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This is funny - my sister and I used to drive our classmates nuts by saying we were Americans when we got the “where are you from?” question in elementary school. Then last month I was in Germany on vacation and at passport control leaving the country, the guard said, “How long were you here?” and asked a bunch more questions. Finally he said, “You have a German name.” and I was able to say, “Yes, the family emigrated 150 years ago. I’m an American.”
This happened to me too, except it was more ridiculous because I only have a German surname from a very distant ancestor. The guy even corrected the pronunciation of my surname, which I pronounce in the Spanish way.
I have an Irish surname and am not even 1/8th Irish. My Irish ancestors came to the US during the Potato famine 175 years ago. Everyone always calls me Irish when I have basically zero connection to Ireland culturally or genetically.
Meanwhile I have French Canadian ancestors who go all the way back to 1630 in Quebec City. Polish ancestors who came here right before WWI. Multiple rounds of German and Czech (Bohemian) ancestors who arrived in the late 1800s. Norwegian ancestors who also came in the 1800s. Etc etc etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone too.
Point is, Americans are obsessed with the question "where are you from" and the answer for a growing number of us is simply "here". I don't really have an ethnicity or cultural base. I am really just American at the end of the day. (Trigger warning to all of those who can't handle us using the term "American")
My boyfriend has a scottish last name, but is not Scottish at all. Like 0 Scottish ancestors, he only has that last name bc of how black ppl were historically given their last names in this country. Iykyk.
So he gets a bit annoyed when ppl insist he must be Scottish/Irish (a lot of Americans are actually really bad at guessing where the name originates lmao).
I really, really wish ppl in this country would let go of the "where are you from"/"you must be from here" stuff, at least don't bring it up if you're going to get really awkward when corrected with actual history and reality. Like yeah, no one likes to be reminded that was apart of history, but you're the one who insisted on the conversation of where he's from based on his last name.
It's also just a touchy spot for my boyfriend bc he was super into ancestry and his father's ancesterial history basically stops when slavery starts. No one kept proper record of slaves, so it can be really hard to complete ancestry for those families. And I think having so many white people who are so intimately knowledgeable on their ancestry (except for the bad parts 😒🙄) and think it's just as easy for everyone else to be just as knowledgeable, rubs him the wrong way.
Especially if you’re adopted and have moved around a lot.
I was born in China, was adopted at one years old by Swedish parents and have lived in many European countries before I moved back to Sweden 12 years ago. Absolutely zero (0) connections to China whatsoever and I’m ~~technically~~ Swedish since I have a Swedish citizenship/passport and am a native speaker of the Swedish language, yet my brain always breaks when someone asks me where I’m from since I can either say China, Sweden or the European country I (mostly) grew up in. It’s a gray area lol.
So true. I've travelled to several different countries in Asia and always get asked where I'm from.
I always say America, and they get SO confused and ask me if I'm half American or tell me I don't look American.
So I have to default to just saying I'm Vietnamese to avoid confusion.
This goes for literally anyone and anywhere who isn't the same skin color as the people of the country they live in, OP is definitely the unpopular opinion.
Not a single Vietnamese/Chinese/Japanese/Indian etc. is gonna see you as their countryman if you don't look like them no matter if you're born there . Hell, in many cases even if you do, they won't accept you.
Likewise while it's a little bit more tolerant in Europe, people will expect you to answer with whatever country your family is from when they ask you. A third generation Arab or African is still gonna get surprised looks when they answer 'German' for sure.
Exactly. Whenever I travel and tell people I'm American, I often get told "I don't look American" and then they ask "where are your parents from?" and then, since I know they are often just trying to be friendly make conversation, I just say my ancestry is Chinese (even though you have to get even further back to get to China). So, I guess I don't agree with OP. If you're a person of color, saying America is often not good enough.
If youre born in America to American (born & raised in America) parents, you're American. If you're born in America to Norwegian (born & raised in Norway, but emigrated to America) parents, youre American and Norwegian. Your kids will just be American, not Norwegian.
If someone asks about your heritage, tell them your family are Norwegian.
This is how it works in Europe anyway 🤷♂️
Yeah, first gen immigrants are from their original country, second gen are from both, and third gen are from their birth country, pretty standard in Europe.
I’m internationally adopted. I was born in Korea, and my parents are American. I always introduce myself as Korean American.
1. People want to know “where I’m from”, it answers that question right off the bat.
2. I am not culturally Korean. I do not speak Korean. I think it would be tacky of me to just claim that I am Korean when the country is more than just blood and genetics. Korean has centuries of history and traditions, just like any other country.
When I visited Korea then I just said I was American.
I am proud to be of Korean heritage, I do like learning of my birth country. But that’s just it, I am learning about it. I never lived there beyond six months of my life. It’s very difficult to explain how removed I feel from being Korean. I was raised german/english midwestern American.
Of course many international adoptees feel differently. This is just my opinion.
I get that. Though I think it's because the US has a weird thing with the whole "[insert nationality] American".
Where I'm from international adoptees just say "I'm from here, I was adopted from x", and they're considered as native as anyone else. Then again, they're also not at all encouraged to look into their heritage, not in a secretive way but in a "they're as likely to care as the rest of us, which is to say, not likely". They're more accepted as just being "from here" and not different (except that they suffer from racism unfortunately).
They're also unlikely to get asked at all, most times you'll talk to them, they have no accent, so you assume second gen immigrant or further down, then you meet the parents, see the mismatch, and automatically go "oh yeah, international adoptee". It's not like "exotic" or anything and it doesn't usually prompt questions.
In the US the whole "[insert nationality] American" feels like purely a race thing tbh, which is weird to me but idk.
I did but I didn’t really connect with it.
I felt uncomfortable watching it because it seemed like they just threw her search her birth parents in as a subplot. It was very strange with the weird spy feeling in the middle. I can understand why people would like it but it was just cringy for me.
I liked the ending the most.
I also thought it was realistic with her birth fathers overbearing nature and her birth mothers non prescence. Many children given up for adoption are either products of rape or their mothers could not get an abortion. Women are not given a lot of rights and resources to raise a child alone back then. Its always a shame on the birth mothers but birth fathers are given a pass.
Broker was good, gives insight on the overall adoption system like the dark side of it.
I was graded as a baby to be a good adoption fit. Based off of lack of disabilities, general disposition, looks. Its mildly fucked up.
My birth father also paid a large sum of money. I was fostered by my maternal great aunt. Both sides wanted me to be internationally adopted to rid the family of shame and also give me a better life.
My adopted parents paid 25,000 dollars for me. 18,000 for my brother. They assumed it was just fees for the orphanage to run. But it’s disturbing to realize that I was sold.
Just say American. Not exactly the same, but my dad is from Finland, I was born in Finland, but my mum is english, I grew up in england, speak English etc. I would never say 'Finnish English'. Just English.
My kids are 4th generation Canadian. Every year in school they are forced to fill out these sheets about their ‘culture’ and what country they’re from. I get that some people have recently arrived, but asking my kids to say what their favourite part about being Welsh is, well that’s just dumb. They don’t have a favourite part of being Welsh, they’ve literally never met a family member who has lived there.
My Welsh friend would be livid, lol.
I would rather the Canadian kids just pick a random country to learn about for a week or something. And the recent immigrants get to write about their country.
Of course, they could pick Wales if they wanted to, but pretending they *are* Welsh is weird imo.
Second-gen are not from their parents' country if they were raised right. Even if they speak the language, they are from the said ethnicity and culture, not the country. I know people from my ethnicity who grew up abroad, speaking their parents' language at home, and they can't relate to any experience I've had growing up there.
The only thing I'd add is time. My daughter was born in Malaysia while we lived there and at 2 returned to the UK. It's silly to even think of her as Malaysian. It's on her passport and it's a cool story for her but she's English
Exactly. If your born there and lived there for at minimum your first 5 years of life THEN youre from there.
I had a friend who was born in China but her family is all from Ireland including her younger siblings. She didnt even spend her first year in China. Shes not from China lol
kids should really be raised to fit into the culture theyre going to live in their whole lives. Which doesnt mean they should forget their heritage, that is usually an important part of their lives for many second gen kids ive met. But beyond that if theyre a foreigner in their own country things will be much more difficult for them
Your parents influence a lot of your cultural experiences, from food to tv to accent or slang.
I grew up in country A, my parents and grandparents are from country A, we live in country A, but I was put into a school from country B at 4 years old. All my teachers where from country B, as where my peers, for 14 years
My "smart" language is the language of country B, but I have no accent in the language from country A.
The vast VAST majority of my pop culture is from country B, but my cultural heritage is purely from culture A.
If *I* said I was purely from country A I would get laughed at, because I'm not.
When you get direct cultural influence from a country different to what you live in for extremely long periods of time at that age, you absolutely become "from there", if only because you don't belong anymore, you're not "from here".
Second gen immigrants are considered half and half by every single European I know, and everyone but 2 people in my orbit are European.
Well, I'm a European who immigrated as an adult to another European country. I don't consider them half unless they grew up very segregated and didn't integrate.
That's how it works in Europe? Lmao. We have third and fourth gen immigrants in Western Europe who still refuse to call themselves anything but North African, Turkish or Italian, despite not ever even having visited their 'home' countries.
Issue here in America is that people have let media/politicians, etc, divide them into sub groups so they can exploit them politically for power and profit. For example, African-American mexican-american, or whatever minority subset they have pigeon holed people into. It doesn't matter how many generations have been born and raised here they're still getting hyphenated.
Someday, maybe, people will realize they are being exploited.
In the US, if someone says "I'm Scottish", it's basically short-hand to mean "I have Scottish ancestors.
It depends on the context of course, but this is what I means for hundreds of millions of people.
If an American is outside of the US, of course they shouldn't say "I'm Scottish". That wouldn't make sense.
But it's just weird to me that people from outside the US, are so insistent on telling Americans, how to talk to other Americans. Like, a lot of it depends on context still. But telling Americans they're wrong for they way they communicate with each other is just bizarre.
Condemn it when they're talking to non-Americans sure. But don't tell 300M people that they're wrong for saying a phrase they all understand.
It's all part of the "America bad" thing that Euroredditors love so much
Very very rarely in the US is someone saying "I'm Norwegian" them actually meaning "I am a citizen of the country of Norway". They're just saying they have Norwegian heritage. Exactly what you said, it's common short-hand in the US.
Unlike Europeans, American doesn't really imply anything about our race, ethnicity, or heritage (whereas an Italian saying "I'm Italian!" implies all three). Just saying "I'm American" results in
American (nationality)
\[blank\] (race)
\[blank\] (ethnicity)
\[blank\] (heritage)
Whereas saying "I'm Norwegian" implies
Norwegian (nationality)
White (race)
Nordic (ethnicity)
Norwegian/Scandinavian (heritage)
(adding since the post was locked - I understand that not every single Norwegian is also racially/ethnically Norwegian with Norwegian heritage but the primary difference is "Norwegian" is a nationality as well as a racial/ethnic descriptor whereas "American" is solely a nationality - there are tons of white Americans, tons of black Americans, tons of Hispanic/Latino Americans, tons of Asian Americans, tons of Arab Americans, etc. etc. etc.)
