Sharon Winsatt ([email protected])
Fri, 15 Jan 1999 17:38:16 PST
I think I can understand getting tired of Americans announcing
themselves as Irish when they obviously are not but of course that is
not what they mean. Here when someone says they are Swedish or German
or whatever it is understood that they are not speaking of the country
in which they have citizenship but of the country of an ancestor's
origins. People here have this thing about telling how many different
nationalities go into making up a single individual...( for example
someone might say "my mother's mother's people were German,her father
family is from Russia, My dad's paternal grandfather was from Sweden,
his maternal grandmother was French and on and on.) So if we hear
someone who is obviously an American say "I'm Irish' or "I'm Italian' we
know they don't mean it literally...we understand it's the country of
their family's origins. It's an American thing I guess. I never realized
how strange that must be to someone who is really "Irish' or "Italian"
or whatever. I guess that's one for the travel etiquette books...Do not
refer to yourself as Irish!!!
You really don't mind if we go looking for our roots do you? I guess
that's an American thing as well but if we do come to visit we'll be
quiet :)
Sharon W.
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