What You Should NEVER Say to a Polish Person! 🇵🇱

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  • Опубликовано: 30 ноя 2024

Комментарии • 85

  • @explorewithkojo
    @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад

    Have you ever said something that made a conversation super awkward? 😅 Or maybe you've had a cultural mishap while traveling? Drop your stories in the comments - I’d love to hear them! Let’s swap some travel fails.

  • @Sylkis89
    @Sylkis89 Месяц назад +11

    It's deeper than that.
    Poland has never been Eastern European, but was it was occupied by Eastern Europeans. You can draw a parallel how e.g. Ireland is not a British nation (and yes, this analogy DOES work, because "British" is not a single nation, but a collection of a few of them), but was occupied by Brits (and arguably a portion of it still is, but that's another sensitive topic that requires LOTS of nuance).
    Since early Medieval, when Poland became a country to recognise as Poland and not whatever prior political entities that we have little evidence to know what really had been happening, Poland joined the Wester Roman civilisation - as opposed to Eastern Europe joining the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) civilisation. This was expressed mainly in religion and political affinities, but there was also incredible cultural impact coming from that.
    Still, we couldn't have really been called "Western European" - ever. We were in the buffer zone between Western, Eastern, and Islamic worlds - together with Hungary and the Byzantine (later on replaced by renaissance Italy and Turkey/Ottoman empire), and we thrived on being a decentralised, multiciltural melting pot whose foundations were on one hand Slavic folklore and culture, and on the other hand the descendance from the Western Roman civilisaiton (and therefore, initially Catholicism, later on also Protestantism, etc.).
    As a result, we developed a very unique blend that was a part of the Western World, but at the very outskirts of it, and therefore blending the styles in architecture, fashion, music, literature, etc. from all over - with the main core being mutual with Western Europe, but giving it its own unique twist influenced with Eastern Europeans, Turks, etc. Politically we were definitely a part of the Western World and our societal structure was very transactional and commerce-based Medieval period like in Western Europe that gave birth to Capitalism, as opposed to Eastern Eruropeans goign straight from Ancient to Early Modern period skipping medieval, going straight from Golden-Horde-like extortative warlod societal order to early modern abolutist order. Ironically, when in the West the para-democratic trends within monarchists systems were also being replaced with Absolutism, we became an elective monarchy - we were having popular votes for a king! Of course that democracy of the day would pass as oligarchy today - only the nobles, landlords, etc. could vote, not any common peasants or refugees from other cultures seeking asylum from religious and economic persecution virtually anywhere else in Europe at the time, and we still had Serfdom (de facto slavery of the peasants in anything but name, sadly) until modern times, unlike the West, but like the East - one of the examples how we were a mix and a unique blend making us both similar to and different from both, with a lot of our own original traits, too.
    Then, when we had the 1st Constitution in Europe (and 2nd on the planet, after the USA) establishing us as a democracy for good, the absolutist powers from Germany, Austria, and Russia decided to erase us from the map, seeing our ideals and a different system as a threat.
    And this is where the beginning of the myth of German-speaking nations being "Central European" comes from. They're not that, never have been, never will be. They only OCCUPIED with their imperialist expansionism huge parts of Central Europe, and when other Western European countries saw the local folklore of the lands they considered "German", they would also call Germans "Central European" because of the illusion of the time, even though they were and still are very much Western European.
    Then, we had the time of being occupied by Soviets lumping us with the "Eastern Bloc", creating the myth of there being just Western and Eastern Europe, as opposed to Western, Northern, Central, Eastern, Southern, and Southeastern like it had always been considered so before the Cold War.
    After the fall of the USSR Germany now wants to appropriate the title of "Central Europe" for the sake of their exceptionalism, and wants to dub Poland as "Eastern" for the sake of making us "them" as opposed to Germans being "Us" from their perspecitve, they don't want Poland and Germany to be lumped together which is correct, but what they get wrong is trying to separate themselves from France, UK, Benelux, etc. when they're all one category. On the other hand, Russia calls us "Eastern European" because they want Poland to be "us" from Russian perspective, and put themselves in the role of the leader of the region, subjugate us again. You can very well see Puitn's historical revisionism and these sentiments when he talks about Ukraine and also somehow blames Poland for WWII and such.
    So yeah. We're culturally and politically (and geographically! despite what most maps show Europe goes so far east that a good portion of Kazakhstan is in Europe and Poland is actually slightly on the WESTERN side of Europe geographically, with the geographical centre being around Polish and Lithuanian border) we are more Western than Eastern with out traditions, cultural belonging, literature, architecture, political structure, etc., but we still share the Slavic-ness with Eastern Europeans and maybe our most rural architecture and clothing and such would also be closer to Eastern Europeans ones due to the ancient Slavic core mutual to us (anything urban or high-culture is pretty much the same as Western European though, really, or a mix that heavily leans towards West, or something completely unique to our region that then gets adopted by the West and is a part of the Western culture, like our traditional dances and music being a standard part of the Western musical tradition), and some other of their traits (many of which being just hangovers after the Soviet occupation that are already almost gone from Gen Z and younger generations), and we are just our own thing together with the Baltic nations, the rest of V4, western half of Romania (the other half is Southeastern European, which is also not the same as Eastern!), and western portion of the Balkans (the portion that joined the Western Roman civilisation back in the day, as opposed to the Byzantine civilisation - a good telltale sign is to check what alphabet they use to determine whether they're Central or Souteastern European). We're both as similar to and different from the French or British as we are with Russians, just in different ways. But since the majority of the planed is ignorant on what makes us different from Eastern Europeans, they only see what makes us different from Western Europe and fail to notice the similarities, they only notice similarities to Eastern Europeans because of the "us and them" mentality that just happens subconsciously.
    And it's an incredibly sensitive topic that the same as the Irish don't want to be called British, we don't want to be called Eastern European. And the stereotypes lumping us together are actively hurting us in many ways, cultural misrepresentation, economic mistrust when dealing with Western Europe, prejudice, or outright insulting us, invalidating us, undermining our culture, our validity, etc. and reinforces Polonophobia from German and Russian propagandas, and also evokes times when we were being germanised by Germans and Austrians and Russified by Russians, when they were occupying us and trying to erase our culture and identity.
    It's worth noting though that we're Eastern EU though. That's indisputable. But that's kinda the thing: Eastern EU pretty much overlaps with Central Europe. But it's extremely important to note the difference between Eastern EU and Eastern Europe. Also, there's the idea of Centro-Eastern Europe that was useful like in the 90s and 00s when the aftermath of the Soviet occupation was still holding us back deep in the 2nd world, but nowadays we're already closer to being 1st world than most other former-2nd world countries really (and the ones that are at a similar or higher level than us are also Central European, e.g. Czechia, Slovenia), we're pretty much a developed nation as opposed to a developing one, so that concept is getting outdated. It still has its use in some contexts, but need to remember that it's on its way out and soon it will be only causing further misconceptions.
    Anyone from outside Poland arguing that we're Eastern European is either ignorant or malicious (or both), and sadly there is a portion of Polish people who internalise that Polonphobia and they also "accept" it for us to be labelled so, but luckily the awareness and the aftermath of such myths/propaganda is less and less.
    P.S. try calling someone from any other V4 country "Eastern European" and see what happens ;) Polish people aren't "crazy" or "in denial" or "the only ones on the planet who think we're Central European", etc.
    Thanks for attending my TED talk.