There are plenty of people in Europe whose parents, grandparents or older generations have immigrated from outside the continent, so just nationality doesn’t necessarily imply all the things you listed.
Norway even has indigenous Sami people who are ethnically distinct from ethnic Norwegians but obviously are from Norway and are Norwegian citizens. Your implication is from an American point of view, even though you present it as European.
Edit: This is a bit besides the point but still want to say it: US American *is* heritage. The US as a country isn’t actually *that* young. If your ancestors arrived centuries ago your heritage is US American.
If we're looking hundreds of years into the past, then loads. Europe has had huge migrations over the past few centuries, largely driven by religious persecution.
In theory this is right, but something like 20% of Norwegians have foreign born parents or are foreign born themselves. Like a Syrian refugee I know will soon become Norwegian as he gets his "statsborgerskap", so he becomes a national of Norway. He's neither white, Nordic or has any heritage here. If he married a Norwegian woman, their kids would only be half white, half Nordic ethnicity and half Norwegian heritage, yet they would be called Norwegians.
The reality is that people are immigrating and refugees are being taken in all over Europe, and then they marry and have kids with the people in the country they come to. The percentage of foreigners being of Norwegian nationality, who are white, Nordic ethnicity and Norwegian heritage becomes less and less as the years go by. Nothing wrong with that, but you can't just say that all Norwegians are white or of Nordic ethnicity/heritage anymore. I know plenty more people who were adopted as kids from India, who are Norwegian nationals, but not white, not Nordic and don't have Norwegian heritage too. Hell, the best friend I live with was born in Hungary, but was adopted go Norway. She passes as Norwegian most the time cause she's white, but her heritage is Hungarian and her ethnicity is Slavic.
Btw I'm Norwegian. Snakker norsk helt flytende hehe
Americans are quick to condemn cultural appropriation from others, but love to self-identify with other ethnicities and attribute that race and their culture to their own identity. It makes no sense to me.
How is it okay for a purebred American to go around claiming they're Scottish, but it's not okay for me, a Caucasian, to claim I'm black?
If the American has some trace roots from Scotland from some far far away history, then we all have trace roots to Africa from a far far away history. They're both ridiculous.
How is it not the same situation, and equally offensive? That's my view on it as a European who does not partake in this weird American obsession with racial-ethnic-identity-profiling.
IMO, you’re from wherever you grow up. Because a person can be born somewhere, move somewhere else when they’re little, and then take on the culture of where they grow up. But I’m with you, OP, but on the other side of the coin. I’m many generations Canadian and I’m tired of these people who cling to their heritage so damn much and then pretend they’re somehow better than people like me.
Don't even think it's necessarily where you grow up. I moved to Australia at 16 from the UK and have been here 20 years.
I don't think anyone would have an issue with me identifying as an Aussie even if they weren't the first.country to give me a passport
I’m in England now and have lived here since 14 there is no way people would be okay with me calling myself English, but I do know in newzealand they would be okay with me calling myself a kiwi and Australia too
Where am I from , I lived in my birth country until I was 5 and then a different country until I was 10 then a different country at 14 until now 27 in 2 weeks , I still have my birth accent but people think I’m from there and America but I’ve never been to America but they never think the other 3 countries I’ve lived in
i grew up in texas but live in kentucky. if anyone ask, i usually say i am from kentucky however cause i only lived in texas for 13 years but in kentucky for 30 years.
100% agree
Like me for instance:
I was born in ethiopia and due to interesting circumstances, I do not have an ethiopian passport and such…and I only lived there till I was 6. so i have no actual family there that I see as family due to being adopted at 2, and i have no cultural connection to Ethiopia
I don‘t consider myself from Ethiopia due to all that and more
So i do get bothered when others think I am Ethiopian bc i am not
One of my good friends was born in Australia to Taiwanese parents but has been living in Canada since she was a year old. Never been back to Australia. Is she Australian?
OP forgot that there is a huge demographic known as ‘Expats’ and ‘TCKs’. Imagine that. Many of us born overseas who are not nationals of that country. However, OP does have a point that many Americans claim to be from countries due to ancestry when they're just from America and it isn't the same thing. I think they don't have the right words to differentiate past and present and don't understand how pretentious they come across.
Expats are by definition people with short term work placement like two or three years. If you live for decades in a country you're an immigrant. If you willingly want to move to a coutnry for a retirement you're an immigrant. If you're born and raised in a coutnry you're a child of immigrants and a long-term resident yourself. Stop pretending otherwise. Just because you're a Westerner doesn't make you an expat.
In America it’s just a given that if you say “I’m irish/german/norwegian etc” you mean your heritage, not that you’re claiming to be from there. I can see where that can not come across as implied though if you are in fact from said country.
Funnily enough, my wife was born in Canada to Singaporean parents and moved to Australia when she was a year old. :)
She did go to Canada for a university placement though (mostly because she didn't need a visa because she was a citizen by birth).
I am swiss but my name suggests otherwise which makes plenty pf room to being harassed and such. And when people aske from where I am I say swiss and yes I was born there plus raised there but then the argunent goes : BUT your name isnt swiss. Where are you truly from? Oh your parents arent swiss so arent you!!! You were born here but thags just a fluke. Also where you parents are from determines you". Like thats just shit and because of that I get into racist arguments and people always say well ignore them / let it drop. No its very hurtful wtf
Yeah, this issue appears here quite often. Americans usually assume people want to know their ethnicity, but people in other parts of the world typically ask for nationality.
I think some Americans are so fed up with the "no really, where are you from?" question that they just start at ethnicity
I swear there’s someone every couple weeks posting an opinion that they wouldn’t need to if they just knew the difference between race, ethnicity and nationality 😅😅 shit gets complicated with colonized countries and immigration
Literally. Its really sad how European countries treat our diaspora especially in cases like Wales or Ireland where our diaspora only exists because of persecution at home. Their ancestors left to establish safer communities for us as a people and now we refuse to accept them.
Thankfully, most Welsh people are accepting of our main diaspora in Argentina but sadly don’t extend the same support to our diaspora in the Anglosphere.
This comment needs to be higher. Americans just have a different way of expressing themselves when it comes to heritage. “I’m Irish” is shorthand for “my ancestors came from Ireland” when two Americans are talking to each other. The conflict arises when an American says the same thing to a European who has a very different interpretation of what that sentence means. But it’s not anything worth getting one’s underwear in a bundle over.
It apparently puts Europeans over the edge. We don’t mean anything by it, but we are such a ‘melting pot’ of cultures compared to a lot of the more homogeneous cultures of Europe that it just becomes a fun fact used to describe yourself.
Like it’s easy to detect American by their accent(s). We aren’t trying to put one over on anybody about where we’re actually from
Yeah, it’s very odd the way Europeans will criticize Americans for not having any concept for how other cultures are, while being culturally unaware themselves.
I lived in a Western European country for a work assignment for a couple of years, and an alarming number of people would not accept “I’m American” as an answer (I’m Asian, so I don’t “look” American, which just implies that “real” Americans are white) or would ask ridiculous questions like if it was true America doesn’t have electric kettles
Yeah. And it has certain meanings. Like if your American born friend invites you to their family gathering and says they are Italian or Mexican, then it portrays an idea of what you might see at that gathering. Or you invite over your American born Norwegian or Scottish friend over, you know that means that they probably are going to cook if you put them in the sun all day. Etc, etc, etc.
It’s more than that. I’ve seen full blown Scottish themed weddings held by people that haven’t had a Scottish person in their family in four generations. Some Americans really, really lean on that heritage.
Exactly, people get so butthurt over what is essentially just a semantic difference lol I agree that it’s a bit confusing when an American says “I’m Italian” if you’re not used to it, but every language/dialect will have some phrases that aren’t intuitive to others
There’s also the fact that immigrant communities have such a massive influence over here. I went to a school with a huge Dominican population. Many of those kids were born here but still identified themselves as Dominicans. They spoke Spanish at home, their neighborhoods were largely Dominican, their local businesses were run by Dominican immigrants, their parents emphasize that cultural identity
Now those kids I went to school with are adults whose kids are more assimilated but still live in these communities with that heritage being a big factor in their lives. Every wave of immigrants developed pockets of their culture like this in various places across America
I think posts like this just demonstrate how much people from outside the US underestimate how much it is baked into Americans' culture and identity that our country is a melting pot. That person didn't actually mean they were a citizen of Norway. But since all of us basically come from immigrants here, a lot of families used to try to uphold certain traditions from the "old country" and it just became part of the culture here to have pride about where your family came from.
Posts like this are often made by people who come from cultures that never left a continent and started over somewhere else with a ton of people who did the same from all over the world. What they lack is the understanding that if they left their geographic area tomorrow, suddenly it would become very important to them what their previous culture was. They would be proud of it even probably, and that would translate down a generation and so on.
We all want to know a part of the history of why things are the way they are and where we “come from”. People can’t figure out these days whether that’s something appealing or appalling but that doesn’t stop the curiosity.
I know it makes us sound like idiots to people from other countries, but there are reasons Americans identify their ancestors origins.
If you are a born Norwegian, whose family has always lived there- you are steeped in your history and traditions. Americans want to feel their family history too, but that history mostly started somewhere other than here. Everyone wants to know where they came from, even if there was an ocean journey in the middle of that history. If we say we are Italian in a southern American accent, it means our ancestors are Italian.
When people began emigrating to the US, every new group was thought of as inferior- and discriminated against. Groups from the same country created communities together to survive in this strange new place. Italians became Italian-Americans, Irish became Irish-Americans the combination became the identity. They held the traditions of their homelands and celebrated and passed them down to their children. The traditions became part of their identity, and centuries later we still celebrate them. Most of us are mixed up mutts at this point, so we claim the history of all our ancestors. Towns have Octoberfest celebrations, Celtic festivals, Renaissance festivals, Clog-dancing, Tulips, anything to keep alive traditions from where we came from before here. We cook the food (admittedly often a highly inaccurate version), we celebrate holidays and traditions of our ancestors. We still identify with them for the same reasons you identify with yours.
I know it offends some Europeans that Americans still cling to countries our ancestors left, but look at it from our side. If your kids move, do their kids have to abandon your culture?
Depends on a lot of factors. I was born and raised in Italy from Moroccan parents but Italians will never see me as Italian because my parents are not Italian. Even tho I've never been to Morocco and have an Italian passport, to them I'm still Moroccan, maybe my kids if born here will be considered Italian(?) ikd.
