# ethnic backrounds **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 17, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291 "2009-07-17T01:41:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![costa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@costa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/costa)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/1 "2009-07-17T01:41:26Z")
i get irritated(easy i guess)when people describe them selves as "irish americans,german american,african americans etc.my self i des cribe my self as an American of greek and english backround.if you put your other country first,go on back there,and see how many of those citizens want to takeyour place.Africans americans who would last a week in that climate.well my spleen is vented. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/2 "2009-07-17T01:54:04Z")
Greece or England? In England it might take more than a week, but Athens can get awful darned hot. ETA: Of course, Greeks and the English might regret moving to Chi-town, either in the winter or in the summer. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/3 "2009-07-17T02:06:03Z")
I’m going to move this to the Pit and let everybody take their best shot. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/4 "2009-07-17T02:33:22Z")
It may surprise you to learn this, but I really didn’t consider your opinion at all when I developed my self-definition. Still don’t care what you think about it. It really takes a true narcissist to believe your opinion has any relevance whatsoever in such a personal decision. Ta Eirenach-Mericanach me. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/5 "2009-07-17T02:38:17Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > It may surprise you to learn this, but I really didn’t consider your opinion at all when I developed my self-definition. Still don’t care what you think about it. So you’re a Self-Defining-Costa-Unconcerned American? (My cousin’s half one, the other half’s all Irish.) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/6 "2009-07-17T02:39:06Z")
Eh, cut the OP a break. Anglo-Greco-Americans are notoriously tempermental. The dour, introverted Englishness mixing with the macho, extroverted Greekness in a culture that prizes rugged individualism, seems to result in a ‘riling up of the blood’, as the scienticians might say. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/7 "2009-07-17T02:41:43Z")
I’m not on board with the OP, who is an idiot. However, I do get mildly annoyed by the American\* practice of referring to oneself as Irish/Polish/German/Kazakh, etc. Sorry, but you’re not really Irish if you’ve never lived there. You’re certainly not Irish if you’ve never even been there. You are an _American of Irish descent_. Live with it. \*it’s not exclusively an American practice, of course, but it doesn’t bother me if, say, Australians do it, since I don’t have to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/8 "2009-07-17T02:46:04Z")
> [@costa](#): > > i get irritated(easy i guess)when people describe them selves as "irish americans,german american,african americans etc.my self i des cribe my self as an American of greek and english backround.if you put your other country first,go on back there,and see how many of those citizens want to takeyour place.Africans americans who would last a week in that climate.well my spleen is vented. Allow me to explain how the English language works. When you’re describing something, the adjective generally precedes the noun. So, for example, you would say, “the red wagon,” rather than “the wagon which is red.” This word order is purely a quirk of linguistic evolution. It in no way implies that “red” is more important than “wagon” when describing the object. Thus, your contention that people who describe themselves as “Irish American” are somehow slighting their American nationality by putting it after the country from which their ancestors immigrated is, to use a term of art from the linguistics field, “so fucking stupid it makes my teeth hurt.” Also, learn how to write, you subliterate moron. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/9 "2009-07-17T02:46:26Z")
A friend of mine in Argentina came from Pretoria. He’s a South African South American. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/10 "2009-07-17T02:48:11Z")
How fast can he fly? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/11 "2009-07-17T02:50:05Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > How fast can he fly? Depends on the size of the coconuts. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/12 "2009-07-17T02:57:14Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > A friend of mine in Argentina came from Pretoria. He’s a South African South American. Does he need a roommate? I could be a North American South American. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/13 "2009-07-17T03:13:32Z")
> [@costa](#): > > i get irritated(easy i guess)when people describe them selves as "irish americans,german american,african americans etc.my self i des cribe my self as an American of greek and english backround.if you put your other country first,go on back there,and see how many of those citizens want to takeyour place.Africans americans who would last a week in that climate.well my spleen is vented. So what happened here? Did you leave out the spaces after punctuation so you’d have some extra to put in the middle of words? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/14 "2009-07-17T03:17:38Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Does he need a roommate? I could be a North American South American. Actually I have some Argentinian heritage. So I’d be a South American North American South American. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/15 "2009-07-17T03:18:40Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > So what happened here? Did you leave out the spaces after punctuation so you’d have some extra to put in the middle of words? I think he’s typing with his spleen. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/16 "2009-07-17T03:22:50Z")
I’m a Native American. I was born right here in this country. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/17 "2009-07-17T03:26:22Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I’m a Native American. I was born right here in this country. 😃 You’re a native American. So am I! I am also, apparently, having a very nitpicky sort of evening. ---
**Author:** ![ookpik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c68b51/32.png) [@ookpik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ookpik)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/18 "2009-07-17T04:33:34Z")
Anyone else reminded of the George Carlin bit: “The East Westchester North Stars, Champions of the Southern Conference” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/19 "2009-07-17T04:35:32Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I’m a Native American. I was born right here in this country. 😃 I’ve always disliked the phrase “Native American”, although I suppose it’s more accurate than “Indian”. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291/20 "2009-07-17T05:05:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > … However, I do get mildly annoyed by the American\* practice of referring to oneself as Irish/Polish/German/Kazakh, etc. > > Sorry, but you’re not really Irish if you’ve never lived there. You’re certainly not Irish if you’ve never even been there. You are an _American of Irish descent_. … Right, so stealing from **Miller** (who said what I wanted to before this got to the Pit) one is a(n) [del]wagon which is red[/del] American of Irish descent or a(n) [del]red wagon[/del] Irish-American. In common usage, THEY MEAN THE SAME FUCKING THING! CMC fnord! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-backrounds/503291.md?page=2)