    • @susel2137
      @susel2137 Месяц назад

      nice story bro 👍

  • @Piotr-n8s
    @Piotr-n8s Месяц назад +14

    All countries under Soviet control after II World War were called Eastern Block. Poland was conquered by Russians and Poles hated it. Russians tried to impose their eastern, asiatic culture on Poland. Referring to Poland as from Eastern Europe reminds Poles of this tragedy. It is also offensive and annoying as it suggests that there is a natural affinity between Poland and Russia, (as belonging to the same Eastern Europe) therefore communist rule in Poland was somewhat justified and accepted. Also some people in the West believe that Eastern Europe is a natural sphere of influence for Russia and it should be allowed to control it, blocking Western influence. How can you react to that?

  • @TheVgyuhbnj
    @TheVgyuhbnj Месяц назад +5

    About 1700 years ago ancient rome (and later zones of influence) was divided into western and eastern parts, this evolved into the western part, that is roman christianity and the eastern part into byzantium and orthodoxy. Poland is christian, under the influence of rome, so it is western europe.

  • @kamildoe33
    @kamildoe33 Месяц назад +5

    We are in central europe but we belong to western civilisation since 966. We are catholic country with latin alphabet

  • @mrkefirek9
    @mrkefirek9 Месяц назад +4

    I bet 90% of this videos viewers are polish

    • @marcelikobak5102
      @marcelikobak5102 Месяц назад

      Zaczynają mnie irytować reakcje itp zagraniczniaków etc na Polskę

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад

      I get what you mean! It can be frustrating... but sometimes it's just a lack of understanding. So please try to bear with us.

