Mark Lewandowski? That’s an unusual Irish name…
Is it really? I’ve known him and his brother for decades. They both claim Irish heritage. I’ve never thought about their name. Maybe their mom is/was Irish? 
ETA: before writing my reply, I sent a text to a friend who confirmed that the Lewandowkis are hard-core Irishmen, implying I’m crazy for asking. I know I’ve done many Irish Car Bombs (a beverage) with Mark.
Yeah, living in the Boston area, I quickly learned not to question someone’s Irish heritage based on their non-Irish sounding name.
In the Northeastern US ( I don’t know about other countries or even other parts of the US ) you can only make certain assumptions about a person by their name- for example, you could assume that Mark Lewandowski has some Polish ancestry but it would be a mistake to assume that there was no Irish or Italian or Chinese or Mexican ancestry. My grandchildren have a very Irish surname - but only one Irish grandparent.
I wasn’t doubting his actual Irishness, just amused at his (and his brother’s) name.
I have the reverse - a very Irish name and surname, and very little Irish ancestry.
This turned into a hilarious morning for me. I got a text from Mark. He told me he was minding his own business, eating a boiled potato, when he received a text from the guy I texted earlier about Lewandowski’s questionable heritage.
Mark wanted to know who it was that was curious, and I told him a guy in South Africa. He asked for the person’s name and I told him it was MrDibble. He said that is definitely a South African name, but then he asked if maybe MrDibble was one of them muckraking Protestants. I told him I was unsure of MrDibble’s religion.
Mark then reminded me of the many Guinness Floats we’ve shared (in a large glass place a small slice of chocolate cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, then fill with Guinness). Mmmmmmm, many nice memories.
He pointed out that others have questioned his Irish heritage when they learned that he never beat his kids when they were small and wants to know if that is the problem here.
I’ve tried that … once. Never again.
I do, however, love making (and eating) Guinness chocolate cake (and drinking Guinness, of course)
Casual Friday. If jeans are appropriate on Friday, they should be appropriate every day.
At Trader Joe’s, they totally will do that. Although Trader Joe’s is small enough that unless you’re only buying a few things an employee can usually go grab the thing you couldn’t find and bring it back to the checkout before that cashier is finished ringing up the rest of your items.
This may shock you… but people have been moving to other countries for ages.
Also, shouldn’t judge a person’s heritage by their last name. I have a great-nephew who inherited his father’s very polish last name… but he’s half Han Chinese. And one-quarter Italian. (And a bunch of other stuff because he’s very much an American mutt). I’m sure this will be a source of confusion and amusement throughout his life.
Not read the whole thread, I take it?
Yeah, I did. I still commented anyway.
When I heard Alberto Fujimora was elected president of Peru my only thought was “I wonder how large the Japanese-Peruvian community is?” rather than [i]He’s Peruvian?!?. All a last name maybe tells you about is ancestry, it doesn’t dictate anything about the present person or their culture. For a big slice of people it tells you more about who they married than who they are.
So there’s a custom I’d like to see go - making judgements about people based on their last names.
Mardi Gras. Pride Day. For two right off the top of my head. How about Talk Like a Pirate Day? Come on, stop stealing children’s holidays, go get your own.
A children’s holiday, you say?
Very old established family.
Well, it is IMHO, opinions are what it’s about - even late ones already addressed in-thread.
Yes, and so a surname that doesn’t match professed ancestry is noteworthy - not out of disbelief, but light amusement. Which was what I expressed.
Which was not what I did - unless you consider “unusual name for an Irishman” to be some sort of judgement - so your comments have nothing to do with my post. At no point did I say “He can’t be Irish” or “He’s clearly fake” or anything I would consider “judgement”. That’s entirely your projection.
ISWYDT.