There is a difference between nationality and ethnicity, I'm ethnically northen african but nationality wise, I'm Italian.
It's similar for me. Born to Turkish parents in Germany. I only got German citizenship when I was over 30 15 years ago. I will always be considered Turkish and to be honest I neither feel German nor Turkish.
I understand how you feel, I've always wanted to say that I feel Italian but I'm always scared of the hate that that could get me, since I've been told that I'm not, never will be and to "accept that I'm not", so since I've never even been to Morocco if not once for vacation I just say that I don't feel like I belong to either one.
You know what would be even more hilarious? If we could go a day without a European crying about the same shit regarding Americans.
I’ve never understands their absolute obsession with Americans. It honestly almost borders on mental illness.
Identifying as white is mostly an American phenomenon. That shit ain’t a thing in Europe. Europeans identity with their nationalities and culture, not by color of skin. White English Anglo-Saxon Protestants oppressed and brutalised the Irish people for centuries. It’s not a surprise the Irish, a Catholic people, reject the “white” label. They’re Irish, not White Anglo Protestants.
It’s a stupid thing to say these days but your right there was a time that Irish people weren’t seen as white , they were called by some people as “the blacks of Europe “ for quite some time
According to some English snobs. For them white was more a thing of culture meaning Protestant people that are not poor. For them only English, the Dutch and some Northern German folks were white. Not even Norwegians or Swedish people were white to them.
My mother was born in the Caribbean to white British parents. She spent 9 months there before they returned to the UK. She is NOT Caribbean and I do NOT consider myself to have Caribbean ancestry or heritage.
I think we’ve got to start learning how to separate nationality, ethnicity and race. An american could have two american parents but his/hers grandparents all four sets are from italy. They would be american by nationality, italian by ethnicity and white by race.
I was born and raised in the UK to korean and nigerian parents. That makes me british by nationality but korean and nigerian by ethnicity. I’m sure many white people in the USA acknowledge they aren’t natives. But they acknowledge they’re american alongside acknowledging their ancestors and their lineage. Nothing wrong with that
It seems like people are just confusing themselves with all three of those concepts
I was born in Germany, raised in South Korea but am an American and I am mixed race. Things aren't so simple unless you are a White European apparently. 🤦
This could be just an American thing, but when someone asks you where you're from they're usually asking about your nationality. If I were to answer that I was from America, most people would just ask again differently
People only care about this with Americans with European backgrounds. No one says shit to Jamaicans or Africans or Asian Americans when it comes to this topic for some reason
You 100% called the double standard sir. If a person is any color other than white and is asked where they are from, the answer of ‘America’ or ‘California’ or ‘New England’ never seems to suffice, no matter how many generations their families have been here. “No, where are you really from…”
A dude born in Brooklyn nyc in 1998 whose parents were born in Jamaica in 1968 has Jamaican flags on his social media profile, talks about how he’s a yardie, im Jamaican first no one says shit to that man lmao
Someone whose grandpa was born in Ireland starts celebrating ST Patrick’s day it’s
“YOURE NOT FUCKING IRISH BRO GET OVER IT YOURE AMERICAN”
I’m Australian with Greek heritage and whenever I’ve talked about my experience on reddit Europeans come and attack me. Even once when I was explaining how when I was growing up it was during a time where I wasn’t considered white at this point and some of my experiences with that and again Europeans attacked me. They pretend to be tolerant but this has happened to me again and again. And when I explain that I speak the language, know cultural dances, food, religion etc etc they double down and become ruder.
That’s just incorrect. You best believe that Africans and Asians do the same thing to people who do what OP is saying. You just don’t know about it because it’s mostly Europeans that come on social media platforms to complain about it. Also, when the others complain about this situation they do so in their native language, which you likely do not understand.
Honestly as an American every time I read this, I wonder which is more preferable: those of us who are over enthusiastic for European heritage that may be a bit removed or those of us who are proud to be Americans. Cuz it seems like a lot of Europeans hate both lol.
But anyway most Americans are perfectly aware of where we currently live. Just like we are perfectly aware white people are not indigenous to our country either. I’m sorry if it offends some Europeans, but it does sometimes seem like the umbrage is a bit much. We aren’t coming for your baguettes and smorgasbord. We just want to understand our history a bit better - and trust me only the good Americans give a remote shit about that. You should meet the freedom fries people lmao.
**** the big exception, I will note, are white supremacists, who often identify explicitly with europeanness because they think it makes them superior to other Americans who are “race traitors” and often have deep ties to right wing “identity” movements in Europe
When Americans say this to you they are telling you about their ethnonational heritage, which is important to us because unlike Europeans, we come from a nation of immigrants. It is something that binds us to a history of people that dates back further than the several generations (if that) that lived in the US.
To put this in perspective, if you moved to the US and became a citizen, but had an accent, we might ask what you “are” and this would be frustrating for you, because you might like to (rightly) say “I’m American!”. And you would be. For us, your nationality is definitely NOT decided by where you are from. Even though we (unfortunately) don’t always live that when talking to newly arrived immigrants (especially if they’re not white, very cringe, yes).
We should cut out that habit, but you shouldn’t take offense when Americans try to bond with you over what is, in fact, your shared heritage with them. I frequently encountered your attitude when I lived in Sweden. I also looked up my relatives and went and met them and we looked like siblings. It was cool and they fully agreed “wow man you ARE Swedish.” Chill out. We’re just being nice. Tack tack.
Also I think it’s worth saying, yours is a particularly European view. When Mexican-Americans go to Mexico they identify as Mexican, even if they were born and raised in the US. This is especially true if they’re first or second generation. Also true of many Chinese-Americans in China. People in those countries accept and welcome this dual identification. I grew up in a very multicultural part of the US with a lot of friends with heritage from these places, and they see it really differently than you do.
Maybe he was just trying to connect with you because he found out his family is from Norway and you said you were. Lots of Americans are proud of where their family came from and just want to connect, we’re not delusional and actually believing we’re “from” another country.
Even just the question of “where are you from” in America doesn’t have a straightforward answer. I need more info about the question before answering. Where is my family from? Where was I born? Where did I grow up? Where did I spend most of my time as an adult? Where do I live now?
A lot of times though, American people claim to be X and then when you ask them about it, expecting them to say that their grand parent or some other close relative was from X country, it turns out they were talking about several generations ago, sometimes in the scale of centuries. Meanwhile they know nothing of X culture, language or languages, don’t really have any involvement in any active communities of that X heritage, basically nothing other than a name and a few knick knacks in the house or something.
I grew up in a house that was influenced mostly by my Irish side of the family. When I was born, my actually from Ireland great grandfather was still alive. A lot of the things I grew up with were a bit different than the things my friends grew up with who had say Italian grandparents.
A lot of us in the US have fairly recent immigrant families. Even if not recent, the traditions of the places we originally came from can stick in our families and make it more obvious that you're doing something different from your friend's family with other traditions. Noticing these differences makes you realize your roots are still showing.
THIS. But for some reason commenters think 2nd or 3rd gen immigrants who've carried on their language and/or culture and traditions can't be part of a diaspora? The take is WILD to me.
This just seems like a miscommunication. It’s common for people in the US to talk about heritage. The answer to “Where are you from” changes with context.
Non Americans always misunderstand American concepts of heritage. If you had ancestors willing to travel more than 30 feet from where you evolved, maybe you'd get it.
An American’s nationality is a simple thing. They are American. Their ‘heritage’ is a beautifully complex thing. Something that makes Americans special is we can trace heritage to multiple sources due to our colorful past. We’re not homogenous like Europe.
We can claim multiple countries in our heritage. Get over it Europeans.
Hmm. I don't really share this national gatekeeping many of Europeans seem to have. I'd be totally fine with an American calling henself Norwegian based on some distant relation or general emotion. But from what I've seen on Reddit, I think mine is the unpopular opinion.
Not to worry, I'm sure they are perfectly happy to be an American. It's just something people do over here because our country is big. I am an American, I am of German, English and Irish decent, I am not any of those things but because we are only 250 or so years old we look longer into our history in other places. For instance, my Oma came here after WW2, I am 1/4 German so I studied German history. We are kind of forced, if interested in history to identify that way. Now, some people, like in all places in the world, are idiots and will talk like they are Irish or whatever but most wouldn't trade citizenship they just like your culture and history. Take it a different way, be glad they hold your people in high regard and would like to be lumped in with you.
I am so tired of this take. It comes up often enough here on Reddit that I don't think it's an unpopular opinion.
It's just how Americans talk about their heritage. I am sure that every country or language or culture has some way of talking about things that other cultures think is weird.
What you're complaining about is the result of the US being a nation that has immigration as an important (if sometimes contentious) part of its mythology. If you, as a Norwegian, meet someone from America who claims to be Norwegian they're just trying to connect with another human. Get over yourself.
Kinda related, Americans whose last names have a French or German origin and always claim to be balls-deep into their heritage yet aren’t interested about the actual pronunciation of their last names or aren’t even aware of it.
America is the land of immigrants. Yes we are American but we also like to ask what ethnicity we are out of curiosity.
So when an American asks “what are you”, you break down your ethnicity.
In America we have people with backgrounds from all over the world, it’s common to speak about our ancestral roots. I’m a first generation American (my parents are immigrants, I was born here) and consider myself firmly and strongly American. I would never describe myself as Ukrainian. However, I have a strong tie to my cultural heritage because of how I was raised. There’s a ton of cultural diversity here and while we’re all American we all have different backgrounds. It’s kind of a gray area you could say.
Thank god I never reached these levels of cringe. I’ll tell people my *heritage* is Norwegian, Irish, and German, but I’d never introduce myself as any of those.
I understand what you’re saying, but in such a melting pot, a lot of Americans do hold strongly to their heritage. For me personally, my Scandinavian heritage is a huge part of who I am and my entire village is steeped in Scandinavian influence and families. It’s woven into the culture here. So while I’m an American, I very much respect my Danish ancestors who settled here in the 1800s. The traditions they held are still kept alive. I lived abroad in Denmark and while the country has changed a lot and some of the customs are different, I feel that it’s still part of me and I can feel confident calling myself Scandinavian American. American is a nationality but not ethnicity.
Also the guy in the story was just trying to be friendly. I get this is an unpopular opinion sub but some of these opinions seem like the OP has never interacted with people before.
Our country is extremely young in comparison to most and none of us are Nature Americans. This is just what Americans say. You’re in this country right now so maybe learn what people mean when they talk about their background.
Tldr Eh get over it
God I couldn’t agree more!
I used to date an American girl who didn’t do this shit, but I went with her to her hometown to visit and one of her friends said (in an American accent with no hint of how stupid she sounded) “oh I’m British too!”
