Talk:Polack

Alternative spellings

I took the trouble to research this at COCA. If you've actually taken the trouble to do some research, please let me know. I am always happy to hear a fact-based argument. DCDuring TALK 22:23, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Please discuss at Wiktionary:Requests for verification#Pollock. I couldn't find relevant cites at COCA, but it wouldn't shock me if they exist. —Ruakh_TALK 17:13, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

I'd forgotten which set of facts was from where. The alternative spellings are all from Google books searches for "dumb-[alt spelling]". DCDuring TALK 03:00, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

RFV discussion

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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Added as a "Polish" word, this isn't correct for Polish spelling, as far as I know. --EncycloPetey 18:47, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

No, the Polish spelling is Polak, the form Polack only appears AFAICT as a Germanized surname. --Duncan 19:08, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

This is by far the most common of the many spellings of the ethnic slur, AFAICT based on b.g.c. search of "dumb pol...". I will add the English. DCDuring TALK 19:54, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks to whoever did it already. This is clearly widespread use. I would be willing to cite all of the five common spellings from b.g.c. alone. They are all in DARE, too. Most of the OneLook dictionaries don't have these. DCDuring TALK 19:59, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Of greater concern: Are there really three separate meanings, or just one? I discern only one. --EncycloPetey 20:19, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

The only issue is how to handle the apparent fact that it took on a derogatory meaning and lost its neutral meaning, at least in the US. I already have citations that demonstrate the Elizabethan neutral usage. The contributor's "definition" is a short essay not in our style at all, but the quotations speak for themselves. The way in which "Polack" is derogatory is different from some other ethnic slurs, because it is almost the same as the Poles' name for themselves in their own language. It is actually sometimes neutral, sometimes only seen to be intended negatively to be pejorative by the presence of a negative adjective, sometimes clearly pejorative all on its own. DCDuring TALK 21:03, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

I would put that information under the Usage notes, and give it a context tag of {{context|label=now|_|derogatory}}. --EncycloPetey 21:12, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Striking: the entry was speedy-Englished less than an hour after the RFV was open. —Ruakh_TALK 18:00, 15 December 2009 (UTC)