  • @millerko
    @millerko Месяц назад

    Zgadza się!

  • @margaretg4170
    @margaretg4170 Месяц назад +3

    Thank you for bringing this issue up. I am from Poland.i have corrected so many Americans. They always asked...are you from eastern Europe? I always said no!!!!!!. I felt I was assaulted. So DO NOT ASK POLISH PEOPLE IF THEY ARE FROM EASTERN EUROPE!!!!!
    This saves you a lot of trouble.

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад

      Thanks for sharing your opinion! 🙏 I totally get it.

  • @RadoslawAdamStachnik
    @RadoslawAdamStachnik 2 дня назад

    To say that Poland is located in Eastern Europe is like a death wish 😂

  • @mlaruex
    @mlaruex Месяц назад +1

    That guy certainly had some issues. It is actualy not that difficult to tell, if someone wants to insult (with Eastern Europe remark) or not, and usualy (like 99%) it is just ignorance of not knowing. I would have told you "Nah, central europe, eastern europe is further to the east." And thats it.

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад

      Exactly! That’s all it would’ve taken! 😂 I definitely didn’t mean any offense, but he got really worked up about it. Your reaction would’ve been so much easier to handle-just a simple, friendly correction and we move on. Thanks for sharing!

  • @hanka2554
    @hanka2554 Месяц назад +8

    Geograficzny środek Europy leży w Suchowoli - 231 km na północny wschód od Warszawy. Jeszcze w XVIII wieku królewski kartograf i astronom Szymon Sobierajski ustalił, że krzyżują się tutaj linie łączące najdalsze punkty Europy. Odkrycie symbolizuje wielki głaz w parku miejskim i chyba nie trzeba dodawać, że zdjęcie w tym miejscu to obowiązek każdego podróżnika. Od XVIII wieku o tym wiadomo, tylko ignoranci z Ameryki mają z tym problem. Polska zarówno geograficzne jak i mentalnie jest w Europie zachodniej.

    • @0plp0
      @0plp0 Месяц назад

      Zależy kto mierzy. Polak powie że w Polsce, Węgier że u nich, Czech inaczej, Litwini nawet mają swój środek europy itd.

    • @rafanowacki2260
      @rafanowacki2260 Месяц назад

      @@0plp0 Najczęściej to były miejsca u nas na Litwie lub Białorusi(Geograficzny środek Europy) a z takich Węgier do gór Uralu też tak daleko jak od nas.

    • @xnomado
      @xnomado Месяц назад

      Nie da się wyliczyć środka czegoś, czego nie ma. Jest tylko Eurazja, nie ma prawej, wschodniej granicy czegoś co większość nazywa Europą.

    • @rafanowacki2260
      @rafanowacki2260 Месяц назад +1

      @@xnomado No właśnie jest i powiedziane jest że w Europejskiej części Rosji mieszka 100 milionów ludzi a w części Azjatyckiej reszta około 44 miliony, więc mniej więcej tyle
      ile mieszka w takiej Hiszpanii, a poza tym nikt wtedy nie określałby Europy wschodem i zachodem a granica jest i taka Moskwa czy Kazań jest jeszcze w Europie.
      Nawet takie miasto Rosji jak Perm (opis z netu)- miasto w europejskiej części Rosji nad rzeką Kamą, u stóp gór Ural stanowiących granicę między Europą a Azją. W 2020 miało 1 055 397 mieszkańców. Do 1 grudnia 2005 było stolicą obwodu permskiego, który wchodził w skład okręgu nadwołżańskiego. Obecnie jest stolicą Kraju Permskiego

    • @0plp0
      @0plp0 Месяц назад

      @@xnomado Eurazja jak sama nazwa wskazuje dzieli się na Europę i Azję, granicą są góry Ural, góry Kaukazu i cieśniny Bosfor i Dardanelska. Tego uczą już w podstawówce. Środek Europy wychodzi różnie w zależności z jakich skrajnych punktów się mierzy.

  • @polishgigachad7097
    @polishgigachad7097 Месяц назад +6

    I like the term "Central-Eastern Europe" to describe Poland's location on the map. This reminds me of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад +4

      Yeah, "Central-Eastern Europe" kinda hits the nail on the head! 😄 And yeah, the whole Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vibe really shows how Poland’s always been more than just East or West. Love that you brought that up-thanks for sharing! 😊

    • @hanka2554
      @hanka2554 Месяц назад +3

      ​@@explorewithkojo Polska leży dokładnie w środku Europy nieuki. Polska nie jest środkowo- wschodnia czy to się wam podoba czy nie aroganci.