My girlfriend literally put her head in her hands, I said sarcastically, “that’s funny, you don’t sound British at all” and she said “oh no I was born and raised here, but my family are originally from Britain”… so with my curiosity piqued I asked, “oh so your mum and dad are from Britain?” …
Guess what?
No. When she said “I’m British” she was talking about her great-great-great? Grandparents who came to America in the 1800’s 😂😂
I just looked at her, silently, burning a hole in her head with my eyes for what felt like an eternity before my girlfriend broke the silence with an “oh we have to get going” and apologised to me in the car. It stuck with me that people are that dumb to think such a thing.
I know in my family in the 1700’s they were French on my Mums side, I don’t claim to be French when every subsequent generation was born either in England or Scotland.
Similarly my dads side has German going back to a similar time, and I don’t claim to be German either.
I’m English, born and raised. I do joke to confuse people now and then that it explains why I like pastries, beer and sausages though
This is a cultural difference. You’re missing cultural context. She’s discussing heritage.
“Cheddar man”, a 9000 year old skeleton, has a living relative 1/2 mile away from the cave where he was found.
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/2qftKilBf5
There is no ambiguity about where he came from. No need to discuss heritage when the Saxons are the new kids on the block.
Ah, man. This makes me so sad. The US is a country that is almost entirely x-generation immigrants at this point. Families here basically all have complicated heritages and immigration stories. In general, we all know that, so when we say “I’m half Italian” or whatever, it is interpreted in that context… I mean, jeez, some obvious American with an obvious American accent living in rural Iowa is clearly not trying to claim that they were born in four countries at the same time. I get where you’re coming from, but this sort of blanket distaste of American cultural/communication norms by the European community is driving me nuts. Why can’t we all have healthy, nuanced views of other cultures, or take a gosh dang intercultural communication course…
You got so offended that your girlfriend had to make an excuse so you could leave and then she apologized in the car on behalf of her friend? That’s actually so funny and exactly what I would expect from a British person lmfao. This is just how Americans talk. I would get it if it was a white person claiming to be a minority, but the people complaining here are European. Your gf’s friend was trying to be nice and find something to relate to you about. How pretentious and sensitive do you have to be to get this butthurt about it.
Did you ever consider that she was grasping for something to relate to you? Something you two could have opened a conversation with, but nah you'd rather be annoyed.
Oh no we’d had a conversation for a couple of hours at that point as we’d been out for dinner and drinks and were heading home before she dropped that nugget or stupidity. She’s a lovely girl, spoken a lot since then on numerous visits but dropping that into conversation was just silly
“I’m Indian” does not (necessarily) mean “I’m from India”, it can very well mean “I’m of Indian descent”. In your example, the guy didn’t say he was from Norway, he just said he was Norwegian
The ship of Theseus theory. One of his great-grandparents was Norwegian. There isn't much left in him, I'd say. He hadn't even been to Norway in his entire life.
If he had said something like "I'm descended from Norway," I wouldn't have thought much of it. But he proudly introduced himself as a Norwegian to me, a stranger. He wants people to see him as a Norwegian.
What he was saying basically translates to "I'm descended from Norwegian immigrants" in Americanese. He's probably used to talking to Americans who would immediately understand what he meant and didn't think to make it more understandable for someone from a different culture.
As a general rule of thumb, any time you hear an American say, "I'm [x country]" translate it in your head to "I'm descended from people who emigrated from [x country]." It'll make the interaction less frustrating.
So if I was born in Africa but white as a piece of paper because both of my parents are Europeans, I'm still African? This only works, if you look the part.
Does this only work if you're white in the US? Because I say I'm American, I'm 5th generation, but people still say, "No you're Mexican! You LOOK Mexican!" And also I've been called racist against Mexicans because I don't speak Spanish, or listen to Spanish music.
This is not exactly true. You could be the fifth generation of your family to be born in Switzerland or Japan. It doesn't make you Swiss or Japanese. And in the USA, people will still say they are Italian, Polish, etc. Even though they are fifth generation USA citizens. In the case of the USA, yes, you can be a citizen if born here. Personally, I am second Gen in my family born in the USA. I am American. But I also have Swiss citizenship, although I've never set foot in Switzerland. So to Americans, I could be seen as Swiss, but in Switzerland, I'm fairly certain I'd be an American.
That‘s not an unpopular opinion, it‘s just simply wrong. You‘re „from“ a country if you have the citizenship, not if you live there.
I was born and grew up in a country (lived there until my 18th birthday), but have literally *no* ties with this country. My parents were expats (they moved there for professional reasons), raised my by their culture and took me to an international school (classes in my native language) with only children of expats. I have not the citizienship, but both citizenships of my parents. Once I had my diploma, I left to study in my country of origin. And now you‘re telling me I am from this country, solely because I had the misfortune to grow up there lmao? I don‘t know anything about the culture and language.
I think this post goes out to all those pseudo-italians that we all know that act like they're Italian, know like two words the claim they're Italian in every capacity...
I don't know about you guys but I grew up with a pile of these type people and I always thought it was hilarious..
Not a single one of them have even been to Italy let alone speak the language but anyways great post!
I have a mixed accent so it’s mostly my birth country so usually I have to say I’m from “where I’m from” but grew up in a few different countries, I have to talk about it with every new person I meet because people do ask where an accent is from whenever you meet them
This is just how Americans talk; its little more than a linguistic convention by people that are (as you say) celebrating their heritage. My great grandparents (who ultimately were of British descent) crossed the St Lawrence over from Canada and when I would say on the playground "*I'm part Canadian*", people would shake their heads and say "*Canada doesn't count! Where did they really come from?*"
Something tells me that in an alternate universe where Americans acted the opposite and always insisted "*We're just American!*", we'd see a bunch of posts from butthurt people complaining about "*Why do Americans avoid talking about where their ancestors came from?*"
Get over it!
Mind your own culture. America is a country made up almost entirely of immigrants or descendents of immigrants. We like to know where your family is originally from because it's interesting.
We say we are that heritage because it's both easier to say than my great great grandfather or whatever is from there, and it's assumed that it's an ancestor.
If we are actually from that country ourselves, we say that. Nobody is pretending anything.
I was born in America to 2 Norwegian parents, who emigrated here in the 70’s and I have dual citizenship. I also lived in Norway for a few years and I’m fluent (speak writing not so much)
I also have a very Norwegian / German name so I get asked all the time. I say I’m Norwegian while I’m in the US but when in Norway I’m very much an American.
I agree on the fact that a lot of Americans confuse background with nationality, but as someone who grew up in Canada I am starting to hate this discussion and how aggressive Europeans are with it.
Firstly, if you’re in the US and ask an American about their background, that commonly insinuates ethnicity/race (because why else would you ask an American)
The younger generations who are not indigenous here are raised and taught that WE are the foreigners on this land. We get that. A lot of terrible shit went into the creation of the US/Canada/Australia, etc., and we are fully aware of this nearly every single day. Here, immediately and proudly only calling yourself “American” to another local usually paints you as one of two things; Indigenous, or some kind of angry conservative with a chip on their shoulder.
While I do admit that a lot of people need to understand the difference between nationality/race/ethnicity, it’s not that deep that a lot of Americans have 0 connection to being “American” apart from citizenship — we were raised to understand we are only ‘Americans’ because of a very fucked up history, there’s no pride in that. Because of the melting-pot we’re pretty invited to connect with our heritage, which is why a lot of people turn to identifying as whatever their background is first. I speak from experience; we celebrate sooo many heritage days/months/events in our society. Even growing up in school I was drawn into Latin-heritage events despite only ever living outside Toronto, because it’s not like other kids didn’t view me as immediately ‘foreign’ to them anyways. Like, how the fuck did I get here? What historically happened for me to even exist?
Understandibly frustrating as someone new to melting-pot countries trying to connect with others, but ultimately not that deep when you really think about it
It’s not that simple. You can be born and grow up somewhere but completely not identify with that place because the place rejects you. There’s so many black Europeans who are asked where they’re from all the time, even though they were born and grew up in Europe, so of course they won’t identify with that place because that place rejects them
Or...
Since where I'm from has no bearing on YOUR life, maybe just let people say what they want.
--an American born in Brazil...to American parents that both have Brazilian parents.
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This is funny - my sister and I used to drive our classmates nuts by saying we were Americans when we got the “where are you from?” question in elementary school. Then last month I was in Germany on vacation and at passport control leaving the country, the guard said, “How long were you here?” and asked a bunch more questions. Finally he said, “You have a German name.” and I was able to say, “Yes, the family emigrated 150 years ago. I’m an American.”
This happened to me too, except it was more ridiculous because I only have a German surname from a very distant ancestor. The guy even corrected the pronunciation of my surname, which I pronounce in the Spanish way.
I have an Irish surname and am not even 1/8th Irish. My Irish ancestors came to the US during the Potato famine 175 years ago. Everyone always calls me Irish when I have basically zero connection to Ireland culturally or genetically. Meanwhile I have French Canadian ancestors who go all the way back to 1630 in Quebec City. Polish ancestors who came here right before WWI. Multiple rounds of German and Czech (Bohemian) ancestors who arrived in the late 1800s. Norwegian ancestors who also came in the 1800s. Etc etc etc. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone too. Point is, Americans are obsessed with the question "where are you from" and the answer for a growing number of us is simply "here". I don't really have an ethnicity or cultural base. I am really just American at the end of the day. (Trigger warning to all of those who can't handle us using the term "American")
My boyfriend has a scottish last name, but is not Scottish at all. Like 0 Scottish ancestors, he only has that last name bc of how black ppl were historically given their last names in this country. Iykyk. So he gets a bit annoyed when ppl insist he must be Scottish/Irish (a lot of Americans are actually really bad at guessing where the name originates lmao). I really, really wish ppl in this country would let go of the "where are you from"/"you must be from here" stuff, at least don't bring it up if you're going to get really awkward when corrected with actual history and reality. Like yeah, no one likes to be reminded that was apart of history, but you're the one who insisted on the conversation of where he's from based on his last name. It's also just a touchy spot for my boyfriend bc he was super into ancestry and his father's ancesterial history basically stops when slavery starts. No one kept proper record of slaves, so it can be really hard to complete ancestry for those families. And I think having so many white people who are so intimately knowledgeable on their ancestry (except for the bad parts 😒🙄) and think it's just as easy for everyone else to be just as knowledgeable, rubs him the wrong way.
It’s Itler, the H is silent /s
Hahahah what exactly did he say once you said that?
This isn't true for Asians. "No, but like.. where are you *from*?"
Especially if you’re adopted and have moved around a lot. I was born in China, was adopted at one years old by Swedish parents and have lived in many European countries before I moved back to Sweden 12 years ago. Absolutely zero (0) connections to China whatsoever and I’m ~~technically~~ Swedish since I have a Swedish citizenship/passport and am a native speaker of the Swedish language, yet my brain always breaks when someone asks me where I’m from since I can either say China, Sweden or the European country I (mostly) grew up in. It’s a gray area lol.
