I'm half Irish, half German, and half French. Oh yeah, I got some English in me too.

[NauticalbutNice]

I am 100% Scottish.

I does slightly irritate me when people talk about "coming home to Scotland" when they are (example, not picking on you guys!) American. And so were their parents. And grandparents etc. etc.

Those who try to claim another nationality are doing a disservice to their own country. Americans should be proud to be Americans, Scots should be proud to be Scots (we are..but who wouldn't be ).

My ancestors were probably vikings. It doesn't mean I wear a horned helmet. (And yes I know that that is generally taken as anachronistic ).

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[miketsp]

Well I'm English which probably means that considering how many times England was invaded over the last few thousand years, I'm partly Roman, Viking, Norman & who knows what else.
But having worked in a lot of different countries over the last 30+ years I do find it interesting how some cultures like to put great emphasis on their family tree and how pure it is, and others couldn't care less.
One of the things I have observed is that family ties and traditions are generally stronger in those countries that do not have a welfare state type of government.
If you know you can rely on the government to take care of you in your old age or misfortune, family ties tend to be weaker.
The other thing I've noticed is that many newer developing countries are jealous of the more traditional countries and their institutions, although they won't admit it openly. This shows up as a tendency to transform idols into heroes. Example, here in Brazil, Ayrton Senna is considered a "hero", not an "idol". I have never heard anybody from the UK seriously calling Nigel Mansell a "hero".

 

[frenchy07]

Well it depends on which side of my family one is asking about as to what I can call my "heritage".

Tracing my mothers family tree on my grandfathers side I can trace my tree back to the mid 1500's in which one will find a gentlemen named John the Sheriff. I am told (by my mother) that he helped a lady named Mary (Queen of Scots) dispatch her husband. I lay distant clam to the castle "Vietch (many spellings on this one)". This strain of the family intermarried with the Hensley clan in W. Virgina (named a mountain after themselves). The Hensley and Vietch family's both came to the Americas in the early to mid 1600's (guess that makes me a "blue blood" huh).

My grandmother on my mothers side descended from German peasants. One of the family members honored themselves at a battle near Rotha and was granted land on which (I am told, never seen it) the Castle Rotha stands. Mom still corresponds with family members in that area.


On my fathers side it is clear that we bounced from England to Germany to Switzerland to Germany to England and finally ended up here in the United States in the late 1800's to escape religious persecution. The children were adopted out to various family's after a boiler (can't tell you off the top of my head what was being produced) exploded killing a large portion of the male members of the family. What is clear is that the children were adopted into various family's among the Amish community, and NO, I am not still Amish (silly question). There is still a large number of my relatives in the Amish community, and yes, many of them live in Pennsylvania.

What I prefer to tell people is that my ancestors were kicked out of every decent country in Europe and had the good sense to come to the America's. I take pride in being a Mutt and a American but I still have the respect to recognize where my ancestors came from.

I like George Lopez's comment about heritage. He once said that he isn't a "Mexican-American" but a "American from Mexican Heritage". Guess that is what I am, an "American by Mutt Heritage", and darn proud of it.

I agree with Nautical and the "coming home" statement. One needs to be proud of who they are without loosing sight of where they decended from.

BTY....I always wanted to be a Viking. Would that make it ok to plunder? Imagine "I'm a Viking, it's in my heritage!" lol. Man do I hate it when I hear someone making excuses for their idiotic actions by hiding behind their ancestors.

Just my $.02. Rant over.

Brian

 

[caymaniac]

While we are on the subject. Who came up with the term "African American"?
If someone called me an "Euro American" I think I would be a little offended. So I would think that Americans who happen to be Black would be offended as well.

I have never heard any American who are Black refer to themselves as African Americans. The only time you hear this term is when a politician or newscaster is talking.

It would be interesting to hear from ordinary Americans about how they feel about being called "African American."

My ancesters can be traced back to the 1600s in Germany, my wifes ancester have been traced back to the crossing on the Mayflower.
I could tell you my Great Grandfather came here in 1851 from Germany, which isn't any different than a native American whose ancesters came across the icebridge in Alaska. Therefore, I'm a native American.
We are Americans, and that is just the plain truth, we cannot speak another language that we have learned from our ancestors although that would be okay.
Are we the same as anyone that calls them selves "African American", because their ancesters came from the continent of Africa? I too can't understand why you would want to identify yourself as African American, you are an American period.
I have been to Africa and the Africans are insulted by those individuals who call themselves African American, they state that the people in America are Americans and have no part in being African. To me this makes allot of sense
Our home town celebrates the Dutch culture that started out the areas city and surrounding population. Each year they have Tulip Time in our town of Holland. There are tulips grown along most of the streets, there are parades with floats with tulips on them, there are highschool bands from all over the U.S. There is one parade that all the schools march in from this area. The hilarity comes when you see all the children wearing Dutch costumes.....even if you are from a different heritage like Mexico or Africa.

My 2cents,
from an American,
Caymanaic

 

[caymaniac]

While we are on the subject. Who came up with the term "African American"?
If someone called me an "Euro American" I think I would be a little offended. So I would think that Americans who happen to be Black would be offended as well.

I have never heard any American who are Black refer to themselves as African Americans. The only time you hear this term is when a politician or newscaster is talking.

It would be interesting to hear from ordinary Americans about how they feel about being called "African American."

My ancesters can be traced back to the 1600s in Germany, my wifes ancester have been traced back to the crossing on the Mayflower.
I could tell you my Great Grandfather came here in 1851 from Germany, which isn't any different than a native American whose ancesters came across the icebridge in Alaska. Therefore, I'm a native American.
We are Americans, and that is just the plain truth, we cannot speak another language that we have learned from our ancestors although that would be okay.
Are we the same as anyone that calls them selves "African American", because their ancesters came from the continent of Africa? I too can't understand why you would want to identify yourself as African American, you are an American period.
I have been to Africa and the Africans are insulted by those individuals who call themselves African American, they state that the people in America are Americans and have no part in being African. To me this makes allot of sense
Our home town celebrates the Dutch culture that started out the areas city and surrounding population. Each year they have Tulip Time in our town of Holland. There are tulips grown along most of the streets, there are parades with floats with tulips on them, there are highschool bands from all over the U.S. There is one parade that all the schools march in from this area. The hilarity comes when you see all the children wearing Dutch costumes.....even if you are from a different heritage like Mexico or Africa.

My 2cents,
from an American,
Caymanaic

 

[DennisW]

Me? I'm a Native American. My ancestors go back at least 200 years on both sides of my family. If that's not native, I sure as heck don't know what is.

 

[nurse H2O]

Im an American Italian. I love my heritage. My Gram Is from Rome, My Gramp is from Sicily.They lived next door to us. When they were alive, our relative from Italy would visit. We had aunts and uncles in Jersey.On Sundays, either we would be visiting them or they would be visiting us.My Gram made her own maccaroni. We all loved her cooking, although my mom was a great cook too but couldn't compete with Gramma .And there were always tons of people at the dinner table.I loved growing up Italian. My maiden name was Fiorella which means "little flower" which i always thought was pretty cool. :daisysmil

 

[fmw625]

First of all I am an American, Next a Southerner. As for my Heritage I am a mix of English, Irish and native American.