Why are so many people named Pollack, Jewish? Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack, for example. After all, "Pollack" is an Anglicized version of "Polak", the Polish word for... "Polish". And the majority of Polish people are certainly not Jewish!

Ah, but Poland did have a large Jewish population a couple of centuries ago, when surnames started to become prominent in Europe. And Jews, due to friendliness of surrounding people, tended to move around a lot. So a Jew from Poland who moved to another region would become a "Polak" (or "Polack", or "Pollack"). And your regular run-of-the-mill goyishe Poles stayed in Poland, so it would make no sense to single them out as "Polaks". They were all polaks! Makes sense?

Of course, now "Polak" (or "Polack", or "Pollack") is considered a derogatory term, and for that we need to thank our old friends, ze Germans. It started with a 19th century effort to put down the Polish people. (Which, as terrible as it was, pales in comparison to their 20th century effort to put down the Polish people.) The word then migrated to English and stuck.

So please use "Pole" when referring to a Polish person! You don't want to be like ze Germans, do you?