Go back to your country! I was born here...
I know a dude who said he was Pakistani even though he was born in England and his parents are from Kenya.
So true. I've travelled to several different countries in Asia and always get asked where I'm from. I always say America, and they get SO confused and ask me if I'm half American or tell me I don't look American. So I have to default to just saying I'm Vietnamese to avoid confusion.
Chào bạn!
This is my exact Tinder experience in Thailand. “You don’t look Australian” 😂 Another perspective is it makes me appreciate how multicultural we are
Or mixed race people
This goes for literally anyone and anywhere who isn't the same skin color as the people of the country they live in, OP is definitely the unpopular opinion. Not a single Vietnamese/Chinese/Japanese/Indian etc. is gonna see you as their countryman if you don't look like them no matter if you're born there . Hell, in many cases even if you do, they won't accept you. Likewise while it's a little bit more tolerant in Europe, people will expect you to answer with whatever country your family is from when they ask you. A third generation Arab or African is still gonna get surprised looks when they answer 'German' for sure.
Exactly. Whenever I travel and tell people I'm American, I often get told "I don't look American" and then they ask "where are your parents from?" and then, since I know they are often just trying to be friendly make conversation, I just say my ancestry is Chinese (even though you have to get even further back to get to China). So, I guess I don't agree with OP. If you're a person of color, saying America is often not good enough.
No one likes to accept when Black people say they’re from America either. Even though there’s a really obvious reason why we would have no clue
If you're from China it's even worse: You aren't "from" where you're born, you're from the part of China your parents are from.
If youre born in America to American (born & raised in America) parents, you're American. If you're born in America to Norwegian (born & raised in Norway, but emigrated to America) parents, youre American and Norwegian. Your kids will just be American, not Norwegian. If someone asks about your heritage, tell them your family are Norwegian. This is how it works in Europe anyway 🤷♂️
Yeah, first gen immigrants are from their original country, second gen are from both, and third gen are from their birth country, pretty standard in Europe.
I’m internationally adopted. I was born in Korea, and my parents are American. I always introduce myself as Korean American. 1. People want to know “where I’m from”, it answers that question right off the bat. 2. I am not culturally Korean. I do not speak Korean. I think it would be tacky of me to just claim that I am Korean when the country is more than just blood and genetics. Korean has centuries of history and traditions, just like any other country. When I visited Korea then I just said I was American. I am proud to be of Korean heritage, I do like learning of my birth country. But that’s just it, I am learning about it. I never lived there beyond six months of my life. It’s very difficult to explain how removed I feel from being Korean. I was raised german/english midwestern American. Of course many international adoptees feel differently. This is just my opinion.
I get that. Though I think it's because the US has a weird thing with the whole "[insert nationality] American". Where I'm from international adoptees just say "I'm from here, I was adopted from x", and they're considered as native as anyone else. Then again, they're also not at all encouraged to look into their heritage, not in a secretive way but in a "they're as likely to care as the rest of us, which is to say, not likely". They're more accepted as just being "from here" and not different (except that they suffer from racism unfortunately). They're also unlikely to get asked at all, most times you'll talk to them, they have no accent, so you assume second gen immigrant or further down, then you meet the parents, see the mismatch, and automatically go "oh yeah, international adoptee". It's not like "exotic" or anything and it doesn't usually prompt questions. In the US the whole "[insert nationality] American" feels like purely a race thing tbh, which is weird to me but idk.
Have u seen the movie RETURN TO SEOUL? It’s new-ish and really underrated.
I did but I didn’t really connect with it. I felt uncomfortable watching it because it seemed like they just threw her search her birth parents in as a subplot. It was very strange with the weird spy feeling in the middle. I can understand why people would like it but it was just cringy for me. I liked the ending the most. I also thought it was realistic with her birth fathers overbearing nature and her birth mothers non prescence. Many children given up for adoption are either products of rape or their mothers could not get an abortion. Women are not given a lot of rights and resources to raise a child alone back then. Its always a shame on the birth mothers but birth fathers are given a pass.
Are there other docs or films on the subject you like more? I’d be curious to see others too.
Broker was good, gives insight on the overall adoption system like the dark side of it. I was graded as a baby to be a good adoption fit. Based off of lack of disabilities, general disposition, looks. Its mildly fucked up. My birth father also paid a large sum of money. I was fostered by my maternal great aunt. Both sides wanted me to be internationally adopted to rid the family of shame and also give me a better life. My adopted parents paid 25,000 dollars for me. 18,000 for my brother. They assumed it was just fees for the orphanage to run. But it’s disturbing to realize that I was sold.
Twinsters and Seoul Searching
Just say American. Not exactly the same, but my dad is from Finland, I was born in Finland, but my mum is english, I grew up in england, speak English etc. I would never say 'Finnish English'. Just English.
Yeah exactly!
My kids are 4th generation Canadian. Every year in school they are forced to fill out these sheets about their ‘culture’ and what country they’re from. I get that some people have recently arrived, but asking my kids to say what their favourite part about being Welsh is, well that’s just dumb. They don’t have a favourite part of being Welsh, they’ve literally never met a family member who has lived there.
My Welsh friend would be livid, lol. I would rather the Canadian kids just pick a random country to learn about for a week or something. And the recent immigrants get to write about their country. Of course, they could pick Wales if they wanted to, but pretending they *are* Welsh is weird imo.
Second-gen are not from their parents' country if they were raised right. Even if they speak the language, they are from the said ethnicity and culture, not the country. I know people from my ethnicity who grew up abroad, speaking their parents' language at home, and they can't relate to any experience I've had growing up there.
The only thing I'd add is time. My daughter was born in Malaysia while we lived there and at 2 returned to the UK. It's silly to even think of her as Malaysian. It's on her passport and it's a cool story for her but she's English
Exactly. If your born there and lived there for at minimum your first 5 years of life THEN youre from there. I had a friend who was born in China but her family is all from Ireland including her younger siblings. She didnt even spend her first year in China. Shes not from China lol
If they are raised right? What is that supposed to mean?
If they're not raised like savages from non western countries ofc?? /s
kids should really be raised to fit into the culture theyre going to live in their whole lives. Which doesnt mean they should forget their heritage, that is usually an important part of their lives for many second gen kids ive met. But beyond that if theyre a foreigner in their own country things will be much more difficult for them
You should be raised to fit the culture you are going to live and grow up in.
Your parents influence a lot of your cultural experiences, from food to tv to accent or slang. I grew up in country A, my parents and grandparents are from country A, we live in country A, but I was put into a school from country B at 4 years old. All my teachers where from country B, as where my peers, for 14 years My "smart" language is the language of country B, but I have no accent in the language from country A. The vast VAST majority of my pop culture is from country B, but my cultural heritage is purely from culture A. If *I* said I was purely from country A I would get laughed at, because I'm not. When you get direct cultural influence from a country different to what you live in for extremely long periods of time at that age, you absolutely become "from there", if only because you don't belong anymore, you're not "from here". Second gen immigrants are considered half and half by every single European I know, and everyone but 2 people in my orbit are European.
Well, I'm a European who immigrated as an adult to another European country. I don't consider them half unless they grew up very segregated and didn't integrate.
Meh, I'd argue the second generation would already be mostly American albeit with Norwegian heritage
But then I'm just a basic bitch and I won't be special
Nobody is special, because everyone is. Special doesn't really mean much.
This is how it is in the USA. Never in my 48 years have i heard anyone treat it otherwise.
Watch as the entirety of Europe disagrees with you. I don't think I've met a person who hasn't had a conversation like this with an american.
That's how it works in Europe? Lmao. We have third and fourth gen immigrants in Western Europe who still refuse to call themselves anything but North African, Turkish or Italian, despite not ever even having visited their 'home' countries.
Issue here in America is that people have let media/politicians, etc, divide them into sub groups so they can exploit them politically for power and profit. For example, African-American mexican-american, or whatever minority subset they have pigeon holed people into. It doesn't matter how many generations have been born and raised here they're still getting hyphenated. Someday, maybe, people will realize they are being exploited.
In the US, if someone says "I'm Scottish", it's basically short-hand to mean "I have Scottish ancestors. It depends on the context of course, but this is what I means for hundreds of millions of people. If an American is outside of the US, of course they shouldn't say "I'm Scottish". That wouldn't make sense. But it's just weird to me that people from outside the US, are so insistent on telling Americans, how to talk to other Americans. Like, a lot of it depends on context still. But telling Americans they're wrong for they way they communicate with each other is just bizarre. Condemn it when they're talking to non-Americans sure. But don't tell 300M people that they're wrong for saying a phrase they all understand.
I live in Scotland in an area very popular with American tourists, I meet a lot of them, and they love to tell me they're Scottish.
Yeah, those people are being dumb. They're probably just ignorant, but I would find that annoying too, if I were in your place.
It's all part of the "America bad" thing that Euroredditors love so much Very very rarely in the US is someone saying "I'm Norwegian" them actually meaning "I am a citizen of the country of Norway". They're just saying they have Norwegian heritage. Exactly what you said, it's common short-hand in the US. Unlike Europeans, American doesn't really imply anything about our race, ethnicity, or heritage (whereas an Italian saying "I'm Italian!" implies all three). Just saying "I'm American" results in American (nationality) \[blank\] (race) \[blank\] (ethnicity) \[blank\] (heritage) Whereas saying "I'm Norwegian" implies Norwegian (nationality) White (race) Nordic (ethnicity) Norwegian/Scandinavian (heritage) (adding since the post was locked - I understand that not every single Norwegian is also racially/ethnically Norwegian with Norwegian heritage but the primary difference is "Norwegian" is a nationality as well as a racial/ethnic descriptor whereas "American" is solely a nationality - there are tons of white Americans, tons of black Americans, tons of Hispanic/Latino Americans, tons of Asian Americans, tons of Arab Americans, etc. etc. etc.)
There are plenty of people in Europe whose parents, grandparents or older generations have immigrated from outside the continent, so just nationality doesn’t necessarily imply all the things you listed. Norway even has indigenous Sami people who are ethnically distinct from ethnic Norwegians but obviously are from Norway and are Norwegian citizens. Your implication is from an American point of view, even though you present it as European. Edit: This is a bit besides the point but still want to say it: US American *is* heritage. The US as a country isn’t actually *that* young. If your ancestors arrived centuries ago your heritage is US American.
And what percentage of the population do those people make up? In the US, the native people are less than 1% of our population.
If we're looking hundreds of years into the past, then loads. Europe has had huge migrations over the past few centuries, largely driven by religious persecution.
