My family immigrated to the UK from Poland when I was six. I’m 20 now, speak much better English than Polish and feel like this is my land/culture. However I have a Polish first and last name, Polish passport and “unique” accent everyone picks up on, so despite this I’m usually perceived as an outsider. It makes me really sad because I don’t “belong” in Poland anymore either. Everything seems so complicated especially as I’ve gotten older with having to get the right documentation for work and opening a bank account and etc also… Not even sure if I can vote in the next general election even though I feel like I should be able to?

I’ve had a few nasty instances of being told to go back to my own country, even had a conker thrown at my head while a boy yelled Polski at me in year 11, and tbh even just been seen as a novelty and being asked to say something in Polish has gotten really old. I guess I’m just wondering if I’ll ever truly fit in. For some context, I grew up in North England and now live in Wales

  • Devi
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    208 months ago

    Knowing what a conker is makes you super British.

    • VindictiveJudge
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      208 months ago

      Yeah, I’m American and have no idea what a conker is unless it’s having a bad fur day.

      • @Insig@lemmy.world
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        28 months ago

        It’s the name/game given to chestnuts where you put a hole through the chestnut and pass some string through and tie it off.

        The game is simple you try and break your opponents conker with yours. Taken turns.

        The defender holds the string steady with his conker straight down

        The attacker uses his conker to try and break the defenders using a sort of downwards flick.

        • Devi
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          28 months ago

          Horse chestnuts, not chestnuts, chestnuts are soft and you eat them on bonfire night, horse chestnuts are hard and you can crack skulls with them.