What Are You?

[rokipynes]

I am about 95% English ancestry with almost all ancestry tied to the Mayflower. The 5% is French Canadian probably based on the name Ladieu. Those not tied to the Mayflower arrived very soon after into Boston or Salem.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Up here in Canada if you are "Native" there are so many funding oppurtunities for filmmakers, it's nut's. Non-Native.. good luck.

 

[Scotty_g]

From my mom's side, I'm all Polish (as far as anyone can tell, anyway...considering Poland hasn't existed a couple times, there may have been some Germans or Austrians or Russians that snuck in). On my dad's side, I picked up 25% Belgian and 25% Bohemian. So there's a decent brewing heritage in my bloodline.

I also found out at a family reunion that one of my paternal grandfather's uncles did some time for bootlegging during Prohibition, and I had at least two great-grandfathers who made beer back in the day.

 

[Yeastie]

From what I can gather 3/4 Russian 1/4 Polish.

 

[snazzy]

50% dutch 50% midwest hillbilly

 

[Orfy]

Question.

How long does your ancestors have to of lived in America for you to consider youself American.

In the UK most of the people living here at some point over the last 1000 yeas would of had ancestors from all over Europe. The British Isle got invaded so many times.

At a guess 99% of people if they could would probably find out that their ancestors did not come from the British Isles. But 99% of those people would still consider themselves British.

 

[Revvy]

Question.

How long does your ancestors have to of lived in America for you to consider youself American.

In the UK most of the people living here at some point over the last 1000 yeas would of had ancestors from all over Europe. The British Isle got invaded so many times.

At a guess 99% of people if they could would probably find out that their ancestors did not come from the British Isles. But 99% of those people would still consider themselves British.

I don't think people here make that distinction of amount of time...In fact if you look at this thread you will see ow a few people cannot seem to seperate their Nationality, and their ethnic heritage.

I'm an american, born and raised here, as were my parents, while my grand parents were naturalized citizen[/b] but our ethnicity is hispanic.

I sorta don't get why some people have to specify or clarify what nation state they swear allegiance, or citizenship to, when the question is really about our ethnicity.

But I guess one could argue that ethnicity, ir really also just about what nation state our ancestors swore to as wel...

I dunno...we americans are interesting creatures, aren't we?

 

[farmbrewernw]

I'm a mix of German, Irish, English, and Scottish. Probably about half German and then an even mix of the others.

 

[PseudoChef]

<-----------50% Swede (and thus have to root for Team Sweden, NHL version)

25% Irish
25% Don't know (mutt, I assume)

But yeah, born here and all that jazz. We're 3rd gen.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Question.

How long does your ancestors have to of lived in America for you to consider youself American.

In the UK most of the people living here at some point over the last 1000 yeas would of had ancestors from all over Europe. The British Isle got invaded so many times.

At a guess 99% of people if they could would probably find out that their ancestors did not come from the British Isles. But 99% of those people would still consider themselves British.

As far as I'm concerned, if you are a citizen, you are American. I was just noting the generations of Americans before me to illustrate why I can't figure out how people that have never been to, say, Ireland, or Germany, or Mexico, or whatever, can say that they are Irish or German, or Mexican, or whatever. Listen, I'm all for knowing your heritage and being proud of it, but to me it just sounds like they would rather be from somewhere else. Yeah, I know, it's probably just semantics, but oh, well.

 

[rico567]

As far as I'm concerned, if you are a citizen, you are American. I was just noting the generations of Americans before me to illustrate why I can't figure out how people that have never been to, say, Ireland, or Germany, or Mexico, or whatever, can say that they are Irish or German, or Mexican, or whatever. Listen, I'm all for knowing your heritage and being proud of it, but to me it just sounds like they would rather be from somewhere else. Yeah, I know, it's probably just semantics, but oh, well.

Applause, applause. As for the title of this thread, "What are you?" My answer is "I am an American." As for the intended question, "What is your ancestry,?" the answer to that is that my paternal grandparents came to this country from Lithuania in 1906, and my half German / half Dutch great-great grandparents were here in the mid-19th century, the Dutch a bit longer than the Krauts. The Germans all seem to have fought in the Union Army in the Civil War, and probably had to receive their orders in German. One cooled his heels in Libby Prison in Richmond, another was the engineer who drew the map for U.S. Grant's siege of Vicksburg.

But back to "Bernie Brewer" and his original point. What I AM is an American. I speak a few cuss words in Lithuanian, enough German to get by in Munich on vacation year before last, and no Dutch (which, despite having been in Amsterdam twice, still sounds like frogs croaking). I'm getting to the point where I can hold my own in Spanish, and can deal with restaurants, hotels & car rental in French & Italian.....and I'm starting to learn some Mandarin, since we're going to China in October. All of which serves to demonstrate that interest in other cultures doesn't have anything to do with what you ARE. I am an American, and English is my primary tongue. Language is the glue of culture, and so EVERY American should be fluent in English. They are welcome to speak any language they wish at home, in a restaurant, while watching football, etc., but English should be a requirement. English is the language of education, of politics, of the law, and the marketplace.... and it is presently the accepted international lingua franca.