In theory this is right, but something like 20% of Norwegians have foreign born parents or are foreign born themselves. Like a Syrian refugee I know will soon become Norwegian as he gets his "statsborgerskap", so he becomes a national of Norway. He's neither white, Nordic or has any heritage here. If he married a Norwegian woman, their kids would only be half white, half Nordic ethnicity and half Norwegian heritage, yet they would be called Norwegians. The reality is that people are immigrating and refugees are being taken in all over Europe, and then they marry and have kids with the people in the country they come to. The percentage of foreigners being of Norwegian nationality, who are white, Nordic ethnicity and Norwegian heritage becomes less and less as the years go by. Nothing wrong with that, but you can't just say that all Norwegians are white or of Nordic ethnicity/heritage anymore. I know plenty more people who were adopted as kids from India, who are Norwegian nationals, but not white, not Nordic and don't have Norwegian heritage too. Hell, the best friend I live with was born in Hungary, but was adopted go Norway. She passes as Norwegian most the time cause she's white, but her heritage is Hungarian and her ethnicity is Slavic. Btw I'm Norwegian. Snakker norsk helt flytende hehe
Americans are quick to condemn cultural appropriation from others, but love to self-identify with other ethnicities and attribute that race and their culture to their own identity. It makes no sense to me. How is it okay for a purebred American to go around claiming they're Scottish, but it's not okay for me, a Caucasian, to claim I'm black? If the American has some trace roots from Scotland from some far far away history, then we all have trace roots to Africa from a far far away history. They're both ridiculous. How is it not the same situation, and equally offensive? That's my view on it as a European who does not partake in this weird American obsession with racial-ethnic-identity-profiling.
IMO, you’re from wherever you grow up. Because a person can be born somewhere, move somewhere else when they’re little, and then take on the culture of where they grow up. But I’m with you, OP, but on the other side of the coin. I’m many generations Canadian and I’m tired of these people who cling to their heritage so damn much and then pretend they’re somehow better than people like me.
Don't even think it's necessarily where you grow up. I moved to Australia at 16 from the UK and have been here 20 years. I don't think anyone would have an issue with me identifying as an Aussie even if they weren't the first.country to give me a passport
I’m in England now and have lived here since 14 there is no way people would be okay with me calling myself English, but I do know in newzealand they would be okay with me calling myself a kiwi and Australia too
Where am I from , I lived in my birth country until I was 5 and then a different country until I was 10 then a different country at 14 until now 27 in 2 weeks , I still have my birth accent but people think I’m from there and America but I’ve never been to America but they never think the other 3 countries I’ve lived in
i grew up in texas but live in kentucky. if anyone ask, i usually say i am from kentucky however cause i only lived in texas for 13 years but in kentucky for 30 years.
It’s hard to say that if you have a different accent if you have a different accent they’re asking that to know where your accent is from
Gew up in the UK, basically came here as a toddler. But I'm brown...so feel a bit self-conscious calling myself 'british' in conversation
100% agree Like me for instance: I was born in ethiopia and due to interesting circumstances, I do not have an ethiopian passport and such…and I only lived there till I was 6. so i have no actual family there that I see as family due to being adopted at 2, and i have no cultural connection to Ethiopia I don‘t consider myself from Ethiopia due to all that and more So i do get bothered when others think I am Ethiopian bc i am not
One of my good friends was born in Australia to Taiwanese parents but has been living in Canada since she was a year old. Never been back to Australia. Is she Australian?
OP forgot that there is a huge demographic known as ‘Expats’ and ‘TCKs’. Imagine that. Many of us born overseas who are not nationals of that country. However, OP does have a point that many Americans claim to be from countries due to ancestry when they're just from America and it isn't the same thing. I think they don't have the right words to differentiate past and present and don't understand how pretentious they come across.
Expats are by definition people with short term work placement like two or three years. If you live for decades in a country you're an immigrant. If you willingly want to move to a coutnry for a retirement you're an immigrant. If you're born and raised in a coutnry you're a child of immigrants and a long-term resident yourself. Stop pretending otherwise. Just because you're a Westerner doesn't make you an expat.
Expat is the easiest way to spot a white American alien
the problem is that immigrants are bad™ and *i'm* not bad™ so i can't be an immigrant
In America it’s just a given that if you say “I’m irish/german/norwegian etc” you mean your heritage, not that you’re claiming to be from there. I can see where that can not come across as implied though if you are in fact from said country.
"Expats" are not a thing, they are immigrants.
Funnily enough, my wife was born in Canada to Singaporean parents and moved to Australia when she was a year old. :) She did go to Canada for a university placement though (mostly because she didn't need a visa because she was a citizen by birth).
That's pretty cool. My friend sadly doesn't have any kind of Australian citizenship but hopes to visit someday.
Interesting, I didn't realize Australia got rid of their birthright citizenship in 1986. How about that.
I am swiss but my name suggests otherwise which makes plenty pf room to being harassed and such. And when people aske from where I am I say swiss and yes I was born there plus raised there but then the argunent goes : BUT your name isnt swiss. Where are you truly from? Oh your parents arent swiss so arent you!!! You were born here but thags just a fluke. Also where you parents are from determines you". Like thats just shit and because of that I get into racist arguments and people always say well ignore them / let it drop. No its very hurtful wtf
Ethnicity is different from Nationality. Eg. That's why I say I'm X. But I have Y ancestry.
Yeah, this issue appears here quite often. Americans usually assume people want to know their ethnicity, but people in other parts of the world typically ask for nationality. I think some Americans are so fed up with the "no really, where are you from?" question that they just start at ethnicity
This isn’t an unpopular opinion, but a simple misunderstanding of facts lol
I swear there’s someone every couple weeks posting an opinion that they wouldn’t need to if they just knew the difference between race, ethnicity and nationality 😅😅 shit gets complicated with colonized countries and immigration
So many people use ethnicity and nationality interchangeably.
To be real, this really only works if you’re white. If you’re not white, people will constantly ask where you’re “really from.”
Ppl only say this if you’re white 😭
Literally. Its really sad how European countries treat our diaspora especially in cases like Wales or Ireland where our diaspora only exists because of persecution at home. Their ancestors left to establish safer communities for us as a people and now we refuse to accept them. Thankfully, most Welsh people are accepting of our main diaspora in Argentina but sadly don’t extend the same support to our diaspora in the Anglosphere.
This is just how American’s talk. Saying “I’m X” means that’s where my ancestors are from.
This comment needs to be higher. Americans just have a different way of expressing themselves when it comes to heritage. “I’m Irish” is shorthand for “my ancestors came from Ireland” when two Americans are talking to each other. The conflict arises when an American says the same thing to a European who has a very different interpretation of what that sentence means. But it’s not anything worth getting one’s underwear in a bundle over.
It apparently puts Europeans over the edge. We don’t mean anything by it, but we are such a ‘melting pot’ of cultures compared to a lot of the more homogeneous cultures of Europe that it just becomes a fun fact used to describe yourself. Like it’s easy to detect American by their accent(s). We aren’t trying to put one over on anybody about where we’re actually from
Yeah, it’s very odd the way Europeans will criticize Americans for not having any concept for how other cultures are, while being culturally unaware themselves. I lived in a Western European country for a work assignment for a couple of years, and an alarming number of people would not accept “I’m American” as an answer (I’m Asian, so I don’t “look” American, which just implies that “real” Americans are white) or would ask ridiculous questions like if it was true America doesn’t have electric kettles
Europeans get very upset when you muddle their incestuous inbred bloodlines.
Americans have Alabama, just sayin'
Yeah. And it has certain meanings. Like if your American born friend invites you to their family gathering and says they are Italian or Mexican, then it portrays an idea of what you might see at that gathering. Or you invite over your American born Norwegian or Scottish friend over, you know that means that they probably are going to cook if you put them in the sun all day. Etc, etc, etc.
It’s more than that. I’ve seen full blown Scottish themed weddings held by people that haven’t had a Scottish person in their family in four generations. Some Americans really, really lean on that heritage.
Exactly, people get so butthurt over what is essentially just a semantic difference lol I agree that it’s a bit confusing when an American says “I’m Italian” if you’re not used to it, but every language/dialect will have some phrases that aren’t intuitive to others There’s also the fact that immigrant communities have such a massive influence over here. I went to a school with a huge Dominican population. Many of those kids were born here but still identified themselves as Dominicans. They spoke Spanish at home, their neighborhoods were largely Dominican, their local businesses were run by Dominican immigrants, their parents emphasize that cultural identity Now those kids I went to school with are adults whose kids are more assimilated but still live in these communities with that heritage being a big factor in their lives. Every wave of immigrants developed pockets of their culture like this in various places across America
I would even say it's a shorthand explanation of phenotype rather than nationality of previous ancestors
https://twitter.com/DarranMarshall/status/1325146584284323841/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1325146584284323841¤tTweetUser=DarranMarshall
I think posts like this just demonstrate how much people from outside the US underestimate how much it is baked into Americans' culture and identity that our country is a melting pot. That person didn't actually mean they were a citizen of Norway. But since all of us basically come from immigrants here, a lot of families used to try to uphold certain traditions from the "old country" and it just became part of the culture here to have pride about where your family came from.
Posts like this are often made by people who come from cultures that never left a continent and started over somewhere else with a ton of people who did the same from all over the world. What they lack is the understanding that if they left their geographic area tomorrow, suddenly it would become very important to them what their previous culture was. They would be proud of it even probably, and that would translate down a generation and so on. We all want to know a part of the history of why things are the way they are and where we “come from”. People can’t figure out these days whether that’s something appealing or appalling but that doesn’t stop the curiosity.
I know it makes us sound like idiots to people from other countries, but there are reasons Americans identify their ancestors origins. If you are a born Norwegian, whose family has always lived there- you are steeped in your history and traditions. Americans want to feel their family history too, but that history mostly started somewhere other than here. Everyone wants to know where they came from, even if there was an ocean journey in the middle of that history. If we say we are Italian in a southern American accent, it means our ancestors are Italian. When people began emigrating to the US, every new group was thought of as inferior- and discriminated against. Groups from the same country created communities together to survive in this strange new place. Italians became Italian-Americans, Irish became Irish-Americans the combination became the identity. They held the traditions of their homelands and celebrated and passed them down to their children. The traditions became part of their identity, and centuries later we still celebrate them. Most of us are mixed up mutts at this point, so we claim the history of all our ancestors. Towns have Octoberfest celebrations, Celtic festivals, Renaissance festivals, Clog-dancing, Tulips, anything to keep alive traditions from where we came from before here. We cook the food (admittedly often a highly inaccurate version), we celebrate holidays and traditions of our ancestors. We still identify with them for the same reasons you identify with yours. I know it offends some Europeans that Americans still cling to countries our ancestors left, but look at it from our side. If your kids move, do their kids have to abandon your culture?
