No more hyphens.

[Mangrove]

Dear America,

Yeah, I know...the last thing you want right now is some durn immigrant telling you about your country. Ok, I get it....move to Russia, right?

So let me frame it to you as a polite request. It's simply this:

  Please, please, please stop using hyphenated nationalities/ethnicities.

You know the deal, 'Italian-American', 'Asian-American', 'Irish-American' etc. I'm not picking on any group in particular. I am, in fact suggesting that you all cut it out.

Why? I'll tell you why. Because no matter how you might like to think otherwise, Americans are not Europeans. Nor are they Africans or Asians or whatever else. Not better, not worse, but just different. And why can't you simply be content with that?

I've had the good fortune to live in and travel to/from different countries. I've had the privilege of meeting people from all over the world and from all manner of backgrounds & circumstances. Drunken bowling with Canadians, breakfasting with Israelis, sharing an elevator with the Japanese etc

So recently, I've returned from 10 days in Italy. Guess what? Americans who self-designate as 'Italian' are NOTHING LIKE ITALIAN PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY LIVE THERE.

I happened to be travelling with a man who is, from a bloodline point of view, purely Italian (whatever that actually means, especially when you read up on their history.) His parents and his grandparents were all from the Old Country. That counts for something, right? He's got an Italian sounding last name, even though he pronounces it in an Anglicized version. A shoe in?

No. In fact, he stood out like a sore thumb. Dressed like an American, spoke American-English and naturally interacted with everyone with American cultural expectations. Not a bad thing in itself, because the Italians dressed up in their skinnniest of jeans, spoke Italian and eyed us all through the (Gucci) colored glasses of their backgrounds.

The problem is this: CULTURE IS NOT GENETIC.

Why is this a problem? Well, I've seen more 'Italian Temper' bumperstickers than I ever wanted. I've heard the most asinine rationales for stupid behaviour that somehow is 'Irish'.   

I think it's time that certain Americans stop identifying themselves with cliches, stereotypes and outright misrepresentations of cultures they know little or nothing about. It might be fun to glorify the 'Old Country' but you have to keep in mind that your ancestors LEFT the place and went somewhere else. That is where you are from.

Because what matters is who you are and where you are NOW. What's in your blood is a non-starter. If you do enough DNA testing and molecular archaeology, you know what you find? We're all bastard mongrels migrating all over the place for many many thousands of generations.

So please, America relax already. For better or worse, you have your own identity that is not any of the other country's. Let the Italians be Italians and get on with your own lives.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Beautiful!

[Payne]

That brought a tear to my Scottish-Canadian eye.

[Mangrove]

That brought a tear to my Scottish-Canadian eye.

I knew you were going to say that. I'm 9/28ths gypsy and we have psychic powers.

[Elder Iptuous]

IAWTP

[Payne]

That brought a tear to my Scottish-Canadian eye.

I knew you were going to say that. I'm 9/28ths gypsy and we have psychic powers.

I agree with what you said 100%. And while writing that line, I considered that I've never actually seen someone describe themselves as "Scottish-Canadian" before. The best I could think of was "French-Canadian", which (I think) usually doesn't try to ascribe the person concerned with the stereotypes of either distinct culture.

It really appears to me to be more of an "American" thing.

Also, predictability for the win.

[AFK]

I'm a French-Canadian-American so pfffbbllllll!!!

Good stuff Mang. 

[Mangrove]

That brought a tear to my Scottish-Canadian eye.

I knew you were going to say that. I'm 9/28ths gypsy and we have psychic powers.

I agree with what you said 100%. And while writing that line, I considered that I've never actually seen someone describe themselves as "Scottish-Canadian" before. The best I could think of was "French-Canadian", which (I think) usually doesn't try to ascribe the person concerned with the stereotypes of either distinct culture.

It really appears to me to be more of an "American" thing.

Also, predictability for the win.

I was born in Canada. Canadian, right? But my parents are British. Wait! My father's father was born in Canada....to British parents. Hold on...my parents took Canadian citizenship! So legally, I'm Canadian!

I have a UK passport.

I have a US greencard.

All the time I lived in Canada, I was Canadian and it never occurred to me much that my parents were British. We knew people from all over the place, so it wasn't an issue.

Then we moved to the UK in 1982 and I had to endure complete retardation by various numbskulls who didn't know anything about either America or Canada and repeatedly confused the two.

20+ years later, all the Americans I met here are look 'Oohh..that's so cool...he's British!' I don't understand the fetish and I've yet to meet a single Yank who got excited about meeting someone from Canada.

I periodically visit the UK. They all think I'm American but the Canadians also think I'm British. The Italians think I'm American but want to know why I've got an E.U. passport.

As such, patriotism, loyality to a country and identification with any nation is baffling to me. I was born on a patch of land, lived on different patches of land. As I moved from one patch of land to another, my accent changed. If you can imagine what Canadian, American & British sounds like mashed together, then you know what my voice is like.

[Mangrove]

I'm a French-Canadian-American so pfffbbllllll!!!