    • @matrixmannn
      @matrixmannn Месяц назад

      Żadna tam centralno-wschodnia. Od granic dawnej Rzeczypospolitej do Uralu gdzie jest wschodnia granica Europy jest tak samo daleko jak do Portugali gdzie jest granica zachodnia. Co z wami kurwa jest? Otwórz mapę i się doucz.

    • @matrixmannn
      @matrixmannn Месяц назад

      @@hanka2554 Też mnie wkurwiają te nieuki.

    • @matrixmannn
      @matrixmannn Месяц назад +2

      @@hanka2554 Też mnie wk.............ją te nieuki. Napisałem jeszcze jednego posta ale piel.......ty algorytm YT mnie usuwa.

  • @Ashcatlover
    @Ashcatlover Месяц назад

    The guy was kind of an asshole though, like I get it, I'm Polish and we're in central Europe but in his place I'd just correct it like "oh, it's actually in central Europe!" and him getting angry and not speaking to you the rest of the flight was shitty behaviour. Yeah there's a lot of history related resoning for why we don't want to be called easters Europeans but he could have just corrected it 🤷

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад +1

      Totally get what you’re saying! It was a bit of an overreaction on his part, for sure. There’s so much history behind why people feel strongly about being called Eastern vs. Central European, but yeah, a simple correction would’ve done the trick. Sometimes people just take things to heart, especially when it’s about identity stuff. Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! 😊

  • @MatWlkp_2015
    @MatWlkp_2015 23 дня назад

    hehe that was funny actually, to me that's not a big deal, it is Central Europe but cold war border did it's job and also we Poland, are the part of the EU and here we have the EU border, so you can say that we are in the east of the EU. But further there are a few else countries that belongs to Europe but actually do they? ;-) Hmm, this seems to be questionable, controversial, some of them (actually one, big one) seems that would like to be the master of europe or something similar? ;-)...

  • @BartoszMazur-y6p
    @BartoszMazur-y6p Месяц назад +1

    ❤❤❤😊😊😊

  • @grigor5115
    @grigor5115 Месяц назад +1

    I don't understand these people. I'm Polish and for me it is obvious that people from other countries recognize my country as the eastern part of Europe because of so many things. Too much uncontrolled emotions in Polish people. Generational trauma. Being too serious.
    I remember when I was in Belgium with my friends and when people were asking us where are we from, one of my friends were saying: "From Post-Communist Eastern European Poland". And you know what? Only we were laughing, people didn't know what he is talking about and for us this answer was very funny.

    • @arturjj8761
      @arturjj8761 Месяц назад +1

      Ile masz lat? To może być odpowiedź na twoje niezrozumienie sytuacji.

    • @robbob007
      @robbob007 Месяц назад +1

      ​@@arturjj8761o to to...👏

  • @donpercent
    @donpercent Месяц назад +3

    Sorry for that. I dont know why Poles get offended while we really are an eastern european country. Its just a fact.

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад +1

      Honestly, I totally thought the same thing at first. I mean, geographically, it makes sense, right? But after talking with some Poles, I realized it’s not just about location-it’s more about the whole Cold War vibe they want to leave behind. They see themselves as Central Europe, and for them, it’s like moving on from an old chapter.
      It’s kinda like if someone kept calling you something that doesn’t quite fit anymore, even if technically it makes sense. It’s more about identity than geography, you know? But hey, thanks for sharing your perspective! I really appreciate it.

    • @hanka2554
      @hanka2554 Месяц назад +5

      Nie jesteśmy krajem Europy wschodniej. Polska leży dokładnie w środku Europy. Jeżeli mapa jest dla was za trudna to uwierzcie mi na słowo.

    • @GluonToo
      @GluonToo Месяц назад +10

      @@explorewithkojo Quote from the English-language Wikipedia: “Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe.”
      Second quote: “Whilst the region is variously defined, it often includes Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Transylvania as part of Romania.”
      Third quote: “Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea, and the waterway of the Bosporus Strait.”
      Where is Poland and where are the Ural Mountains? Do you orient yourself a bit in geography? Poland is indeed located in Central Europe! Besides, Poland was baptized in 966 in the Western Rite, not in the Eastern Rite. From the beginning we were associated with Rome, not Byzantium. We also have a Latin alphabet, not Cyrillic. The tribes from which the Polish nationality arose belonged to the Western Slavs.
      In 1944-1989, Poland was in the sphere of influence of the USSR, behind the “Iron Curtain.” And this is the only reason why it was referred to as an Eastern European country. It was about political affiliation. However, 35 years have passed since the fall of communism. Wake up!
      You have to be an uneducated person to claim that Poland is in Eastern Europe.

