# Do you have an ethnic identity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2005, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300 "2005-03-07T03:10:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/41 "2005-03-07T23:05:15Z")
I identify as Italian-American. All of my great-grandparents were born in Italy, as was one of my grandparents (my mother’s father). My father didn’t speak English until he got to school. I’ve visited family in Italy. I grew up eating Italian food and celebrating aspects of Italian (and Italian-Catholic) culture. Although I personally don’t follow all the traditions of my childhood (especially the religious ones) members of my extended family certainly still do so. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/42 "2005-03-07T23:06:33Z")
My dad’s parents and my mom’s grandparents came to the states from Poland in the early 1900s. My folks kept some Polish traditions alive, but among my sibs, those things have gone by the wayside. None of the 5 of us learned to speak Polish. I don’t know if we have any living relatives in the old country - no one kept in touch after my paternal grandmother died. So I think of myself as an American of Polish blood. But I do make a mean pierogi! ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/43 "2005-03-08T02:01:40Z")
I’m a northwestern European mutt. Strongest identification is Swedish, because my maternal grandmother was pure Swede, followed closely by German/Swiss Mennonite from my Dad’s side. There’s also French, Netherlands Dutch, and any other ethnic group that settled in the Great Lakes states after the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/44 "2005-03-08T02:05:13Z")
I’d have to say “No” for having much of an ethnic identity. I’m German, 4th generation on the US on one side and 4th-6th generation Chezch/Swedish on the other side. I make krumkake for Christmas and say “Uffda” but couldn’t eat lutefisk on a bet. But I do have a strong cultural identity. I guess I’d have to describe it as northern Plains scandahoovian crossed by cowboy. Polite, slow to anger but deadly when crossed, small-town manners, etc. I say “Please” and “Thank you” when crossed but won’t back down from a fight and don’t hold with cursing in front of a woman unless she curses first. So I guess I’m a classic cowboy type, I just don’t look like one. whistlepig ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/45 "2005-03-08T14:46:16Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > I believe the answer depends on whether your people were oppressed. I always said “I’m English-Scottish, but it doesn’t matter, and I don’t think of myself in those terms.” However, for a big chunk of US history, my people were in charge here. It’s denial for me to ignore it. There were never signs that said “no Brits need apply” or “Scots not allowed here.” The Irish, on the other hand, and the Poles, and the Africans were shunned. They had to hold on to their ethnic pride and stick together just to survive. Maybe I’m out on a limb, here, but I think that’s why folks of English, French, and Scottish descent in the US don’t feel strong ties to the old country. > > What do you think? Is this nonsense? No, that’s not nonsense at all. FWIW, I identify as a Black American. Both sets of grandparents from the south (on my father’s side, from Alabama and 1 generation removed from slaves. On my mother’s side its a bit more murky, but definitely descendants of slaves in South Carolina and Florida, with some very strong Creole roots in there that still reflect in the food they like to eat.). The story of my family is one oft repeated by descendants of southern slaves; my grandparents moved north to Cleveland after WWII to pursue industrial jobs, and here we are today. Naturally, anything past my GGGP has been lost to the void of history, although it certainly involved slave trading and that big bad boat trip across the pond. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/46 "2005-03-08T21:41:50Z")
I’m a mutt and proud of it. My father’s mother is Mexican; my father’s father is half NA Indian; my mother’s parents are German/Norwegian. I consider myself _quintessentially_ American for my primary identity, as a result. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/47 "2005-03-08T23:24:03Z")