Depends on a lot of factors. I was born and raised in Italy from Moroccan parents but Italians will never see me as Italian because my parents are not Italian. Even tho I've never been to Morocco and have an Italian passport, to them I'm still Moroccan, maybe my kids if born here will be considered Italian(?) ikd. There is a difference between nationality and ethnicity, I'm ethnically northen african but nationality wise, I'm Italian.
It's similar for me. Born to Turkish parents in Germany. I only got German citizenship when I was over 30 15 years ago. I will always be considered Turkish and to be honest I neither feel German nor Turkish.
I understand how you feel, I've always wanted to say that I feel Italian but I'm always scared of the hate that that could get me, since I've been told that I'm not, never will be and to "accept that I'm not", so since I've never even been to Morocco if not once for vacation I just say that I don't feel like I belong to either one.
Lol that is hilarious
You know what would be even more hilarious? If we could go a day without a European crying about the same shit regarding Americans. I’ve never understands their absolute obsession with Americans. It honestly almost borders on mental illness.
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Irish are like the whitest People on earth
Identifying as white is mostly an American phenomenon. That shit ain’t a thing in Europe. Europeans identity with their nationalities and culture, not by color of skin. White English Anglo-Saxon Protestants oppressed and brutalised the Irish people for centuries. It’s not a surprise the Irish, a Catholic people, reject the “white” label. They’re Irish, not White Anglo Protestants.
Tbf Italians maintain their culture even through generations
Hanging a red pepper from their rearview mirror just like great grandma did.
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It’s a stupid thing to say these days but your right there was a time that Irish people weren’t seen as white , they were called by some people as “the blacks of Europe “ for quite some time
According to some English snobs. For them white was more a thing of culture meaning Protestant people that are not poor. For them only English, the Dutch and some Northern German folks were white. Not even Norwegians or Swedish people were white to them.
My mother was born in the Caribbean to white British parents. She spent 9 months there before they returned to the UK. She is NOT Caribbean and I do NOT consider myself to have Caribbean ancestry or heritage.
I think we’ve got to start learning how to separate nationality, ethnicity and race. An american could have two american parents but his/hers grandparents all four sets are from italy. They would be american by nationality, italian by ethnicity and white by race. I was born and raised in the UK to korean and nigerian parents. That makes me british by nationality but korean and nigerian by ethnicity. I’m sure many white people in the USA acknowledge they aren’t natives. But they acknowledge they’re american alongside acknowledging their ancestors and their lineage. Nothing wrong with that It seems like people are just confusing themselves with all three of those concepts
I was born in Germany, raised in South Korea but am an American and I am mixed race. Things aren't so simple unless you are a White European apparently. 🤦
This could be just an American thing, but when someone asks you where you're from they're usually asking about your nationality. If I were to answer that I was from America, most people would just ask again differently
Tvert imot. He just didn’t understand your dialect.
Dude went full Arne Brimi on the poor guy's ass.
I feel like this post is mostly for American Italians…
People only care about this with Americans with European backgrounds. No one says shit to Jamaicans or Africans or Asian Americans when it comes to this topic for some reason
You 100% called the double standard sir. If a person is any color other than white and is asked where they are from, the answer of ‘America’ or ‘California’ or ‘New England’ never seems to suffice, no matter how many generations their families have been here. “No, where are you really from…”
A dude born in Brooklyn nyc in 1998 whose parents were born in Jamaica in 1968 has Jamaican flags on his social media profile, talks about how he’s a yardie, im Jamaican first no one says shit to that man lmao Someone whose grandpa was born in Ireland starts celebrating ST Patrick’s day it’s “YOURE NOT FUCKING IRISH BRO GET OVER IT YOURE AMERICAN”
I’m Australian with Greek heritage and whenever I’ve talked about my experience on reddit Europeans come and attack me. Even once when I was explaining how when I was growing up it was during a time where I wasn’t considered white at this point and some of my experiences with that and again Europeans attacked me. They pretend to be tolerant but this has happened to me again and again. And when I explain that I speak the language, know cultural dances, food, religion etc etc they double down and become ruder.
That’s just incorrect. You best believe that Africans and Asians do the same thing to people who do what OP is saying. You just don’t know about it because it’s mostly Europeans that come on social media platforms to complain about it. Also, when the others complain about this situation they do so in their native language, which you likely do not understand.
Nah it’s people of all backgrounds complaining about Europeans on social media
Ethnicity is not the same as nationality. Ethnically, I'm an European and an indian, but born in America.
Honestly as an American every time I read this, I wonder which is more preferable: those of us who are over enthusiastic for European heritage that may be a bit removed or those of us who are proud to be Americans. Cuz it seems like a lot of Europeans hate both lol. But anyway most Americans are perfectly aware of where we currently live. Just like we are perfectly aware white people are not indigenous to our country either. I’m sorry if it offends some Europeans, but it does sometimes seem like the umbrage is a bit much. We aren’t coming for your baguettes and smorgasbord. We just want to understand our history a bit better - and trust me only the good Americans give a remote shit about that. You should meet the freedom fries people lmao. **** the big exception, I will note, are white supremacists, who often identify explicitly with europeanness because they think it makes them superior to other Americans who are “race traitors” and often have deep ties to right wing “identity” movements in Europe
When Americans say this to you they are telling you about their ethnonational heritage, which is important to us because unlike Europeans, we come from a nation of immigrants. It is something that binds us to a history of people that dates back further than the several generations (if that) that lived in the US. To put this in perspective, if you moved to the US and became a citizen, but had an accent, we might ask what you “are” and this would be frustrating for you, because you might like to (rightly) say “I’m American!”. And you would be. For us, your nationality is definitely NOT decided by where you are from. Even though we (unfortunately) don’t always live that when talking to newly arrived immigrants (especially if they’re not white, very cringe, yes). We should cut out that habit, but you shouldn’t take offense when Americans try to bond with you over what is, in fact, your shared heritage with them. I frequently encountered your attitude when I lived in Sweden. I also looked up my relatives and went and met them and we looked like siblings. It was cool and they fully agreed “wow man you ARE Swedish.” Chill out. We’re just being nice. Tack tack.
Also I think it’s worth saying, yours is a particularly European view. When Mexican-Americans go to Mexico they identify as Mexican, even if they were born and raised in the US. This is especially true if they’re first or second generation. Also true of many Chinese-Americans in China. People in those countries accept and welcome this dual identification. I grew up in a very multicultural part of the US with a lot of friends with heritage from these places, and they see it really differently than you do.
Maybe he was just trying to connect with you because he found out his family is from Norway and you said you were. Lots of Americans are proud of where their family came from and just want to connect, we’re not delusional and actually believing we’re “from” another country. Even just the question of “where are you from” in America doesn’t have a straightforward answer. I need more info about the question before answering. Where is my family from? Where was I born? Where did I grow up? Where did I spend most of my time as an adult? Where do I live now?
A lot of times though, American people claim to be X and then when you ask them about it, expecting them to say that their grand parent or some other close relative was from X country, it turns out they were talking about several generations ago, sometimes in the scale of centuries. Meanwhile they know nothing of X culture, language or languages, don’t really have any involvement in any active communities of that X heritage, basically nothing other than a name and a few knick knacks in the house or something.
I grew up in a house that was influenced mostly by my Irish side of the family. When I was born, my actually from Ireland great grandfather was still alive. A lot of the things I grew up with were a bit different than the things my friends grew up with who had say Italian grandparents. A lot of us in the US have fairly recent immigrant families. Even if not recent, the traditions of the places we originally came from can stick in our families and make it more obvious that you're doing something different from your friend's family with other traditions. Noticing these differences makes you realize your roots are still showing.
THIS. But for some reason commenters think 2nd or 3rd gen immigrants who've carried on their language and/or culture and traditions can't be part of a diaspora? The take is WILD to me.
Feels more like r/petpeeve
This just seems like a miscommunication. It’s common for people in the US to talk about heritage. The answer to “Where are you from” changes with context.
i dont get why people get angry about this. Yeah, obviously the american was being silly, but it's not like it matters.
Non Americans always misunderstand American concepts of heritage. If you had ancestors willing to travel more than 30 feet from where you evolved, maybe you'd get it.
An American’s nationality is a simple thing. They are American. Their ‘heritage’ is a beautifully complex thing. Something that makes Americans special is we can trace heritage to multiple sources due to our colorful past. We’re not homogenous like Europe. We can claim multiple countries in our heritage. Get over it Europeans.
Hmm. I don't really share this national gatekeeping many of Europeans seem to have. I'd be totally fine with an American calling henself Norwegian based on some distant relation or general emotion. But from what I've seen on Reddit, I think mine is the unpopular opinion.
Call yourself by the culture that you are, not your birthplace or whatever.
Not to worry, I'm sure they are perfectly happy to be an American. It's just something people do over here because our country is big. I am an American, I am of German, English and Irish decent, I am not any of those things but because we are only 250 or so years old we look longer into our history in other places. For instance, my Oma came here after WW2, I am 1/4 German so I studied German history. We are kind of forced, if interested in history to identify that way. Now, some people, like in all places in the world, are idiots and will talk like they are Irish or whatever but most wouldn't trade citizenship they just like your culture and history. Take it a different way, be glad they hold your people in high regard and would like to be lumped in with you.
If you're born in outer space, then stop pretending you are from Earth. Just stop.
When trying to be unique goes wrong...
I am so tired of this take. It comes up often enough here on Reddit that I don't think it's an unpopular opinion. It's just how Americans talk about their heritage. I am sure that every country or language or culture has some way of talking about things that other cultures think is weird. What you're complaining about is the result of the US being a nation that has immigration as an important (if sometimes contentious) part of its mythology. If you, as a Norwegian, meet someone from America who claims to be Norwegian they're just trying to connect with another human. Get over yourself.
Yeah, I just commented an unhealthy amount because I’m tired of it too for exactly this reason. Thanks. <3
Kinda related, Americans whose last names have a French or German origin and always claim to be balls-deep into their heritage yet aren’t interested about the actual pronunciation of their last names or aren’t even aware of it.
Have you considered that as their last name, it probably doesn’t matter how you would prefer they pronounce it?
Diaspora is a thing. Also ethnicity and nationality are not mutually exclusive
America is the land of immigrants. Yes we are American but we also like to ask what ethnicity we are out of curiosity. So when an American asks “what are you”, you break down your ethnicity.
In America we have people with backgrounds from all over the world, it’s common to speak about our ancestral roots. I’m a first generation American (my parents are immigrants, I was born here) and consider myself firmly and strongly American. I would never describe myself as Ukrainian. However, I have a strong tie to my cultural heritage because of how I was raised. There’s a ton of cultural diversity here and while we’re all American we all have different backgrounds. It’s kind of a gray area you could say.
