Ancestry in America

[Dags90]

OR: it's to do with the gratingly annoying people who insist on keeping track of every stray percentage of Irish blood in their ancestry so that they can claim the Irish stereotype and feel special on st. Patrick's day.

Kiss me, I'm 7/25ths Irish!

I've met Irish-Americans who claim to be proud of their ancestry, but can't tell you what Lace Irish means. Or Italian-Americans with surnames like Genovese who cling to the predominately southern Italian traditions of most Italian-American communities.

 

[Woodsey]

I don't know, but it annoys me no end.

I'm British. I was born in Britain, I have a British passport, I'm a British citizen. That's it. There's no need for me to mention that I'm like an 1/8 Jewish, or whatever other races/nationalities that hold no bearing on me whatsoever.

No shit, you were born in a 300-year-old country, OF COURSE you're going to have foreign ancestry, that's not what you are though. You're American. Nationality doesn't flow through your damn blood, its a line on a map, and even then it'll become redundant for some people when the lines inevitably get redrawn.

So yeah, if I ask you your nationality, don't tell me where every member of your family came from.

[sub]If that seems just a tad rant-y, its because its a pet hate.[/sub]

Well... I'm partially Native AMerican, so I guess when I say I'm American, I'm "more" American then other people would be.

Same.

Oh, and funny thing happened last week. I was called an American fascist.

By a German.

World War 2 mentality still going strong I see. *sigh*

 

[Verlander]

It pisses me off. I'm not American, but if I chat to someone online, they refer to themselves as "Irish" or "Italian", when even their grandparents were born in the US.

You're all American. Deal with it.

Well... I'm partially Native AMerican, so I guess when I say I'm American, I'm "more" American then other people would be.

Same.

Oh, and funny thing happened last week. I was called an American fascist.

By a German.

How ironic! I mean all Germans are fascistic. Obviously.

 

[Freechoice]

Well... I'm partially Native AMerican, so I guess when I say I'm American, I'm "more" American then other people would be.

Same.

Oh, and funny thing happened last week. I was called an American fascist.

By a German.

XD That is funny. Why did they call you that? ANd how long did it take you to throw up Fascist Germany?

It came up as an Eagleland [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Eagleland] joke after he was talking about how the gypsies are a drain on the German economy and how they breed more welfare dependent slackers. I wanted to one up him with how America treats non-white people in general. Then it spiraled downward to me being a fascist.
Oh well.

Feel... need... to link... METAL WOLF CHAOS!

How ironic! I mean all Germans are fascistic. Obviously.

Well, we are on a video game forum. By video game logic, that is true. I've never known a game in which Germany has been the good guys.


Edit: Just for a PC cop-out, I have a very close friend from Deutscheland. He laughed at it.

If some Europeans can look down on Americans for acting like we're all idiots and self-righteous morons, I think it's fair to take a few stabs here and there.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

It's the simple difference between your nationality and your ancestry. Your nationality is wherever the heck you were born, or lived most of your life, if that place was America then you are American, you cannot be Irish, or Dutch or anything else because of the many cultural differences between you and anyone of that nationality, to be the nationality you must live the life of someone from that country. Ancestry is where your family came from historically, if that was the same place I am from then that's pretty cool to know, but don't expect me to give you any special treatment or take you in as a distant cousin.

Sorry, this post also turned into a rant, it's just that I'm from Ireland and we kind of have an in joke here about Americans seeing themselves as more Irish than we are, the occasional stereotypical American tourist doesn't help much.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

Because their family isn't native to America.

I was born in America, but my parents are from Portugal. That makes me an American with Portuguese ancestry. Only those with relations to the Native American tribes can claim that they have American roots.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

What flips my shit off is when people consider themselves a nationality because of their heritage, but they've lived in the same area of America all their lives.

You're not Irish, Polish, German, Brazilian, you've never even left this state. You're American, I saw you eat at McDonalds yesterday.

 

[VanityGirl]

I say I'm Native American, so I was here first!
Suck it! ;P

 

[Jazzyjazz2323]

Because I'm only a third generation American I feel saying my ancestry is American is somewhat not right.What I love is when someone accuses me of racism and I say you're playing on a double standard then they counter with well your ancestors owned slaves and then I say my family didn't come to America till 1919 and they immigrated from a non slave holding nation so go fuck yourself.Basically my family holds no real ties to any parts of great American History except surviving the great depression and serving in ww2.

 

[Dags90]

The one that gets me is the 'Irish connection' one when they're 1/16th Irish. So you mean one of your great great grandparents was Irish and that makes you Irish? Hmm...

I always wonder whether they'd be as keen to do it if they were 1/16th Iraqi or something. It's like they're desperate for some of the 'Luck 'o' th'Oirish' to rub off on them.

I think it's mostly just an easy (if lazy) way to form a self identity. I can see how an identity could shape one's life if you were readily identifiable as a particular group that faces stereotyping and prejudice (blacks, Jews, etc.). But Irish-Americans could easily "pass" as any other pasty British Isle person.

I generally consider myself a generic white person. Of course, my mom being adopted probably affects my outlook. We don't even know what half of her ancestry is, and it just gets awfully convoluted. Her mother is Irish/Scots-Irish-Canadian. So would that be considered Canadian or Irish/Scots-Irish?

I wonder if that technically makes me a first generation American?

 

[Jazoni89]

Everyone in America either has, Spanish, Native Indian, English, or African ancestors.

Simple as that really.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I saw you eat at McDonalds yesterday.

Do you know how many McDonalds there are in the world?

 

[scorptatious]

It's because everyone in America is an immigrant in some fashion or another. We just don't have the history and force of culture that other nations do.

What about native Americans?

They came over from Russia when there was still a land bridge between it and Alaska.

I actually heard they came across the bridge from Asia. At least that's what I heard from my U.S. History teacher. Of course he says it's only one of many theories. Another theory states that they may have came from Atlantis, and they used boats to travel along the Pacific.

 

[lostzombies.com]

You are wherever you were born, End Of.

Claiming decent from other countries is for people who feel the need to justify themselves and/do those who are ashamed of their born country and try to leach some kind of stereotype from a foreign one.

 

[Atticus89]

It's because everyone in America is an immigrant in some fashion or another. We just don't have the history and force of culture that other nations do.

What about native Americans?

They came over from Russia when there was still a land bridge between it and Alaska.

By that reasoning, everyone on the planet is African because that's where humans originated from.

 

[RN7]

Because America hasn't existed long enough for the citizens to neglect the presence of their ancestors as an immigrant of some sort. Give it a few centuries. That and the actual, real world equivalent of an "American" is actually just a warm-weather Siberian so...there.

 

[Dags90]

I actually heard they came across the bridge from Asia.

Significant parts of Russia are in Asia, including where the land bridge is thought to have formed. Where were you when Palin totally didn't say "I can see Russia from my house!"

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I saw you eat at McDonalds yesterday.

Do you know how many McDonalds there are in the world?

I do, it's just a stereotypes of Americans, and I love making fun of that stereotype.

 

[scorptatious]

I actually heard they came across the bridge from Asia.

Significant parts of Russia are in Asia, including where the land bridge is thought to have formed. Where were you when Palin totally didn't say "I can see Russia from my house!"

Huh. I didn't know that. Then again, I suck at Geography.