Polish

Humour and Anecdotes

Anecdotes and jokes, which give an idea of the Polish culture and sense of humour and the way Poles think. Of course, these are generalisations although taken from my own experiences of life in Poland.

In my experience, every culture has its good and bad areas; I would consider one of the "differences" in the culture is jealousy. Poles as compared to other European cultures tend to envy other people.

Financial success is frequently ascribed to corruption or some other immoral income. Sometimes this is true, but usually it is due to hard work or entrepreneurial skills.

A well-known politician gave me the following commentary over a beer when I first came to Poland about 20 years ago. At that time, I did not quite understand the relevance but I soon found it to be very true and a perfect illustration of the difference between Western Europe and the way of thinking in Poland.

An English man living in quite a nice neighbourhood with a small car and small house lived next to a much grander house with a Mercedes in the drive. The English man thought, “I wish I had a Mercedes and a large house like my neighbour"

A Pole, living in similar circumstances, although with a small Fiat and small house. This person also has a neighbour with a large house and Mercedes. The Pole thought "Why doesn’t my neighbour have a small fiat and small house like me, he must have got it by corruption or stealing".

In the several  years since the sharing of this observation, I have come across a similar ethic many times in my life in Poland.