# Where do you come from ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 17, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920 "2011-10-17T15:28:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@studmuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/studmuffin)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/1 "2011-10-17T15:28:44Z")
Some people place much importance and pride in their roots ( Irish, Polish, Swedish, Klingon, Etc. ).
Are your immigrant forefathers important to who you are, or don’t you care a Tinker’s cuss what country Great, Great, Grandpappy was smart enough to leave ?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/2 "2011-10-17T15:45:38Z")
Moved to IMHO from Great Debates.
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### Author:  [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/3 "2011-10-17T16:01:25Z")
_ **I’m** _ from Texas.
As far as great, etc. etc. etc. ‘Pappy’ is concerned, meh… Put me in the ‘Tinkers cuss’ camp. 😃
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### Author:  [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/4 "2011-10-17T16:03:51Z")
I like to know where they came from. I wouldn’t say there’s a feeling of pride that goes with knowing, but that may be because I’m sort of a mongrel with lots of countries represented.
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### Author:  [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/5 "2011-10-17T16:06:38Z")
> [@studmuffin](#):
>
> Some people place much importance and pride in their roots ( Irish, Polish, Swedish, Klingon, Etc. ).
>
> Are your immigrant forefathers important to who you are, or don’t you care a Tinker’s cuss what country Great, Great, Grandpappy was smart enough to leave ?
Put me down as one who cares. I’m basically YaKhirghiz/Siberian with most of my ancestors roaming from say Komi to Lake Biakal. And personally I’m from Edwardsville PA even though I haven’t lived there since 1972.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/6 "2011-10-17T16:07:14Z")
Most of my ancestors came from Russia, and I do pride myself on the “depressed intellectual” stereotype, though I know it is complete and total banana oil.
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### Author:  [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/7 "2011-10-17T16:10:55Z")
I can trace my ancestry back to several European countries, but that does not have much effect on who I am today. I’m just a mutt that is happy to be an American.
.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/8 "2011-10-17T16:12:26Z")
Half dutch, 1/4 germanic-type, 1/8 english, rest a mix of slavic, irish, scottish, welsh.
I identify most strongly with my dutch side, as I grew up in a dutch-american community, and one grandma was born in the Netherlands. Other grandparents and most great-grandparents were born in the US.
I’ve traced my ancestry extensively, and visited a lot of the areas my forebears came from.
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### Author:  [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/9 "2011-10-17T16:16:17Z")
I find it interesting to know this stuff, but it’s not so much pride in my ancestry as curiosity.
On one side, my ancestors came to Québec from France in 1635. On the other side, they had already been here for thousands of years.
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### Author:  [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/10 "2011-10-17T16:21:06Z")
I just get more Irish as time goes by. I used to think I was about 1/2 Irish and about 1/2 German. Both of my parents have this background, as well as a German surname. The more genealogy gets done on both sides of the family, the more of these German fellows are found to be marrying Irish wives, so it looks more like 3/4 Irish, 1/4 German now.
Also I married a Mohawk Indian with an Irish last name, so my name is getting more Irish too, though my children less so.
Do I care? Not really, but maybe a little. I’m delighted to be an American, though not always proud. Depends on the news of the day.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/11 "2011-10-17T16:44:25Z")
I’ve been curious as to my roots since I was a child, but didn’t do any research until I was 50 years old. Since then, I’ve done extensive research and found out where my roots lie. As to whether or not it makes any difference as to who I am: “no” is the short answer, although I like having the role as the family historian.
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### Author:  [@studmuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/studmuffin)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/12 "2011-10-17T17:13:46Z")
Coming from the British Isles we get plenty of pilgrims from North America and Australia coming back to the Motherland looking for their Scottish/Irish/English antecendents, they are very proud of their Bloodline.
In fact there was one tall black dude who came to Ireland this year , claiming to be the US President, and saying he was proud to be part Irish…can you believe that guy ?
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### Author:  [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/13 "2011-10-17T17:15:40Z")
I’m English. That’s all. Maybe I have Viking ancestors or something, but I’m English.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/14 "2011-10-17T17:24:06Z")
I don’t really care about my English/Irish/Scot/German roots, but Swedish pride runs deep in my family. I have a dala horse, a God Jul candle holder, and a recipe for thin pancakes.
I have no idea what 1/4 of my heritage is. Is Simmons an English name?
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/15 "2011-10-17T17:27:29Z")
I’m from London. No, not the cool London.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/16 "2011-10-17T17:28:48Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#):
>
> I can trace my ancestry back to several European countries, but that does not have much effect on who I am today. I’m just a mutt that is happy to be an American.
That’s me. At some point, you have to let it go. I’m sure my European ancestors migrated to from somewhere else, too, so what’s the point? No one in my family speaks any of the languages from the Mother Countries (except English, for that side of the family), and we don’t have any cooking traditions. Hell, we’re mostly not even religious anymore.
I’m an American, and to the extent that I have any cultural roots, I would say “New England”. But those are fading fast as I find myself now having lived more than 50% of my life in CA.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/17 "2011-10-17T17:32:10Z")
I know a great deal about my paternal grandfather’s lineage (back to 1649), as well as my maternal grandmother (mid 1800’s). The other grandparents, not so much.
A melange of English, Irish, and French.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/18 "2011-10-17T17:33:03Z")
I don’t really feel any cultural roots from another country, my family’s been here for too many generations now. I feel very very much an American, a Midwesterner, an Illinoisan, and a Chicagoan…that is what I relate to, culturally.
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### Author:  [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/19 "2011-10-17T17:33:57Z")
I think it’s interesting to know, but not a source of pride for me. My maternal grandparents are Polish. My paternal side is a mix of English and Irish. They don’t really know themselves.
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-you-come-from/599920/20 "2011-10-17T18:08:38Z")
Cotton-eyed Joe
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