Americans seem get really weird with the whole ancestry thing. There appears to be a desire to look into your family history and find something “exotic”, which basically seems to mean non-English - I imagine because that’s perceived as the ‘default’ ancestry, so-to-speak.
Honestly, who the fuck cares? What difference does it make? Nationalities aren’t Skyrim races. You don’t get special abilities. It makes no difference whether your ancestors were British/Irish/Spanish/French/whatever.
E: This is obviously not intended as a hateful statement, people. You have to understand that the rest of the world doesn’t care about this, so we’re confused when we look to the US and see them take it so seriously. We’re especially puzzled when Americans say “I’m Irish” because their great great great uncle bought a pint of Guiness in the 1870s. It’s an alien concept to the rest of the planet.
Nationalities aren’t Skyrim races. You don’t get special abilities.
“It wasn’t until I learned that I was 90% British that it all made sense… my inhuman ability to queue for hours, my fastidiousness surrounding permits, and hatred for the French… I knew I was special, but I never imagined how special.”
What’s with the negativity from you and the other comments?
I can tell you why Americans care. Because identity matters to people. The story of the melting pot is central to the American story as a nation of immigrants (even today) and central to individual identities. Thus, there is a lot of interest in backgrounds and geneology. If you ask the average American about their heritage you’re likely to get a surprising answer - so people talk about it more.
I get why it seems weird to many other cultures - if you ask the average French person (for example) their heritage they’ll say ‘French as far back as we can tell’.
The French person celebrates their identity through the lens of the French story, and the American does too, it’s just that the American story is the immigrant story.
I hope you do actually care. I hope in this era of rising nationalism and online hate enough of us value diversity of backgrounds and ancestries.
I’m not being hateful about it. I’m just puzzled as to why people think it makes any difference to their lives, or why they’d be disappointed in having the “wrong” ancestry.
I see a lot of Americans obsessed with it so much that it borders on being fetish-like, particularly when it comes to people claiming to be Irish or Italian, and it’s bizarre to me.
I can speak to this phenomenon a bit. It’s part of what was drilled into us from our families. My father’s maternal grandparents were from Donegal, Ireland. Any time a single person from a Donegal family passed away in the entire city of Philadelphia, whether they were known to my family or not, my father, his brothers, and my grandmother were going to that wake to pay their respects. Once he became an adult, he became a member of the AoH, which is an Irish-American fraternal order. They’d keep some Irish customs alive (and being separated by the ocean, no doubt hallucinate some new ones). For people that are heavily invested in their families, it’s a way of feeling connected to your ancestors. I think leaving was rather traumatic for many people, so I think there is an element of mourning in the connection for some too.
I myself wouldn’t call myself Irish, but I know a great deal about Ireland and I share a deep appreciation for it despite being a Yankee. I get that it’s no doubt annoying when someone who knows nothing of the place they are claiming ownership of says they’re Irish or Italian to someone actually from Ireland or Italy, but at the end of the day I think it comes from a well intentioned place. If my family came to find we weren’t at all Irish by ancestry, I would definitely feel shocked as much of my upbringing was framed by that identity.
No not hateful, you’re just giving off a weird vibe about it. But you’re half way there actually, transform that energy into curiosity.
The two you picked especially have a real fascinating history and I’d encourage you to check it out because both of those groups had a tough time in their early immigration days. They aren’t fetishising at all - those communities had to stick together because they weren’t exactly welcome, and that mentality became ingrained. Over time, it was less necessary for survival so it transitioned into more of a cultural tradition.
I understand why you’d think that because we’re all inundated with American culture no matter where we are in the western world. But that’s just not true. There are plenty of interesting groups who celebrate cultural identities not based on the country they live in.
A web search uncovered German-Brazilians and Italian-Argentines for me, I’m sure there are many many more.
While true, a lot of older people in the UK get really, really racist when it comes to their bloodline. Some people view themselves as more British than others because of their lineage towards the Saxons, as opposed to people that have been here for 100+ years that may have originated from elsewhere. Many don’t consider anyone to be British if they emigrated from somewhere like Jamaica, India, or Ireland because, in their view, only the pure Anglo Saxons are the original Brits, even if 5-6 generations of their family grew up here, embedded themselves into society
I do agree that Americans are really weird when it comes to their ancestry, especially considering they come from a country that is very anti-immigration. IMO if you want to claim that you are 50% British or whatever, you shouldn’t be blocking British people from moving to your country (and vice versa).
A large number of Americans generally seem to grow up with a main character complex thanks to all the individualist & jingoist propaganda people get bombarded with over there.
The search for something “exotic” as you put it is just an ego-driven search for the piece of evidence that they are, in fact, more special and unique than everyone else.
If you’re an American and you’re not a native American you’re family immigrated here. Why is it so weird to want to know where your family or ancestors come from, I’m lucky and can trace my family name back a couple hundred years. I’m still American I just got family history that’s fun to know about.
Americans seem get really weird with the whole ancestry thing. There appears to be a desire to look into your family history and find something “exotic”, which basically seems to mean non-English - I imagine because that’s perceived as the ‘default’ ancestry, so-to-speak.
