Ah, well that's kind of worth mentioning, I would think; that person was Polish in nationality only, not actually of Polish descent yet somehow dark-skinned. :)
What I mean regarding "as if it be ..." is not standard English grammar. Use of the "be" form of the verb (that is not the subjunctive be) without inflecting for tense or person is featured in African-American Vernacular English.
> What I mean regarding "as if it be ..." is not standard English grammar. Use of the "be" form of the verb (that is not the subjunctive be) without inflecting for tense or person is featured in African-American Vernacular English.
But it is the subjunctive.
“as if” classically demands the subjunctive the mood in it's subordinate clause, if it __be__ used as an irrealis.
I realize well of course that in vernacular English the subjunctive mood has been in decline for the past centuries, so it might not be so commonly used as such any more in spoken English.
What I mean regarding "as if it be ..." is not standard English grammar. Use of the "be" form of the verb (that is not the subjunctive be) without inflecting for tense or person is featured in African-American Vernacular English.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Vernacular_En...
(An example like "I request that everyone be quiet" is standard; that's standard grammar, using the subjunctive mood of "to be").