Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Message edited 11/15/2011 8:20:47 PM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Actually my mistake. I read nationality as "ethnic background". We both are Americans. Considering I used to work in an umbrella organization of every ethnic social organization, I should have known better.

When asked to identify ethnicity, we had people fill out nomination forms as "Jewish baseball player"
We have repeatedly told people that we don't accept "Jewish" as ethnic background, but people fill it out year after year - even though we write "NOT RELIGION".

When I spoke to my mom about the ongoing problem, she said as a Jew, her family was kicked out of every country in Europe. How does she identify her "ethnic background" after that?

Anyway, though it was a good point - but would need to add "Jewish" to my list.

Message edited 1/4/2008 5:12:32 AM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

I am Half Puerto Rican & Half Italian.

We plan on raising our children to be in touch with all their nationalities.

My Hubby is half Italian & half Spanish.

Message edited 1/4/2008 12:58:09 AM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Im as Italian as Italian gets. Im Italian American-first generation.

But its funny because growing up we went to ITaly very frequently from June to September, and while here in the US, we're ITALIAN, being in ITaly, we were "THE AMERICANS" so we were flipping back and forth.

as soon as we got out of the car in front of my grandparents' house, a crowd of our friends were waiting "THE AMERICANS ARE HERE !!!"

and growing up here, in school all our lives, with so many wonderful cultures around us (im so proud to have been raised in a very diverse community) we had to identify with our background and that was 100% ITalian...

So Im prooud as EVER to be American, and also VERY proud to be ITalian.
ITs a great combo.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

vinny is 100% italian - his father was born there so he is a first generation american lol so yeah he can't really favor one nationality over the other! he is only one

as for me - i'm mostly irish but i am a mixture (on my dad's side) of a bunch of things - i embrace my irishness though - i think it's b/c i look so irish and it's just a big part of my life - growing up it was always a part of us.

i do know someone who like, IGNORES the fact that they are half irish b/c they think, in their personal opinion, that it is "cooler" to be italian - this person is 50/50 and it bugs me that they completely shun one part of them - i mean, i embrace being irish b/c everything else of me is a "mutt" but if i was split between two i wouldn't try to HIDE one over the other - it's like living a lie - that bothers me SO much esp b/c this person is shunning the Irish part of them!

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Great question!!!!

People always think I am full irish. My dad is irish and a little italian..he has NEVER admitted that he was italian..EVER.

My mom isnt irish at all...shes english and yugoslavian. She looks irish though and most people think she is. We all have irish names..my mom is more irish than some true irish people..and I have always referred to myself as ONLY being irish. So I definately favor.

My dh is italian, yugoslavian and german. He only admits to being italian and is ALL ABOUT everything italian.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

I am Italian- American 1st generation. My parents,grandparents,aunts,uncles were all born in Italy. I was raised in an Italian home with Italian traditions,food and language. Trips to Italy were made and like another poster mentioned, in my parents hometown everyone knew that the Americans were coming! In school myself and my cousins were known as the Italian kids. Instead of just bringing cupcakes to school for our birthdays, my mom would also make homemade pizza

American/Italian....proud to be both!

Message edited 1/4/2008 7:43:48 AM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

my nationality is american

my ethinicity is 1/2 italian 1/2 argentine. i identify with both equally. my mom is from argentina and my dad's family is from italy.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Yes...I am 1/2 Cuban and 1/2 Italian. I always joke that I "feel" more Cuban because we grew up spending more time with my mother's family. My dad's all lived far away and we weren't close to them. I lived with my mom's parents right in our house for many years...and I was always around the language, the music...the FOOD! Plus I have a hot temper and I'm just like my mom. On tests and all that in school I always circled "Hispanic." Plus, I think I always felt like, everyone is Italian...being a Cubana was different.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

I'm a mix of nationalities but mostly German and I love German food, wine, etc. I loved it when I went to visit Germany, too.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Posted by nrthshgrl

Actually my mistake. I read nationality as "ethnic background". We both are Americans. Considering I used to work in an umbrella organization of every ethnic social organization, I should have known better.

When asked to identify ethnicity, we had people fill out nomination forms as "Jewish baseball player"
We have repeatedly told people that we don't accept "Jewish" as ethnic background, but people fill it out year after year - even though we write "NOT RELIGION".

When I spoke to my mom about the ongoing problem, she said as a Jew, her family was kicked out of every country in Europe. How does she identify her "ethnic background" after that?

Anyway, though it was a good point - but would need to add "Jewish" to my list.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

I'm only 1 nationality, but I do have friends that favor 1 over the other. I think it has to do with how you are raised.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Message edited 1/4/2008 8:40:05 AM.

Message edited 9/21/2009 1:36:31 PM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

My DH was born in Italy so he obviously is Italian . I, on the other hand, am quite a mix, but the majority of my background is German, Russian and Lithuanian, so that's what I say. I never answer "american" because I know that's not what the person asking is really asking, you know?

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

all of my grandparents were born here in america, and i don't really identify with any of the nationalities in my family line (german, russian, norwegian, polish, romanian, latvian, and hungarian).

DH on the other hand is 100% italian, and i believe his grandparents were all born here as well.

DH identifies very strongly with being italian, whereas i have no strong pull to any of my "nationalities" - but i don't particularly identify with being "american" either.

ETA: if someone asks i say german, because that makes up the greater part of my background.

Message edited 1/4/2008 10:11:39 AM.

Re:

Message edited 9/11/2011 2:13:11 PM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

I am mostly Italian, but when asked i always say I am Italian, Irish and Sweedish

even though they are a small % i dont want to forget my grandma who was irish and sweedish,

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

Posted by anna

Im as Italian as Italian gets. Im Italian American-first generation.

But its funny because growing up we went to ITaly very frequently from June to September, and while here in the US, we're ITALIAN, being in ITaly, we were "THE AMERICANS" so we were flipping back and forth.

as soon as we got out of the car in front of my grandparents' house, a crowd of our friends were waiting "THE AMERICANS ARE HERE !!!"

and growing up here, in school all our lives, with so many wonderful cultures around us (im so proud to have been raised in a very diverse community) we had to identify with our background and that was 100% ITalian...

So Im prooud as EVER to be American, and also VERY proud to be ITalian.
ITs a great combo.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

ETS: what I mean by this is that while we identify ourselves by "nationality" we really mean ethnicity...but either way, it's fine with me. Being American IS being from everywhere else. and acknowleging where you are from does not take away from where you are NOW.

nationality and ethnicity are two different things.

I am an American national.

My ancestry is scattered between Greater Britain (Ireland and Wales) Norway, and French Canadian.

My stepfather is Puerto Rican and Italian.

the values I was raised with a mix of ALL of these cultures, with each side giving nods to their forebearers with our customs, food and approaches to life. I speak more Spanish than English at home nowadays. But men and women in every generation of my family that have been in this country has served it in battle, saluting the American flag.

If someone can tell me what being American is, I'd be interested to know.

to me being American is all of the above. it is what makes this country unique. Unless you are American Indian, you are descended from another country. If your ancestors continued their traditions about their arrival here, whether they assimilated to a certain extent or not, I see no problem with celebrating them and the country they came from.

Message edited 1/4/2008 11:13:10 AM.

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

i think everyone that read the OP knows what she was referring to - i am surprised at the hostility in some of the responses.

for example, FH is half italian and half irish but closer to his italian family so he likes spaghetti and meatballs . . . i mean not to oversimplify but not everything has to be taken so seriously and so "PC"

Re: if youa re more than one nationality do you..

I'm 99% Irish and LOVE it!

DH is half italian, half german and he def sides with the italians!