    • @GluonToo
      @GluonToo Месяц назад +3

      @@hanka2554 They just don't know how far east Europe extends! No one taught them in school that Europe is as far as the Urals!

    • @rafanowacki2260
      @rafanowacki2260 Месяц назад +3

      Europe is from Portugal to the Ural Mountains, so saying that Poland is the east of Europe is like saying that Moscow is in Asia, which is absurd.

  • @poohoff
    @poohoff Месяц назад +3

    Poland is 100% Eastern Europe and everybody knows that, that's why Poles get butthurt over it

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад +2

      I get what you’re saying! 😄 It does seem like a small thing, but after chatting with some Poles, I realized it’s more about leaving behind the old Cold War associations than geography. They see themselves as Central Europe, closer culturally to places like Germany or Austria. It’s not so much being “butthurt” but more like wanting to shake off an outdated label that comes with a lot of baggage.

    • @polishgigachad7097
      @polishgigachad7097 Месяц назад +1

      You're 100% imbecile.

    • @karoldrzewiecki655
      @karoldrzewiecki655 Месяц назад +9

      Bzdura. Polska jest krajem o cywilizacji łacińskiej, tak jak pozostałe kraje europy zachodniej i także geograficznie jest w europie środkowej. Nie trzeba być takim ignorantem.

    • @GluonToo
      @GluonToo Месяц назад +3

      "Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe."
      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poland

    • @poohoff
      @poohoff Месяц назад +1

      @@karoldrzewiecki655 Rumunia to też cywilizacja łacińska

  • @MrLYPH
    @MrLYPH Месяц назад +1

    Lived in Warsaw 14 years. I was in a room in Warsaw full of polish people and they were all arguing whether Poland was in EE or not. Many poles think it is.
    I also think it is.

    • @explorewithkojo
      @explorewithkojo  Месяц назад

      Haha, sounds about right! 😄 I’ve learned that even Poles can’t agree on it. It’s like one of those never-ending debates. Honestly, at the end of the day, it just depends on who you ask. 😂 Thanks for sharing!

    • @Polans-gd
      @Polans-gd Месяц назад

      Go to school and learn geography, history and culture because you don't have a clue about these subjects. And Łódź must be eastern Poland to you, eh? I am not surprised that such idiots are easy to manipulate by dictators and politicians. You swallow everything like pelicans, but all you had to do was study at school. Żenada.

    • @rayan69pl
      @rayan69pl Месяц назад

      What infuriates me about people saying that Poland is Eastern Europe is their stupidity resulting from the lack of education. Apparently geography is not something they teach people abroad. Even defining "Eastern Europe" from a political perspective...it is about 35 years too late. Poland has been in the EU for 20 years, so defining Poland as a country from EE from a political perspective...it also makes no sense

    • @MrLYPH
      @MrLYPH Месяц назад

      @@rayan69pl The original Slavic homeland is believed to have been in Eastern Europe. Poles are slavs. Over time, the Slavic groups that stayed in Eastern Europe (particularly Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians) maintained strong Slavic cultural and linguistic roots, which reinforced the connection to Eastern Europe. During the Cold War, much of Eastern Europe, which included many Slavic countries, was part of the Eastern Bloc. This division created a strong association between "Eastern Europe" and Slavic culture. Poland has shared linguistic and cultural traits that people outside the region might associate with "Eastern Europe." Slavic countries are geographically located in the eastern part of Europe, like Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, but if you look at older maps of Poland it encompassed most of these areas.
      Theres nothing stupid or uneducated about thinking Poles are EE.

    • @rayan69pl
      @rayan69pl Месяц назад

      @MrLYPH Sorry titan of intellect but I don't argue with people who don't know geography because you'll bring me down to your low level and win with experience. And as I've already mentioned - I'm not very interested in the opinions of people who are intellectually limited. For me, opinions like yours are simply funny. The only thing that irritates me is that in today's world we don't talk about such people because it's immediately perceived as "hate speech". So go be an dilettante somewhere else... Where anyone takes your opinion seriously 🤷