The
Meriden diaspora is
Connecticut's oldest
Polonia, having been started well over 120 years ago. With the modern
Polish language largely the result of the turbulence of
World War II, there is a recognizable difference between the Polish spoken in Meriden by older immigrants together with their children, and today's Polish speakers in the
Ojczyzna, or
Fatherland. Some of the earliest
Poles to Meriden came in the 1870s, and all of the Polish immigrants which started Saint Stanislaus Parish emigrated during the age of the
partition of Poland, meaning many of Meriden's Poles left from the
Austro-Hungarian,
German, or
Russian empires; and not from Poland. And in the early Parish, perhaps the majority of those immigrants came from
the Kingdom of Galicia. Many of these early immigrants left before
World War I from Galicia during the
Great Economic Emigration, beginning in the 1880s with the mass emigration of Galician peasantry and temporarially ending with the outbreak of the Great World War. The war separated many families on opposite sides of the
Atlantic, so to this day many St. Stanislaus Parishioners maintain
Christmas and
Easter card contact with distant cousins and families in the old country. Many of Saint Stanislaus' Polish parishioners returned to fight for Poland's cause in the
Blue Army, or Haller's Army, which was formed in France by Poles from diasporas from all over the United States, Canada, and Brazil, as well as by former
prisoners of war from the imperial armies of
Germany and
Russia; they were organized under
Gen. Józef Haller. After the
First World War, 1914–1918, many more Poles left the
Second Polish Republic for a new start in America. With a thriving economy and industry in Meriden, many of these Poles made their way to Meriden and into the Parish. The immigration of Poles slowed tremendously after
World War II, but continues to this day with new Polish parishioners often finding their way to St. Stanislaus in Meriden. As a Parish with a very long history in Polonia, the language spoken in Meriden is a lively and enjoyable one, but not particularly correct. Meriden's Polish is the result of the mixing of the
dialects and gwaras spoken before World War II, of the entrance of new words from a developing culture, and from the simple passage of time as language changes or is forgotten. A number of minor features of Polish vocabulary spoken in the first half of the 20th century have been retained in
gwara merydeńska, which now sound archaic to modern Poles. Additionally,
gwara merydeńska is largely
half-na-pół, that is, a part Polish and a part English. Perhaps, the best example of this interesting and endearing form of Polish may be:
"A policeman gave me a ticket on the highway." Which in modern
Polish would appear as:
"Policjant dał mi mandat na autostradzie." However, in
a Polish typical of older Polonias in the United States, this may appear as:
"Kap dał mi tiketa na hajłeju." Indeed, many Poles which come to an older Polish diaspora may at first find this
half-na-pół language to just be an abomination of the beautiful and very complex Polish language, but many will find themselves slowly slipping into this almost unstoppable form of Polish; close contact with both languages makes this form of language often unpreventable. It has a certain history and character to it, which makes its existence somewhat pleasant, however, using this form of dialect with either visiting Poles or in the
Fatherland sometimes leads to confusion. It may also be worth mentioning here that some words developed in Polonia before being sent back to Poland, where they are now commonplace and a true part of the Polish language. ==References==