Honestly, who the fuck cares? What difference does it make? Nationalities aren’t Skyrim races. You don’t get special abilities. It makes no difference whether your ancestors were British/Irish/Spanish/French/whatever.
E: This is obviously not intended as a hateful statement, people. You have to understand that the rest of the world doesn’t care about this, so we’re confused when we look to the US and see them take it so seriously. We’re especially puzzled when Americans say “I’m Irish” because their great great great uncle bought a pint of Guiness in the 1870s. It’s an alien concept to the rest of the planet.
“It wasn’t until I learned that I was 90% British that it all made sense… my inhuman ability to queue for hours, my fastidiousness surrounding permits, and hatred for the French… I knew I was special, but I never imagined how special.”
What’s with the negativity from you and the other comments?
I can tell you why Americans care. Because identity matters to people. The story of the melting pot is central to the American story as a nation of immigrants (even today) and central to individual identities. Thus, there is a lot of interest in backgrounds and geneology. If you ask the average American about their heritage you’re likely to get a surprising answer - so people talk about it more.
I get why it seems weird to many other cultures - if you ask the average French person (for example) their heritage they’ll say ‘French as far back as we can tell’.
The French person celebrates their identity through the lens of the French story, and the American does too, it’s just that the American story is the immigrant story.
I hope you do actually care. I hope in this era of rising nationalism and online hate enough of us value diversity of backgrounds and ancestries.
I’m not being hateful about it. I’m just puzzled as to why people think it makes any difference to their lives, or why they’d be disappointed in having the “wrong” ancestry.
I see a lot of Americans obsessed with it so much that it borders on being fetish-like, particularly when it comes to people claiming to be Irish or Italian, and it’s bizarre to me.
I can speak to this phenomenon a bit. It’s part of what was drilled into us from our families. My father’s maternal grandparents were from Donegal, Ireland. Any time a single person from a Donegal family passed away in the entire city of Philadelphia, whether they were known to my family or not, my father, his brothers, and my grandmother were going to that wake to pay their respects. Once he became an adult, he became a member of the AoH, which is an Irish-American fraternal order. They’d keep some Irish customs alive (and being separated by the ocean, no doubt hallucinate some new ones). For people that are heavily invested in their families, it’s a way of feeling connected to your ancestors. I think leaving was rather traumatic for many people, so I think there is an element of mourning in the connection for some too.
I myself wouldn’t call myself Irish, but I know a great deal about Ireland and I share a deep appreciation for it despite being a Yankee. I get that it’s no doubt annoying when someone who knows nothing of the place they are claiming ownership of says they’re Irish or Italian to someone actually from Ireland or Italy, but at the end of the day I think it comes from a well intentioned place. If my family came to find we weren’t at all Irish by ancestry, I would definitely feel shocked as much of my upbringing was framed by that identity.
No not hateful, you’re just giving off a weird vibe about it. But you’re half way there actually, transform that energy into curiosity.
The two you picked especially have a real fascinating history and I’d encourage you to check it out because both of those groups had a tough time in their early immigration days. They aren’t fetishising at all - those communities had to stick together because they weren’t exactly welcome, and that mentality became ingrained. Over time, it was less necessary for survival so it transitioned into more of a cultural tradition.
I’m aware of the history. It’s still weird. You need to understand that nowhere else does this. It’s strange.
I understand why you’d think that because we’re all inundated with American culture no matter where we are in the western world. But that’s just not true. There are plenty of interesting groups who celebrate cultural identities not based on the country they live in.
A web search uncovered German-Brazilians and Italian-Argentines for me, I’m sure there are many many more.
Europeans: haha you guys have no history!
Also Europeans: haha you’re curious where your family emigrated from! Losers!
I think having English heritage is not trendy for several reasons.
ETA: Man, you really riled up some people!
Kinda weird obsession when a big part of the population hates strangers so much.
And even British/Irish/Spanish/… doesn’t mean much as there was mixing for centuries
While true, a lot of older people in the UK get really, really racist when it comes to their bloodline. Some people view themselves as more British than others because of their lineage towards the Saxons, as opposed to people that have been here for 100+ years that may have originated from elsewhere. Many don’t consider anyone to be British if they emigrated from somewhere like Jamaica, India, or Ireland because, in their view, only the pure Anglo Saxons are the original Brits, even if 5-6 generations of their family grew up here, embedded themselves into society
I do agree that Americans are really weird when it comes to their ancestry, especially considering they come from a country that is very anti-immigration. IMO if you want to claim that you are 50% British or whatever, you shouldn’t be blocking British people from moving to your country (and vice versa).
A large number of Americans generally seem to grow up with a main character complex thanks to all the individualist & jingoist propaganda people get bombarded with over there.
The search for something “exotic” as you put it is just an ego-driven search for the piece of evidence that they are, in fact, more special and unique than everyone else.
If you’re an American and you’re not a native American you’re family immigrated here. Why is it so weird to want to know where your family or ancestors come from, I’m lucky and can trace my family name back a couple hundred years. I’m still American I just got family history that’s fun to know about.
You say that, but the luck stat is entirely dependent on it.