else resonates on your list !
I think the list is missing pickled herring (sledzjie) and white 'barszcz' at Easter with boiled eggs and ham and kszan (sp ?).
And yes the last name is oh so difficult....but i couldn't be more proud of it. 
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JamesPolishOrigins Team
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
Replies: 226
Location: WEST VIRGINIA , USABack to top |
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:38 pm
Post subject:
Amen and Right on !
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KKempa
Joined: 05 Apr 2009
Replies: 43
Location: Ontario, CanadaBack to top |
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 8:55 pm
Post subject:
HAHAHA! Many of my childhood memories included there!
Now I can finally find out what it means...what dad used to say, kurwa. When I asked him to translate, he laughed and said it didn't translate well, that he was saying, "chicken kick you" (if it were said in English). Sounded to my little Canadian ears like, "yetcha koorya cobnya" He said it was swearing in Polish so I shouldn't repeat that to my aunties.
So guys...what was he really saying?
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NancyMPolishOrigins Matka Chrzestna
Joined: 14 Dec 2007
Replies: 185
Location: Massachusetts, USABack to top |
Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:46 pm
Post subject:
Oh my gosh!
Everything in that post hits very close to home!
Stan (Stas) was my father! He was everyone's favorite Uncle.
I have a picture of my Ciocia's home with the palm frond behind the picture ...
I am not telling about the bar in the basement
... are we so predictable? Or is the experience so universal?
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KKempa
Joined: 05 Apr 2009
Replies: 43
Location: Ontario, CanadaBack to top |
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 4:49 pm
Post subject:
We never had a bar in our house. None of the alcohol lasted long enough to need putting away! My most favourite occasions when I was a child were Polish weddings. Always a live polka band, lots of dancing and good food and plenty of happy drunk adults who didn't say no to anything I asked for!
I never had an Uncle Stan but I did have a cousin Stan. A few VERY common first names -- John, Joe and Walter instantly come to mind. Every Walter I've met was Polish! Must be something else in Polish because I don't recall hearing of any Saint Walter -- we Poles had to have names of saints!
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BobKPO Top Contributor
Joined: 11 Nov 2008
Replies: 231
Location: Portland, Oregon USABack to top |
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eastsider
Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Replies: 8
Location: Troy, MichiganBack to top |
Posted: Wed May 06, 2009 7:51 pm
Post subject:
OMG! That was too funny! I'm from Detroit and we belonged to St. Stanislaus which was about 4 blocks away from my house, but 1 block from Busia's. I also had an uncle Stanley who played the accordian. He knew how to play "Whispering". All the other songs he said he knew, all sounded like "Whispering". He only knew that one song.
My moms name was Stella. They were Stas and Stasia.
My children and I still go to church to have our Easter baskets blessed. There seems to be more and more people there every year.
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Posted: Fri Dec 17, 2010 6:42 pm
Post subject:
Oh I'm loving this! Apologies if any of this is filthy but my Dad used to come out with some expletives that sounded terrible but he'd never tell me what they meant, so I'm hoping someone can translate. I can't spell them in Polish so I'm writing them as they sounded to me - here goes - 'kurwa yego match', 'yop twoya boha yego match' 'co za cholera jasna' (I can spell that one in Polish). Hope someone can translate.
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kith
Joined: 20 Jan 2010
Replies: 13
Location: USABack to top |
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:38 pm
Post subject:
Okay, I know what dupa means, but what do gowno and kurwa mean????
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ZenonPolishOrigins Team Leader
Joined: 28 Apr 2007
Replies: 1532
Location: PolandBack to top |
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 5:01 pm
Post subject:
Here's an update for Polish-Americans: A new Dodge Dart is coming out for 2013. In the 70's everyone had a relative that drove a Dart or Dart Swinger, some even lasted past the 80's. No "Mekseemas" or Camry's back then!
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The author left out on the large Polish community (where I came from) in Brooklyn NY!! ...
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