I have no ethnic identity at all, and there’s really no particular ethnic flavour anywhere in my family going back to my grandparents. I’m a mix of Irish, French, Welsh, German, Scots, English, possibly some Dutch, and Christ knows what else. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/48 "2005-03-08T23:41:46Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > I’ve always described myself as white trash. **My ancestors were Irish on my mother’s side of the family and French Canadian on my father’s side.** As I grew up in an area where the ethnic diversity was around zero and these were essentially the only two ethnic groups around, my sense of ethnic identity was basically non-existent. Wow **Little Nemo** , we’ve got the same ethnic makeup! My dad has said many times that although he was born in New Hampshire, he didn’t learn to speak English until he was eleven years old. He also said that there was some evidence that his grandmother had some Native American ancestry – but he didn’t know which tribe or how much. And Grandma wasn’t talkin’ 😃 . On my mom’s side, she was full Irish – I think her ancestors came over from Ireland by the turn of the last century. In 1976, my parents and my sisters and I vacationed in Ireland and met many of our Irish relatives. It was great connecting with them and comparing experiences. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/49 "2005-03-08T23:59:14Z")
Mennonite on all sides of the family. Not religion-wise - I’m an atheist, myself, but there’s a definite ethnic component as well. Even if my Plattdietsch is very limited, I love me some verenikje with schmountfat. (The best thing about Plattdietsch is that you can spell however you like and you can’t be wrong, since there’s no universally accepted orthography.) ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/50 "2005-03-09T00:00:57Z")
Visigoth, baby! ---
**Author:** ![Typically\_Sunday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/51 "2005-03-09T01:02:07Z")
I’ve got more ethnicity than I know what to do with. My mom is black with some Native-American and European(not sure what country, but I think it’s England) mixed in, and my dad is German although his relatives seem to have come from all over eastern europe. Neither of my parents raised me with their particular ethnicity, so I guess I wound up identifying myself as an ethnicity that’s all my own. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/52 "2005-03-09T08:00:13Z")
I don’t really identify as any ethnicity. I semi-resent being called “white” since it’s basically meaningless, and Caucasian is just wrong. No relatives from the Caucasus mountains that I know of. My makeup is basically Western Europe (English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swedish, Dutch, French) and two tribes of Native American (Cherokee and Iroquois). I have one of those faces that look vaguely “foreign” (another meaningless term) but can’t be identified as being from anywhere in particular. I’ve been mistaken for Saudi Arabian, Italian, Puerto Rican, French, Jewish, and Irish, and only two of those guesses have any truth to them. The Roman nose I’ve got could be blamed on multiple sources. I’ve got relatively pale skin, but I eventually turn a dark copper-red color, if I spend enough time in the sun over a period of time, that prompts people to tell me I might have a slight sunburn even when there’s no chance that I could be sunburned. That, I think it’s safe to say, can be blamed on some weird inheritance from my Native ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/53 "2005-03-11T01:39:39Z")
> [@Typically Sunday](#): > > …so I guess I wound up identifying myself as an ethnicity that’s all my own. Hmmm…, I’m not sure you _can_ be the sole representative of your ethnicity. I’d hardly describe myself as Ringonian, although it wouldn’t surprise me to learn there’s some way out there Trekkie who actually speaks that tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/54 "2005-03-11T14:53:06Z")
I’m Italian. 100%. Italian roots, family. Got in fights with friends who didn’t marry Italian girls. I grew up in South Philly (which is like a Little It’ly, but we would **never call South Philly 'Little It’ly**") Pasta: 2-3 times per week Friends: Various federal sentences of various lengths Peppers: dried and fried. Pizza: hands would fall off if I had one delivered. Stereotyped: Out my wazoo. Hate defeating the Rocky Balboa or Soprano stereotypes everywhere I go, but people eventually judge me almost exclsuively on my character and qualities. ---
**Author:** ![Penchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/74df32/32.png) [@Penchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penchan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/55 "2005-03-12T00:12:14Z")
I skimmed this thread and I’m surprised that there are no other Asians (except what one East Asian person)!! I’m Chinese by blood, Thai by culture (parents were born there), but American by citizenship. Who am I fooling, I’m as white-washed as you can get :rolleyes: . ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300/56 "2005-03-12T14:34:36Z")
my father was first generation irish, my mother german and swiss. the irish identity seems to have transmitted well through the generations. my older sister (somewhat of an eccentric) has made several trips to ireland an affects a slight brogue. my kids are three eighths german, a quarter irish and an eighth each french, english and swiss. their chosen ethnicity out of this melting pot is irish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-an-ethnic-identity/293300.md?page=2)