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Pole

Change a single letter and change the word game

I want to play a game with you all.

You have to make a new word by changing only one letter of the last word.

Dirt

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reminding that going outside is worth it because sometimes there is a cat

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Polish people be like "szkoda gadać" and then proceed with complaining for three hours straight

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If I got a dollar for every time I have to hear some russian-speaking cunt screaming his face off on the phone at the local Biedronkas, I would be able to afford myself a merry little Christmas this year tbh

i giggled

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"how to prevent smile lines" there are a thousand more important things to do with your time than postpone evidence of life's joy on your face

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Gdybym piła kielicha za każdym razem kiedy Jarema kogoś całuje albo czule przyciska do piersi, byłabym pijana w trzy dupy przed końcem rozdziału

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Both, if you come to church with me.

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(cat)holics

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I can literally play a bullying bingo XD

- Clothes - check! I had a hippy phase, a tomboy phase, a goth phase - they didn't like any of these😅

- Disability - wearing glasses and not being able to see well - check! At some point my brother wanted to beat my math teacher for how much he bullied me for that;

- Mental problems - sorta check?? I'm not sure if it counts, but as a kid and a teenager I showed some signs of distress in my behaviour and kids often made fun of my coping mechanisms;

- My sexuality - check! I remember walking with my girlfriend and being followed by a group of bullies from my class who screamed nasty things at us. I was proud of having a girlfriend tho XD

- My height - check! I was used as a shelf for elbows regularly. I even started wearing high heels at some point, but the shoes caused some sort of feet deformation and I had to stop;

- My general appearance - check! Funnily enough, I was called mongolian, gypsy and tatar because of the tint of my skin (it isn't that dark, I just spent a lot of time in the sun XD) and dark thick eyebrows I used to have as a kid. Ironically, as a teenager, I was called hitler for my hairstyle;

- My culture - check! Oh how many times I heard 'go back to your Poland if you are so Polish' from my Ukrainian classmates. I was also called 'not polish enough' by the principal of the Polish language school. She was Ukrainian herself by the way;

- My home situation - I miss my drink this time. My family looked relatively healthy and normal in comparison to many of my classmates'. Truly, kids do not become bullies for no reason, many of them were victims of home violence or came from families where they were raised by a single parent. When some bad stuff related to my relationship with my parents came up, I actually got nothing but support from my best friend and my teachers, so this time, luckily, I'm out!

- My interests - check! Everyone laughed at my obsession with Bob Dylan XD Frankly, it was a little bit too strong, but at least it was a good form of escapism!

- My general vibe - check!

In conclusion, I can't say this stuff didn't have any impact on me, but I guess these issues weren't so difficult for me to work through. For quite a long time I had quite a big confidence that whoever I am - it is alright, so they basically went through me, leaving just some memories I know I can laugh at. I know that many kids don't have that in them as they are yet to develop it, so I'm glad that bullying seems to have gotten less severe at schools. For problematic kids who become bullies it's also just a coping mechanism, so the mental healthcare system should take that into consideration as well. We need to remember that bullying is a symptom of society which doesn't take care of the kids enough, impacting them negatively starting with pathological families through underqualified or underpaid teachers to the lack of proper support from mental health institutions.

Anyways, it was fun digging into some memories xd

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

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Joan Baez in D. A. Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back (1967)

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