stosh machek; the name

Saturday, August 30th, 2008 | otherStuff

when i was a kid i heard a story from my dad about something that had happened to him at work …he worked with a lot of polish guys at a factory in chicago …now the poles have historically always had problems with the germans …in fact there is an old polish proverb; ‘a german is a good man maybe, but it’s better to hang him’ …anyway; these polish fellows thought my old man was alright, even if he was a, (3rd generation american), german …in fact, they went so far as to suggest that maybe he wasn’t really german after all …maybe, when his relatives came over, his polish sir-name was mis-read by immigration authorities, & it was really supposed to be; ‘machek’, [a common polish name, phonetically similar to my father's germanic last name] …so they started calling him; ‘machek’
…many, many years after hearing this story, i had a job where the supervisor, for reasons of his own, habitually referred to nearly everyone as ’stosh’ …because of my sterling work-ethic, i would actually answer when he called; ‘hey, stosh!’ to no-one in particular …i actually kind of liked the name, & learned that it was polish for stanley
…i then got the idea one day to put the names together & began using the name ’stosh machek’ to sign art work & guest books at gallery openings, & as the name of my persona in performance pieces, & as an all-around alias …in the middle ages people believed that if you knew some ones name, you had a power over him …this is still true in this day & age, weather you’re talking about a name signed on a contract, or identity theft …stosh machek was the name i would use when i was talking to people that i was sure i’d never see again, & didn’t want to be talking to in the first place
…then, years & years later i was talking to an individual who’s last name was jezwerski, & he told me that stosh machek was a chicago-polish colloquialism for an individual who ‘just got off the boat’ & didn’t really know his way around, as in; ‘he don’t know any better …he’s a real stosh machek’ …he said he’d heard his uncles using it …anyway, as near as i can tell, i’m not polish, but i like the name

...send this somewhere!