Teddy Roosevelt said over a century ago "We must have no more hyphenated Americans," and it's never been more true than right now.

 

[GregR]

if we're talking ancestry, I'm sure at some point a long long long long long time ago my ancestors walked out of Africa. and the general scientific consensus as of know is your ancestors did as well.

so I guess I'm African.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

<-----------50% Swede (and thus have to root for Team Sweden, NHL version)

Shouldn't that be a canucks logo then. lol.

 

[snazzy]

I do think this is funny. I know what the original question was and so do most every body. Well my kids come home using the term African American. I tell them that you are not a dutch american you are american. I ask them not to use that term anymore. I giggle when someone calls a black man from Britain an African American.

We as American more than alot of countries still say that we are this or that because the country is so young. You probably don't hear alot of chinese claiming to have some Irish in them.

 

[PseudoChef]

Shouldn't that be a canucks logo then. lol.

Not really. Detroit has 8 roster spots filled by Swedes. Vancouver only has 5. :cross:

 

[HBHoss]

3 Grandparents born in Scotland and one born in England. My family all born in Canada. I'm the only US citizen in my family at this point.

 

[cubbies]

I'm a big ole mixed bag. I know that I am 1/16th Cherokee Indian. I also know that I am somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 Irish, and my last name has Welsh roots, so one would have to assume there is some of that going on. Other than that, I don't really know.

 

[arturo7]

I think this topic points out one of the interesting things about being an American.* We don't have a clear heritage which leaves us free to be who we want to be, not what genealogy dictates.



*or Canadian, or Mexican, or Brazilian, etc.

 

[pizzaman]

Q: What Are You?
A: a drinker...(see my sig for more information)

 

[Homercidal]

Lots of German. Both sides of family turns out. A little bit of American Indian too. Not sure after that. I married a LaMew (bastardized spelling of the french name) but my wife and I get along well. A German and a French.

 

[Orfy]

My Family is English as far as any one can trace back.
If you check my DNA it is probable that some where between 1000 years and 500,000 years ago my ancestors could be from the Basque region or anything from , Anglo-Saxon, Vikings, Romans to Germans.

 

[jgln]

Applause, applause. As for the title of this thread, "What are you?" My answer is "I am an American." As for the intended question, "What is your ancestry,?" the answer to that is that my paternal grandparents came to this country from Lithuania in 1906, and my half German / half Dutch great-great grandparents were here in the mid-19th century, the Dutch a bit longer than the Krauts. The Germans all seem to have fought in the Union Army in the Civil War, and probably had to receive their orders in German. One cooled his heels in Libby Prison in Richmond, another was the engineer who drew the map for U.S. Grant's siege of Vicksburg.

But back to "Bernie Brewer" and his original point. What I AM is an American. I speak a few cuss words in Lithuanian, enough German to get by in Munich on vacation year before last, and no Dutch (which, despite having been in Amsterdam twice, still sounds like frogs croaking). I'm getting to the point where I can hold my own in Spanish, and can deal with restaurants, hotels & car rental in French & Italian.....and I'm starting to learn some Mandarin, since we're going to China in October. All of which serves to demonstrate that interest in other cultures doesn't have anything to do with what you ARE. I am an American, and English is my primary tongue. Language is the glue of culture, and so EVERY American should be fluent in English. They are welcome to speak any language they wish at home, in a restaurant, while watching football, etc., but English should be a requirement. English is the language of education, of politics, of the law, and the marketplace.... and it is presently the accepted international lingua franca.

Teddy Roosevelt said over a century ago "We must have no more hyphenated Americans," and it's never been more true than right now.

So if you move to Japan you become Japanese? Interesting.

 

[Ryan099]

25% English 25%English 25%english 25%english = 100% english!!!All my ancestors were english only!!!and my future generation will also be english only!!!!

 

[jgln]

So if you move to Japan you become Japanese? Interesting.

I was thinking about what I said and not knowing a lot about Japanese laws one would assume that an Irish couple that move to Japan and have a son there the son would become a full citizen of Japan (ok, maybe not in Japan, who knows) but he would still not be Japanese.

 

[TrannyRock]

Actually kinda cool in this context, my main thread runs back to Belgium via Scotland.

 

[PWalk]

I come from a long line of drinkers, Irish, German, and Cherokee. Past generations have mostly dealt in the moonshine but I am the first to brew up a beer or 27.

 

[Hammy71]

Irish on my mother's side.... Dutch/German on my father's. I guess that explains my love for the brewski.....

 

[Buckhuntr]

Human. All else is irrelevant.

 

[jgln]

Human. All else is irrelevant.

Why not play along?

That answer is like being asked where you were born and answering "planet earth".

BTW since I picked on you answer I am Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English, at least so I am told.

 

[Cuchalain]

1/2 Irish, 1/4 scottish, 1/8 Native American and 1/8 german. Brother looks indian and I'm white as hell. Tis crazy.