Good stuff Mang. 

Just like Jack Kerouac!

[indigoblade]

This american-american agrees completely wit' teh thread .

[Payne]

That brought a tear to my Scottish-Canadian eye.

I knew you were going to say that. I'm 9/28ths gypsy and we have psychic powers.

I agree with what you said 100%. And while writing that line, I considered that I've never actually seen someone describe themselves as "Scottish-Canadian" before. The best I could think of was "French-Canadian", which (I think) usually doesn't try to ascribe the person concerned with the stereotypes of either distinct culture.

It really appears to me to be more of an "American" thing.

Also, predictability for the win.

I was born in Canada. Canadian, right? But my parents are British. Wait! My father's father was born in Canada....to British parents. Hold on...my parents took Canadian citizenship! So legally, I'm Canadian!

I have a UK passport.

I have a US greencard.

All the time I lived in Canada, I was Canadian and it never occurred to me much that my parents were British. We knew people from all over the place, so it wasn't an issue.

Then we moved to the UK in 1982 and I had to endure complete retardation by various numbskulls who didn't know anything about either America or Canada and repeatedly confused the two.

20+ years later, all the Americans I met here are look 'Oohh..that's so cool...he's British!' I don't understand the fetish and I've yet to meet a single Yank who got excited about meeting someone from Canada.

I periodically visit the UK. They all think I'm American but the Canadians also think I'm British. The Italians think I'm American but want to know why I've got an E.U. passport.

As such, patriotism, loyality to a country and identification with any nation is baffling to me. I was born on a patch of land, lived on different patches of land. As I moved from one patch of land to another, my accent changed. If you can imagine what Canadian, American & British sounds like mashed together, then you know what my voice is like.

The entire saga sounds remarkably similar to my own tale.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

That brought a tear to my Scottish-Canadian eye.

I knew you were going to say that. I'm 9/28ths gypsy and we have psychic powers.

I agree with what you said 100%. And while writing that line, I considered that I've never actually seen someone describe themselves as "Scottish-Canadian" before. The best I could think of was "French-Canadian", which (I think) usually doesn't try to ascribe the person concerned with the stereotypes of either distinct culture.

It really appears to me to be more of an "American" thing.

Also, predictability for the win.

I think it is a pretty unique thing to America. We have no real historical culture, our entire nation is made up of immigrants that got here at wildly different times, under wildly different circumstances. Some groups were immediately accepted, others spent decades being treated like outsiders with only their immigrant peers to survive with.

I remember when I was younger how it seemed weird to have no history. At that point, I didn't even know much about my own family and how we got here/how long we've been here. I had European friends that had generational touchstones tying them to their history and their genealogy. Whereas, from my perspective, I was cut off, drifting alone in the timeline... at best a few anchors that go back a couple generations and involve coal mines and potteries. Not exactly something to identify yourself through.

I have, since then, discarded this silly line of thought... but I still see why a lot of people have the issues they do. I mean, if you're "Italian American" you can tie yourself to 2000 years of history and get some good/some bad... if you're American, on the other hand, you have 200 years of history and most of it we generally would prefer not to talk about.

[Mangrove]

People say America doesn't have a history, it does....it's just not very long.

The US is still a 'work in progress' and it has the distinct disadvantage of being in the glare of the rest of the world as it develops. Though we could say the same about Australia. So the question is for the Aussies, do people 'down-under' insist on identifying themselves as 'Greek-Australian', 'Irish-Australian' etc?

I've heard people say things like:

"My ancestors left _______ because they were so poor and had to go to America."

Which, I'm sure is true in plenty of cases, but it got me thinking. Plenty of poor people didn't leave country X and they survived and had offspring over many generations. If that weren't the case, Ireland would be empty. Not everyone left.

But what I noticed about being in Italy is that I'm not 100% convinced that it was always poverty that prompted the move. I think attitude played a role. While not wishing to make sweeping generalizations or disparage of people from Southern Italy - what I did see were certain attitudes (cultural not genetic) that, while commonplace in their circles, were utterly offensive and baffling to typical American tastes. It made me think that maybe it was great Uncle Giuseppe saying "I'm tired of this anachronistic BS" that resulted in people looking to move on.

[hooplala]

People ask me all the time what my heritage is, it really seems to be an important issue with some people, and these people tend to get very irritated when I give them a hard time about it.

ME:  "I'm from here."

THEM: "What is your background?"

ME:  "I prefer a forest usually, sometimes a sunset."

THEM:  "But where is your family from?"

ME:  "They live about two hours south east of here."

THEM:  "But where are your roots from?"

ME:  "Roots.  The store."

THEM:  "AAAAAUUUUGHHHHH!"


My family is from Scotland, and some of them have accents still, but I am most certainly NOT Scottish.  Although I do look Scottish... for better or worse.

[hooplala]

I did see were certain attitudes (cultural not genetic) that, while commonplace in their circles, were utterly offensive and baffling to typical American tastes.

Oooooooh - like what?