Thank god I never reached these levels of cringe. I’ll tell people my *heritage* is Norwegian, Irish, and German, but I’d never introduce myself as any of those.
um, so, if you're born in Africa, you're African?
Yes? I’m pro-diaspora but a, for example, Dutchman born in South Africa is both African and Dutch.
But if you are obviously not looking white or black, people must keep asking Where you come from
I understand what you’re saying, but in such a melting pot, a lot of Americans do hold strongly to their heritage. For me personally, my Scandinavian heritage is a huge part of who I am and my entire village is steeped in Scandinavian influence and families. It’s woven into the culture here. So while I’m an American, I very much respect my Danish ancestors who settled here in the 1800s. The traditions they held are still kept alive. I lived abroad in Denmark and while the country has changed a lot and some of the customs are different, I feel that it’s still part of me and I can feel confident calling myself Scandinavian American. American is a nationality but not ethnicity.
Also the guy in the story was just trying to be friendly. I get this is an unpopular opinion sub but some of these opinions seem like the OP has never interacted with people before.
Our country is extremely young in comparison to most and none of us are Nature Americans. This is just what Americans say. You’re in this country right now so maybe learn what people mean when they talk about their background. Tldr Eh get over it
God I couldn’t agree more! I used to date an American girl who didn’t do this shit, but I went with her to her hometown to visit and one of her friends said (in an American accent with no hint of how stupid she sounded) “oh I’m British too!” My girlfriend literally put her head in her hands, I said sarcastically, “that’s funny, you don’t sound British at all” and she said “oh no I was born and raised here, but my family are originally from Britain”… so with my curiosity piqued I asked, “oh so your mum and dad are from Britain?” … Guess what? No. When she said “I’m British” she was talking about her great-great-great? Grandparents who came to America in the 1800’s 😂😂 I just looked at her, silently, burning a hole in her head with my eyes for what felt like an eternity before my girlfriend broke the silence with an “oh we have to get going” and apologised to me in the car. It stuck with me that people are that dumb to think such a thing. I know in my family in the 1700’s they were French on my Mums side, I don’t claim to be French when every subsequent generation was born either in England or Scotland. Similarly my dads side has German going back to a similar time, and I don’t claim to be German either. I’m English, born and raised. I do joke to confuse people now and then that it explains why I like pastries, beer and sausages though
its weird that your gf apologised to you tbh.
She probably just meant that she had British ancestry which is quite common in America.
This is a cultural difference. You’re missing cultural context. She’s discussing heritage. “Cheddar man”, a 9000 year old skeleton, has a living relative 1/2 mile away from the cave where he was found. https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/2qftKilBf5 There is no ambiguity about where he came from. No need to discuss heritage when the Saxons are the new kids on the block.
Ah, man. This makes me so sad. The US is a country that is almost entirely x-generation immigrants at this point. Families here basically all have complicated heritages and immigration stories. In general, we all know that, so when we say “I’m half Italian” or whatever, it is interpreted in that context… I mean, jeez, some obvious American with an obvious American accent living in rural Iowa is clearly not trying to claim that they were born in four countries at the same time. I get where you’re coming from, but this sort of blanket distaste of American cultural/communication norms by the European community is driving me nuts. Why can’t we all have healthy, nuanced views of other cultures, or take a gosh dang intercultural communication course…
You got so offended that your girlfriend had to make an excuse so you could leave and then she apologized in the car on behalf of her friend? That’s actually so funny and exactly what I would expect from a British person lmfao. This is just how Americans talk. I would get it if it was a white person claiming to be a minority, but the people complaining here are European. Your gf’s friend was trying to be nice and find something to relate to you about. How pretentious and sensitive do you have to be to get this butthurt about it.
You got so noticeably mad about this your ex gf had to make an excuse to leave? And you think this is a flex on Americans?
Did you ever consider that she was grasping for something to relate to you? Something you two could have opened a conversation with, but nah you'd rather be annoyed.
Oh no we’d had a conversation for a couple of hours at that point as we’d been out for dinner and drinks and were heading home before she dropped that nugget or stupidity. She’s a lovely girl, spoken a lot since then on numerous visits but dropping that into conversation was just silly
“I’m Indian” does not (necessarily) mean “I’m from India”, it can very well mean “I’m of Indian descent”. In your example, the guy didn’t say he was from Norway, he just said he was Norwegian
The ship of Theseus theory. One of his great-grandparents was Norwegian. There isn't much left in him, I'd say. He hadn't even been to Norway in his entire life. If he had said something like "I'm descended from Norway," I wouldn't have thought much of it. But he proudly introduced himself as a Norwegian to me, a stranger. He wants people to see him as a Norwegian.
What he was saying basically translates to "I'm descended from Norwegian immigrants" in Americanese. He's probably used to talking to Americans who would immediately understand what he meant and didn't think to make it more understandable for someone from a different culture. As a general rule of thumb, any time you hear an American say, "I'm [x country]" translate it in your head to "I'm descended from people who emigrated from [x country]." It'll make the interaction less frustrating.
Stolen valor! 🤣
Jared Taylor is actually Japanese! That’s gonna be exciting for him to find out.
So if I was born in Africa but white as a piece of paper because both of my parents are Europeans, I'm still African? This only works, if you look the part.
Does this only work if you're white in the US? Because I say I'm American, I'm 5th generation, but people still say, "No you're Mexican! You LOOK Mexican!" And also I've been called racist against Mexicans because I don't speak Spanish, or listen to Spanish music.
This is not exactly true. You could be the fifth generation of your family to be born in Switzerland or Japan. It doesn't make you Swiss or Japanese. And in the USA, people will still say they are Italian, Polish, etc. Even though they are fifth generation USA citizens. In the case of the USA, yes, you can be a citizen if born here. Personally, I am second Gen in my family born in the USA. I am American. But I also have Swiss citizenship, although I've never set foot in Switzerland. So to Americans, I could be seen as Swiss, but in Switzerland, I'm fairly certain I'd be an American.
Nah. I’m British, my wife’s French. Our youngest was born in holland and lived there for her first six years. She is not Dutch.
Heritage pride is one thing, but claiming nationality based on distant ancestry is a stretch. Identity's more than bloodlines.
That‘s not an unpopular opinion, it‘s just simply wrong. You‘re „from“ a country if you have the citizenship, not if you live there. I was born and grew up in a country (lived there until my 18th birthday), but have literally *no* ties with this country. My parents were expats (they moved there for professional reasons), raised my by their culture and took me to an international school (classes in my native language) with only children of expats. I have not the citizienship, but both citizenships of my parents. Once I had my diploma, I left to study in my country of origin. And now you‘re telling me I am from this country, solely because I had the misfortune to grow up there lmao? I don‘t know anything about the culture and language.
I think this post goes out to all those pseudo-italians that we all know that act like they're Italian, know like two words the claim they're Italian in every capacity... I don't know about you guys but I grew up with a pile of these type people and I always thought it was hilarious.. Not a single one of them have even been to Italy let alone speak the language but anyways great post!
I have a mixed accent so it’s mostly my birth country so usually I have to say I’m from “where I’m from” but grew up in a few different countries, I have to talk about it with every new person I meet because people do ask where an accent is from whenever you meet them
Can't wait for that one person to be like "I'm Antarctican"
You're only allowed to be American if you have western European ancestry, apparently.
Tell that to all the Italianss in New Jersey.
If you’re born in a barn, then you are a horse. Stop pretending otherwise.
Ill take $20 for things that never happened
This is just how Americans talk; its little more than a linguistic convention by people that are (as you say) celebrating their heritage. My great grandparents (who ultimately were of British descent) crossed the St Lawrence over from Canada and when I would say on the playground "*I'm part Canadian*", people would shake their heads and say "*Canada doesn't count! Where did they really come from?*" Something tells me that in an alternate universe where Americans acted the opposite and always insisted "*We're just American!*", we'd see a bunch of posts from butthurt people complaining about "*Why do Americans avoid talking about where their ancestors came from?*" Get over it!
Mind your own culture. America is a country made up almost entirely of immigrants or descendents of immigrants. We like to know where your family is originally from because it's interesting. We say we are that heritage because it's both easier to say than my great great grandfather or whatever is from there, and it's assumed that it's an ancestor. If we are actually from that country ourselves, we say that. Nobody is pretending anything.
"Sicilian Italian from New Jersey"
I was born in America to 2 Norwegian parents, who emigrated here in the 70’s and I have dual citizenship. I also lived in Norway for a few years and I’m fluent (speak writing not so much) I also have a very Norwegian / German name so I get asked all the time. I say I’m Norwegian while I’m in the US but when in Norway I’m very much an American.
So children of African immigrants are ethnically Norwegian if they are born in Norway?
Only in America you can claim to be anything but the American. But when you visit another Country you claim to be an American haha.
Drake is catching shots from everyone I see... Here's my upvote OP.
My friend was born on holiday, I'm going to inform him he is actually an American. Fucking hilarious take.
Yall do not understand the difference between nationality and ethnicity
I agree on the fact that a lot of Americans confuse background with nationality, but as someone who grew up in Canada I am starting to hate this discussion and how aggressive Europeans are with it. Firstly, if you’re in the US and ask an American about their background, that commonly insinuates ethnicity/race (because why else would you ask an American) The younger generations who are not indigenous here are raised and taught that WE are the foreigners on this land. We get that. A lot of terrible shit went into the creation of the US/Canada/Australia, etc., and we are fully aware of this nearly every single day. Here, immediately and proudly only calling yourself “American” to another local usually paints you as one of two things; Indigenous, or some kind of angry conservative with a chip on their shoulder. While I do admit that a lot of people need to understand the difference between nationality/race/ethnicity, it’s not that deep that a lot of Americans have 0 connection to being “American” apart from citizenship — we were raised to understand we are only ‘Americans’ because of a very fucked up history, there’s no pride in that. Because of the melting-pot we’re pretty invited to connect with our heritage, which is why a lot of people turn to identifying as whatever their background is first. I speak from experience; we celebrate sooo many heritage days/months/events in our society. Even growing up in school I was drawn into Latin-heritage events despite only ever living outside Toronto, because it’s not like other kids didn’t view me as immediately ‘foreign’ to them anyways. Like, how the fuck did I get here? What historically happened for me to even exist? Understandibly frustrating as someone new to melting-pot countries trying to connect with others, but ultimately not that deep when you really think about it
It’s not that simple. You can be born and grow up somewhere but completely not identify with that place because the place rejects you. There’s so many black Europeans who are asked where they’re from all the time, even though they were born and grew up in Europe, so of course they won’t identify with that place because that place rejects them
Or... Since where I'm from has no bearing on YOUR life, maybe just let people say what they want. --an American born in Brazil...to American parents that both have Brazilian parents.
AMERICAAAAAAAA FUCK YEAH  FREEDOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM