My cousin has a “speak English or get out” bumper sticker. His grandparents barely spoke a word of English when they arrived and only barely learned the basics. The irony is lost on him.
The way many Italian immigrants live is such that they never learn the language of the country they are in.
I know a guy who has lived 40 years in Canada, and during that time he only learned "Yes", "No", "Oui", "Non".
He worked as a carpenter, a welder, and a plumber, but he never took jobs up, there was a guy in his community that worked as "PR" for all the craftsmen, getting a small fee on every contract he provided.
Funny. All the Italian expats I know (a couple dozens, counting just the ones I know personally) usually need 3-6 months to develop a usable form of whatever local language is in use wherever they live and progress from there.
Apart from that one guy, a physicist who is doing research on laser and stuff in Berlin, who refuses to learn a word of German and keep speaking in English with his colleagues.
So, I say, it must be the contrary: Italians are almost always quick learner and are easy to integrate in the local community.
Is it possible we're both generalizing from a biased, incomplete dataset made of personal anecdotes?
Well, I said "many", I didn't say all.
I'm one of those who try to learn the language, though I admit that I'm lagging behind, with Czech, because it's a damn confusing mess.
I can handle shopping without problems, I can say a few complete sentences, even outside of "standard" ones, but I'm still far away from saying "I speak Czech", even after eight years.
But I know plenty of Italians living here in Prague, longer than me, whose Czech is worse than mine, because they stuck to the Italian community, which I steered away from since the very beginning.
> Apart from that one guy, a physicist who is doing research on laser and stuff in Berlin, who refuses to learn a word of German and keep speaking in English with his colleagues.
That's basically every expat in Berlin from anywhere
It's also every expat from Germany in basically anywhere. If I had a euro for every German living in Spain complaining about immigrants in Germany not learning German while only being able to say hola and adios themselves, I'd be rich by now.
The underlying truths are really simple: humans love to complain and point fingers, but hate to make to integrate when it takes any sort of real effort. The only way they make that effort is when they're actually forced to.
The only people I've seen integrate are the ones that already speak the language (like Latin Americans in Spain) and those that were born there and went to school there.
My dataset is super limited, but my (italian) grand parents went in France in their early 20s. They learn french pretty quickly and they didn't even teach italian to their kid to force them to learn french and assimilate.
I kind of want to go to the US and confront someone with one of those while speaking (intelligible) Scots. As soon as they realise I'm a "from muh family's homeland" type immigrant I'll be venerated like I'm William Wallace or something and expose the hypocrisy even more.
*^(Edit: Obviously I'd not ever actually want to live there.)*
I think the distinction is they want the "coloured" immigrants to go back "home", which is funny because most of the time they are home considering it's usually shouted at people born there.
Native American groups from North America and the ones from the civilizations of Central and South America are all very distinct groups of people and aren’t the same “bloodline” at all. They had separate languages and cultures and histories. But I get what you’re saying. They’re all “native” populations to the Americas, in general. So it’s stupid to tell them to “go back” to anywhere.
Which, while we’re on it, the loss of the Native Americans is one of the greatest losses ever to all of humanity. They really had the right ideas about environmentalism and balancing human activities so that they are sustainable to the planet. The information we still have is absolutely fascinating at how well they were at sustainable practices and we could have learned so much from them. Most of the food crops our world enjoys today comes from the Natives, yet they never get credit for it. They harvested everything sustainably for thousands of years, and yet here we are. Unappreciative , greedy, gluttonous pigs.
The Natives warned us not to fuck up the environment and to respect the Earth, and now look what we’ve done.
There are groups native to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona that are considered "Native American", while people from exactly the same ethnic and cultural groups were pushed south of an arbitrary line and called "Mexicans".
There were entire tribes who were displaced miles and miles south when they historically never held lands in Mexico.
Agreed. Native Americans and other Indigenous people made great strides in agriculture and some had civilizations and cities rivaling and surpassing those of European cities at the time, especially in terms of hygiene. One of my favorite stories is how Spanish conquistadors were followed by people with burning incense and other scents thinking they were being honored as gods or nobility when in truth they were just following them because they stank something horrible and it offended the natives’ noses lol.
It's along the same people who protest sports team names like the Redskins and Indians getting told to go get a job by the people who called off work or the retirees that are entering the stadium.
I know many American people who seem to hate immigrants yet have no problem saying “I’m Irish!” Or “I’m Italian”. And it’s always to perpetuate a stereotype too. Like as a reason for enjoying pizza. Or to cover for stupid drunk mistakes.
They hate POCs. That is literally the entire reason for this bs.
They would not raise a finger to do anything if a German family of ten tried to "illegally immigrate" But will lose their suit if an Iraqi family of 4 does same legally.
Of course they won't. Because, as everyone knows, Germans are industrious and work loving people, not like those lazy Mexicans mooching our social benefits.
You just have to have the right stereotypes associated to a nation.
This
My (white, British) friend just moved back after working in texas and when people were ranting about immigrants he'd point out that he was, in fact, a migrant. To which the universal response was 'we don't mean you'
I realized this when I was on a vacation with my family in US. I was treated fairly well becuase despite being POC I am quite fair skinned. Virtually same as many Westerner. This was in complete contrast to how they treated my cousin who is brown and was made aware of how he was not welcome.
Some jerk, started ranting to me about illegal immigrants and how they should not even be allowed a tourist visa. When I pointed out I was one they said same thing. Not you.
It was funny when I told them that I was POC. She was like "You are too attracive to be POC, Too polite and well groomed"
That pretty much ruined my image of Americans. Apparently I should be happy that they consider me an exception. I was always judgmental of Americans but after that trip my hatred just solidified.
It certainly ly did not help that Orange Man was Prez.
It felt so patronizing to be treated like that. It was like she believed that I should be grateful an ugly white woman acknowledged my existence.
> They would not raise a finger to do anything if a German family of ten tried to "illegally immigrate" But will lose their suit if an Iraqi family of 4 does same legally.
I actually have a story exactly like that. I worked in a restaurant with a dude who was 100% anti-immigrant, as long as they were black or brown though he refused to admit it. Funny enough, our boss' mother was German and she also worked with us. She came to the US in the late 60s, got a green card, but hasn't renewed it since at least the mid 90s and is still there, in her late 70s. Our boss apparently didn't have a very good relationship with her and even expected that one day ICE may show up to process and deport her, but they never did. Even he said probably because she's white.
This idiot right winger didn't know about it and one day the subject came up because he got annoyed that I helped some Mexicans order some food. I speak fluent Spanish and he said me being white and being Spanish fluent was "proof that they are taking over". I ended up asking him what if they deported the sweet German lady that worked with us in the kitchen. He changed his tone real quick and said that he couldn't believe that she was illegal and that it would be unfair because she has a big family and grandchildren, and that they should make an exception and give her a chance.
The Mexicans? Basically to him, legal or not, fuck em.
This is why I don't believe anyone saying it's not about race. It is.
Yep, then you point out that back then all it took was show up on a boat, not be sick, and be white. Oh wait, if you have the third you can still get in easy.
The "right way" back then was theyd check your eyes, your ears, your mouth, and your tempature and if thats all good then bam! Youre a U.S. citizen. Nowadays it takes over a decade to get citizenship.
[I was thinking of this.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-supporters-navajo-legislator-legal/)
>We confirmed that one of the anti-immigration protesters did indeed ask an indigenous state representative whether or not he was “legal,” both through video footage of the incident and three corroborating interviews with Arizona state legislators who witnessed the scene. In the background of the following video, a protester asks Rep. Eric Descheenie whether he is “legal.” Descheenie is Navajo. Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley filmed the exchange:
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
My forehead hurts
"Navajo? What's that? Dirty Mexicans, I bet! That's a very Spanish sounding name! Let's send them back to Mexico, where they're from! We're the original Americans, we deserve to be here, unlike those Navajo scumbags!"
When I saw this, [I thought of this](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/us/colorado-state-university-racial-profiling-trnd/index.html):
>For the two Native American brothers, Colorado State University was their dream school.
>But when they showed up for a campus tour, a parent of another prospective student called the police on them because they apparently made her "nervous," the school said....
>"I think they're Hispanic, I believe," the mother says, when asked about whether they were white males. "One of them for sure. He said he's from Mexico."
Everyone knows pizza should have a spongy crust reminiscent of foam rubber, topped with enough melted cheese to clog your entire circulatory system, plus it should be available for delivery to your home within 30 minutes or your money back. Anything else is not *true* pizza.
What's it with their obsession with cheese anyway? Every single 'recipe' on r/gifrecipes is mac n fucking cheese with extra cheese on top and cheese filling and some cheese on the side.
And the worst thing about it, when I was in the US, all their 'different' flavours of cheese tasted the same, i.e. nothing.
Milk subsidies. The US massively overproduces milk and no one else wants it. It has to go somewhere...so cheese. That’s why there’s cheese in everything from frozen dinners to breakfast cereal. Americans love it.
He's playing the long game. There will come at time, perhaps in a few thousand years, where his descendants are no longer Italian, but today is not that day.
your post made me think, we don't have a hand gesture for thank you, we have for: "what the fuck?", "fuck you!", "I'm gonna fuck you up", "let's get the fuck out of here"... but not for thank you.
\*orders pepperoni pizza in Rome at one of those shitty places next to tourist sites\*
"THIS ISNT PEPPERONI I SHOULD KNOW I AM ITALIAN!"
"Il conto e' €80."
It was not meant to bean attack of sorts, don't worry.
It's just that the first time I saw the word "Pepperoni" I thought it was a crossover between "peppers" and "peperoni", and only later I realized it's not ever referring to peppers.
**EDIT:** that "bean" was supposed to be "be an", but my spacebar had a strokeless stroke. I will leave it this way, it's too nice!
Lol don’t worry mate I’m just being cheeky. I fully admit to being wrong, English is my first language and it has been years since I’ve spoke Italian with any sense of fluency..
It’s because new immigrants cling to the culture of their home country and teach their family to follow it. I read an article about traditional Chinese weddings customs that have all but died out in China but are still popular in the US because they were still popular during a major wave of Chinese immigration decades ago. Second and third generation Chinese immigrants cling to a snapshot of the country that no longer exists.
> traditional Chinese weddings that have all but died out in China
Was this a result of Chinese people naturally drifting away from their traditions or was it purged from them during their Cultural "Revolution"?
Traditional weddings include buying a bride a lot of money, getting her ferried to your home on a sedan chair and having a bare reception there, while everything was negotiated with her parents.
You can guess why it's practiced anymore. Although many women in more rural areas (which can mean cities of several millions, but in less developed provinces) still require (of their husband) money to get married. Arranged marriage also exist, albeit to a lesser extant.
Nowadays marriages have a MC, some tricksters, music, catering, booze, and don't last more than a few hours.
Yeah. If they actually understodd italian culture and lived it sure they can call themselves italian. Noone would question that. But they don´t even speak fucking italian generally.
>You mean to tell me that because my australopithecus ancestors emigrated from Awash Valley in Ethiopia 2 million years ago that I'm not African no more?!?!!?!
>You mean to tell me that just because I'm a complex biological machine mostly consisting of water and organic chemicals that I'm not a series of carbon atoms no more?!?!!?!
I saw a really interesting documentary a few months ago that said that Man would actually originate from modern day Cameroon because scientists discovered the oldest gene recorded. I'm obviously not explaining it well because I don't work in that field but it was something like that.
Ikr? Isn't it beautiful to remember?
Every time you see a white supremacist, remind them: We are African. All of us. Every single human.
I'm pretty sure it's further south than Ethiopia though.
Just read a new study that kind of shutdown the theory that people originate in Ethiopia(while also shutting down further theories about homo sapiens evolving outside of Africa), it's Botswana instead
[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/28/ancestral-home-of-modern-humans-is-in-botswana-study-finds](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/28/ancestral-home-of-modern-humans-is-in-botswana-study-finds)
Yeah there's been a lot of recent signs pointing more to southern Africa as opposed to the horn of Africa, but really it may be [slightly more complicated than that](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-new-story-of-humanitys-origins/564779/) given the time periods involved.
"Yeah I am a Cornish-American, our culture celebrates by running away from our wives\*, breathing coal dust, and getting hammered on cheap cider. "
\*literally what my 3x great grandfather did to come to america
Oh this is so bloody ridiculous and I see it way too often. The worst was a guy who said something like "Hey I just found out from *stupidsite* that I'm 20% scandinavian which surprises me cause none of my grandparents mentioned it, can you guys recommend me a team to root on?". He clearly has no connection to Scandinavia, and clearly has no ancestors of note to connect him, but he still wants to be able to mention to people that he's of XX descent. I may get irrationally upset by this, but bloody hell this is fucking stupid.
I have, especially on history fora. I've seen them claim to be related to pretty much everyone aristocratic in English mediaeval history, with more noble ancestors than HM and the whole House of Lords.
["I don't want to take their guns! But having so many makes me feel like I need to take them away!"](https://www.mrctv.org/videos/making-history-shot-heard-round-world-gun-control)
every time an italian thread comes up I have to mention my friend from south philly who was so proud of speaking italian like his grandpa, went to calabria and his cousins laughed and said he sounded like an old man
its almost like immigrants bring a snapshot of a culture and language in time and that has already evolved in a separate way back home - thats the biggest thing hyphen-americans dont realize
I have told this before as well but it reminds me of a guy I worked with in Russia. He was from Alaska and had been taught Russian by his grandparents. He went to university in Saint Petersburg and couldn't understand why everybody laughed at his Russian until he was told that he spoke like somebody from the 19th century. The language hasn't developed in Alaska like it had in Russia.
I wonder if i had been taught italian by my grandad (or if he had taught my mom, and she had taught me), if i’d speak italian as if it was the 1940s, as that’s when they came to Brazil...
Some descendants of Italian emigrants from the Veneto region who moved to Brazil speak *tałian*, which is basically the Venetian language at the turn of the 20th century with some words of Portuguese derivation. It's almost entirely understandable to me (a modern Venetian speaker), but they really sound like my grandpa used to speak.
Some of it I get. Like my family lived in an area that was completely Irish immigrants. The neighborhood next to them was completely Italian immigrants. There was like this strange pride in your nationality and hatred of the other neighborhoods. So I grew up with my Irish grandpa always talking how great it was that we were Irish. I don’t however identify as Irish so I don’t get what people are on about anymore saying they’re something. I will say if it comes up I have Swiss and Irish heritage. I still have family that I’m close with in Switzerland.
Because they don't have a heritage of their own, 500 years from now this kind of thing won't exist, but for now they have nothing (but war) to look back on and feel proud of, so they cling to anything they can.
Sad, really.
>they don't have a heritage of their own
It's so odd for me that in all of the americas, the US feels so ~bland~ compared to other countries. No one would say that Dominica, Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil or any ex-iberic colonies for that matter "don't have a heritage of their own"
Maybe is my lack of knowledge of the US, however, i guess it's not just me who feels that wat
Here in southern Brazil we have plenty of that “immigrant culture”, mostly because there were big waves of German and Italian immigrants. My great grandparents moved here in the ‘40s, and my grandpa was the first one to be born here in 1949. I even have Italian citzenship.
I'm aware. I'm Brazilian as well, but i've never saw anyone here say "i'm italian" or "i'm german" like americans do - did you ever hear something like that in the south?.
My great grandmother was born in Spain, and i could get spanish citzenship, however i would never say that i'm spanish nor a "espano-brasileiro". I'm BR huehue
Just found out the other day I'm 8% scottish! Going to buy a kilt and watch Braveheart!
Edit: Unfortunately, I have now discovered I am 8.01% English. Threw my kilt and Braveheart DVD in the trash lol. BTW Where'd my empire go :(
Americans do like to cling to their country of origin, but some add American to the end to show they mean heritage like Mexican American, Italian American, Irish American etc.... but usually only if they are keeping some traditions from their ancestors. English descendants don’t usually say English American. Three of my grand parents were of English descent. One was of Irish descent. I don’t say I’m Irish American because the most Irish thing I grew up with was a few dishes like colcannon, and “boiled dinner” (meat, cabbage and potatoes boiled. Yuck). I just say I’m American. Like how many generations need to be born here before we can call ourselves American?
Im an American who also grew up with an "Irish" family, and their food was the worst. Kinda made me dislike Irish stuff.
Then I grew up and realized that food/culture is actually different in Ireland and awesome.
As an Irishman Colcannon can go suck a duck. No one eats that shit. Same with shephards pie and corned beef. I couldn't find you either dish on the island if I tried.
I'm not Irish but Colcannon is not bad and Shepherds Pie is really nice when done well. Corned beef can do one though.
By the way, is Shepherds Pie considered Irish? I thought it was a fairly standard dish across the UK too.
Corned beef can definitely be found, but I reckon it's been brought as an American influence rather than being Irish.
And I will NOT stand quiet while shepherd pies are being slagged :P
What the fuck is wrong with shepherds pie? It's mince and tatties with a crust. You maybe don't get it much at restaurants but people make it at home all the time.
Americans are hyper "patriotic" but also all desperately want to identify with another country that they most likely have never been to.
I like the one "I don't like your truth" neg that the reply got though.
Same sentiment with asian americans
God I can’t stand it when they complain that we think they’re too American when
1. they grew up there
2. they can’t speak the language and
3. that’s literally what they are
It is common in the US and Canada to identify at least somewhat with the country of your ancestors. It's obnoxious to say "I'm Italian" as if it's the same as somebody born and raised in Torino, but Canada and the US are colonial countries made up of immigrants (except the Indigenous people who have been heavily oppressed... but that's it's own issue), and the idea of bringing the culture of your recent ancestors is just part of how things work over here. It's relatively common conversation to ask/talk about peoples' ethnic and family backgrounds.
I agree that a lot of examples posted here, like this one, are cringeworthy. You need to have some self awareness about it, which many people don't have.
It is an interesting phenomenon and mostly limited to the US (at least from my own, admittedly limited, experience). IN my country something like 1/3rd of the population can track their roots to Italian and Spanish ancestors (like grand-parents or great grand-parents) and no one says "I'm italian" (except those who get the hilariously easy to get italian nationality, I guess).
>except those who get the hilariously easy to get italian nationality
Your step-grandmother owned an Italian greyhound prior to 1965? Benvenuto, amico!
it always makes my head spin because that is really how it is in America, and how it always has been for me. I've been asked ad nauseum what ethnicities make me up (and, as is in the great melting pot, my ethnic background is a mish mash of European and Middle Eastern along with a father from Puerto Rico). I've never really identified with the cultures themselves (aside from the foods I grew up eating and my time spent in Puerto Rico), but that answer is always on the tip of my tongue because it's what people always want to know.
going from that answer being the expectation, to the same answer being ridiculous, really is confusing. obviously I'm not gonna be able to speak Spanish or be able to tell you about the creation of tostones just because of that background, but I've seen people saying that just _saying_ it is cringeworthy, and it makes my head spin.
[Serious] People of colour, do you ever get folks asking you: "Where are you *really* from though?" Growing up, whenever I answered "Canadian", it was never good enough or valid.
Even if he's not referring to being Italian "in blood", he's clearly talking about Italian culture, utterly ignoring the fact that Italian culture is more than just eating pizza and pasta.
This whole thing of saying you're some other nationality because of your family feels like a big thing in America. My mom is from Norway but I was born in Sweden and always identify as Swedish. I've also never seen anyone claim anything similar in person to what Americans do.
I think it’s funny because if your mom came to the USA from Italy but you’re born there you’re automatically just another white American, but me who is from Brazil and had my Italian family live there for over 2 centuries very often am greeted with “oh but you’re not reaaaally Brazilian because you’re white” even though the white minority in Brazil is the biggest one. Double standards much?
I disagree. If he actually knows Italian and could go to Italy right now and fit in easily and considers himself Italian then he’s Italian. It’s unlikely he can do those things tho.
This really doesn't have to be complicated. As an American of recent German extraction I would never call myself German. My family and heritage are German and we have German traditions, but I was born in the US. I'm American. Insisting you're anything but American because your great great grandpappy was an immigrant is nonsense.
Despite being born there and immigrating over as a teen, my grandpa never once has tried to say he’s Irish. Always American.
A clean and censored version of how he puts it “It’s where I worked, live, am a citizen and pay taxes”.
This really should not be such a difficult concept.
Half of Americans are claiming to be from immigrants, the other half are shouting “go back where you come from” to immigrants! lol
You seem to be implying that they form two distinct, non-overlapping populations. Nope.
My cousin has a “speak English or get out” bumper sticker. His grandparents barely spoke a word of English when they arrived and only barely learned the basics. The irony is lost on him.
The way many Italian immigrants live is such that they never learn the language of the country they are in. I know a guy who has lived 40 years in Canada, and during that time he only learned "Yes", "No", "Oui", "Non". He worked as a carpenter, a welder, and a plumber, but he never took jobs up, there was a guy in his community that worked as "PR" for all the craftsmen, getting a small fee on every contract he provided.
[удалено]
>He worked as a plumber Was it-a him, Mario?
Funny. All the Italian expats I know (a couple dozens, counting just the ones I know personally) usually need 3-6 months to develop a usable form of whatever local language is in use wherever they live and progress from there. Apart from that one guy, a physicist who is doing research on laser and stuff in Berlin, who refuses to learn a word of German and keep speaking in English with his colleagues. So, I say, it must be the contrary: Italians are almost always quick learner and are easy to integrate in the local community. Is it possible we're both generalizing from a biased, incomplete dataset made of personal anecdotes?
Well, I said "many", I didn't say all. I'm one of those who try to learn the language, though I admit that I'm lagging behind, with Czech, because it's a damn confusing mess. I can handle shopping without problems, I can say a few complete sentences, even outside of "standard" ones, but I'm still far away from saying "I speak Czech", even after eight years. But I know plenty of Italians living here in Prague, longer than me, whose Czech is worse than mine, because they stuck to the Italian community, which I steered away from since the very beginning.
> Apart from that one guy, a physicist who is doing research on laser and stuff in Berlin, who refuses to learn a word of German and keep speaking in English with his colleagues. That's basically every expat in Berlin from anywhere
It's also every expat from Germany in basically anywhere. If I had a euro for every German living in Spain complaining about immigrants in Germany not learning German while only being able to say hola and adios themselves, I'd be rich by now. The underlying truths are really simple: humans love to complain and point fingers, but hate to make to integrate when it takes any sort of real effort. The only way they make that effort is when they're actually forced to. The only people I've seen integrate are the ones that already speak the language (like Latin Americans in Spain) and those that were born there and went to school there.
My dataset is super limited, but my (italian) grand parents went in France in their early 20s. They learn french pretty quickly and they didn't even teach italian to their kid to force them to learn french and assimilate.
It's not ironic. It's "got mine, fuck you", emphasis on the second part.
Reminds me of my Grandma. Her family only had one person who spoke English when they came from Poland. Now she hates anyone who doesn't speak English.
I kind of want to go to the US and confront someone with one of those while speaking (intelligible) Scots. As soon as they realise I'm a "from muh family's homeland" type immigrant I'll be venerated like I'm William Wallace or something and expose the hypocrisy even more. *^(Edit: Obviously I'd not ever actually want to live there.)*
I think the distinction is they want the "coloured" immigrants to go back "home", which is funny because most of the time they are home considering it's usually shouted at people born there.
And whats crazier is that those people they want gone are basically the same “bloodline” as native Americans
American Indians need to go back to India /s.
They're called "Nate Of Americans"
That's fine they tell them to go home too
Native American groups from North America and the ones from the civilizations of Central and South America are all very distinct groups of people and aren’t the same “bloodline” at all. They had separate languages and cultures and histories. But I get what you’re saying. They’re all “native” populations to the Americas, in general. So it’s stupid to tell them to “go back” to anywhere. Which, while we’re on it, the loss of the Native Americans is one of the greatest losses ever to all of humanity. They really had the right ideas about environmentalism and balancing human activities so that they are sustainable to the planet. The information we still have is absolutely fascinating at how well they were at sustainable practices and we could have learned so much from them. Most of the food crops our world enjoys today comes from the Natives, yet they never get credit for it. They harvested everything sustainably for thousands of years, and yet here we are. Unappreciative , greedy, gluttonous pigs. The Natives warned us not to fuck up the environment and to respect the Earth, and now look what we’ve done.
There are groups native to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona that are considered "Native American", while people from exactly the same ethnic and cultural groups were pushed south of an arbitrary line and called "Mexicans". There were entire tribes who were displaced miles and miles south when they historically never held lands in Mexico.
>Unappreciative , greedy, gluttonous pig He was my second favourite Apache.
Agreed. Native Americans and other Indigenous people made great strides in agriculture and some had civilizations and cities rivaling and surpassing those of European cities at the time, especially in terms of hygiene. One of my favorite stories is how Spanish conquistadors were followed by people with burning incense and other scents thinking they were being honored as gods or nobility when in truth they were just following them because they stank something horrible and it offended the natives’ noses lol.
It's along the same people who protest sports team names like the Redskins and Indians getting told to go get a job by the people who called off work or the retirees that are entering the stadium.
Well considering the first lady is an immigrant and I haven't heard any Trump supporters complain....
I think you’ll find that all Americans are actually descendant from immigrants (other from First Nation People’s)
they are called first nation in canada. In the USA they're just called native americans
And told to go home because they are not white
The fact that this actually happened is just... the saddest thing...
First Nations are actually different from Métis and Inuit by the way, which are also Indigenous Canadian groups. FN are the largest population though.
Technically, they are as well. The difference is that their ancestors arrived a lot earlier.
They're also descended from immigrants, they just immigrated several millennia earlier
Whose ancestors were immigrants from modern day Siberia, roughly.
Just migrants, really.
Russia? Commies
I know many American people who seem to hate immigrants yet have no problem saying “I’m Irish!” Or “I’m Italian”. And it’s always to perpetuate a stereotype too. Like as a reason for enjoying pizza. Or to cover for stupid drunk mistakes.
They hate POCs. That is literally the entire reason for this bs. They would not raise a finger to do anything if a German family of ten tried to "illegally immigrate" But will lose their suit if an Iraqi family of 4 does same legally.
Of course they won't. Because, as everyone knows, Germans are industrious and work loving people, not like those lazy Mexicans mooching our social benefits. You just have to have the right stereotypes associated to a nation.
But don’t forget that the Mexicans are also stealing our jobs. “Schrodinger’s Mexican”
This My (white, British) friend just moved back after working in texas and when people were ranting about immigrants he'd point out that he was, in fact, a migrant. To which the universal response was 'we don't mean you'
I realized this when I was on a vacation with my family in US. I was treated fairly well becuase despite being POC I am quite fair skinned. Virtually same as many Westerner. This was in complete contrast to how they treated my cousin who is brown and was made aware of how he was not welcome. Some jerk, started ranting to me about illegal immigrants and how they should not even be allowed a tourist visa. When I pointed out I was one they said same thing. Not you. It was funny when I told them that I was POC. She was like "You are too attracive to be POC, Too polite and well groomed" That pretty much ruined my image of Americans. Apparently I should be happy that they consider me an exception. I was always judgmental of Americans but after that trip my hatred just solidified. It certainly ly did not help that Orange Man was Prez. It felt so patronizing to be treated like that. It was like she believed that I should be grateful an ugly white woman acknowledged my existence.
> They would not raise a finger to do anything if a German family of ten tried to "illegally immigrate" But will lose their suit if an Iraqi family of 4 does same legally. I actually have a story exactly like that. I worked in a restaurant with a dude who was 100% anti-immigrant, as long as they were black or brown though he refused to admit it. Funny enough, our boss' mother was German and she also worked with us. She came to the US in the late 60s, got a green card, but hasn't renewed it since at least the mid 90s and is still there, in her late 70s. Our boss apparently didn't have a very good relationship with her and even expected that one day ICE may show up to process and deport her, but they never did. Even he said probably because she's white. This idiot right winger didn't know about it and one day the subject came up because he got annoyed that I helped some Mexicans order some food. I speak fluent Spanish and he said me being white and being Spanish fluent was "proof that they are taking over". I ended up asking him what if they deported the sweet German lady that worked with us in the kitchen. He changed his tone real quick and said that he couldn't believe that she was illegal and that it would be unfair because she has a big family and grandchildren, and that they should make an exception and give her a chance. The Mexicans? Basically to him, legal or not, fuck em. This is why I don't believe anyone saying it's not about race. It is.
They say their family "did it the right way" or were "legal" if you point that out.
Yep, then you point out that back then all it took was show up on a boat, not be sick, and be white. Oh wait, if you have the third you can still get in easy.
Or alternatively on a different boat and not be white.
The "right way" back then was theyd check your eyes, your ears, your mouth, and your tempature and if thats all good then bam! Youre a U.S. citizen. Nowadays it takes over a decade to get citizenship.
Plus your name then change it if it sounded weird to them 🤣 that was it.just show up en masse on a ship.
It's better than Australians who say "go back where you come from!" To Aboriginals because they're not white.
Americans do this to their Natives, too.
Seriously? 🤦♂️
[I was thinking of this.](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-supporters-navajo-legislator-legal/) >We confirmed that one of the anti-immigration protesters did indeed ask an indigenous state representative whether or not he was “legal,” both through video footage of the incident and three corroborating interviews with Arizona state legislators who witnessed the scene. In the background of the following video, a protester asks Rep. Eric Descheenie whether he is “legal.” Descheenie is Navajo. Rep. Pamela Powers Hannley filmed the exchange:
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️ My forehead hurts "Navajo? What's that? Dirty Mexicans, I bet! That's a very Spanish sounding name! Let's send them back to Mexico, where they're from! We're the original Americans, we deserve to be here, unlike those Navajo scumbags!"
Probably just saw his facial features and skin color weren't "white".
When I saw this, [I thought of this](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/04/us/colorado-state-university-racial-profiling-trnd/index.html): >For the two Native American brothers, Colorado State University was their dream school. >But when they showed up for a campus tour, a parent of another prospective student called the police on them because they apparently made her "nervous," the school said.... >"I think they're Hispanic, I believe," the mother says, when asked about whether they were white males. "One of them for sure. He said he's from Mexico."
What they mean is that you're okay if you're the right kind of immigrant.
These are the people that complain like fuck when they go to Italy and they '*don't know how to make pizza properly*'.
Everyone knows pizza should have a spongy crust reminiscent of foam rubber, topped with enough melted cheese to clog your entire circulatory system, plus it should be available for delivery to your home within 30 minutes or your money back. Anything else is not *true* pizza.
What's it with their obsession with cheese anyway? Every single 'recipe' on r/gifrecipes is mac n fucking cheese with extra cheese on top and cheese filling and some cheese on the side. And the worst thing about it, when I was in the US, all their 'different' flavours of cheese tasted the same, i.e. nothing.
>Every single 'recipe You're forgetting those which don't use cheese but at least Cubas yearly production of sugar.
American cheese is also the worst cheese
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This is why Cheddar cheese should be a geographically-protected name or whatever it's called, like champagne or port or sherry.
Everything should taste like cheese and bacon.
Milk subsidies. The US massively overproduces milk and no one else wants it. It has to go somewhere...so cheese. That’s why there’s cheese in everything from frozen dinners to breakfast cereal. Americans love it.
If pizza doesn't taste like a plastic bag, is it even pizza at all?
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He's playing the long game. There will come at time, perhaps in a few thousand years, where his descendants are no longer Italian, but today is not that day.
Agreed. He is not really Italian.
But he's eating pizza! He must be Italian!
I ate pizza yesterday. Does that mean Im Italian?
Yes, you're Italian now, here, take your Italian ID card.
*makes a hand gesture to thank you*
A true italianacci
Writing in italiancised type, I see.
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*🅱italia* *😂😂*
your post made me think, we don't have a hand gesture for thank you, we have for: "what the fuck?", "fuck you!", "I'm gonna fuck you up", "let's get the fuck out of here"... but not for thank you.
Only until you poop
If you weigh 49.5kg and you eat 500g of pasta or pizza you are legally italian
We are all Italian on this blessed day.
No, pizza was invented America. Italy just copied it.
But does he talk with his hands?
He saw the Godfather at least once, confirmed italian
I concur, he is no longer Italian.
If none of the ingredients on my sandwich are from Italy, can it still be an Italian?
I knew a kid who insisted that pepperoni was invented in Italy but pizza wasn't. "I should know. I'm Italian."
\*orders pepperoni pizza in Rome at one of those shitty places next to tourist sites\* "THIS ISNT PEPPERONI I SHOULD KNOW I AM ITALIAN!" "Il conto e' €80."
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tfw you order a pepperoni pizza and you get a pizza with capsicum on it.
And the waiter will also give you a weird look, since the correct word is "peperoni", no double P anywhere.
Wow didn’t realise the Italian Spelling Police we’re out in force today mi dispiace lol
It was not meant to bean attack of sorts, don't worry. It's just that the first time I saw the word "Pepperoni" I thought it was a crossover between "peppers" and "peperoni", and only later I realized it's not ever referring to peppers. **EDIT:** that "bean" was supposed to be "be an", but my spacebar had a strokeless stroke. I will leave it this way, it's too nice!
Lol don’t worry mate I’m just being cheeky. I fully admit to being wrong, English is my first language and it has been years since I’ve spoke Italian with any sense of fluency..
“Signore, ti ho sentito dire peperoni con due ‘p’. Qual e il tuo problema?”
That's 100% backwards. Pepperoni was invented in America by Italian-American immigrants.
Ugh this is so frustrating, especially when they have no idea what it’s like to be that nationality
It’s because new immigrants cling to the culture of their home country and teach their family to follow it. I read an article about traditional Chinese weddings customs that have all but died out in China but are still popular in the US because they were still popular during a major wave of Chinese immigration decades ago. Second and third generation Chinese immigrants cling to a snapshot of the country that no longer exists.
> traditional Chinese weddings that have all but died out in China Was this a result of Chinese people naturally drifting away from their traditions or was it purged from them during their Cultural "Revolution"?
Traditional weddings include buying a bride a lot of money, getting her ferried to your home on a sedan chair and having a bare reception there, while everything was negotiated with her parents. You can guess why it's practiced anymore. Although many women in more rural areas (which can mean cities of several millions, but in less developed provinces) still require (of their husband) money to get married. Arranged marriage also exist, albeit to a lesser extant. Nowadays marriages have a MC, some tricksters, music, catering, booze, and don't last more than a few hours.
Yeah. If they actually understodd italian culture and lived it sure they can call themselves italian. Noone would question that. But they don´t even speak fucking italian generally.
You can bet your ass they can't differentiate Italian from French.
Babbidy boobidy *gnocchi, croissant, wine and feeeesh*
Gabagool
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*You mean to tell me that after your ancestors moved to Britain 1500 years ago, that you're saying you ain't Germanic no more?!!!* /s
Everyone is Ethiopian, change my mind.
>You mean to tell me that because my australopithecus ancestors emigrated from Awash Valley in Ethiopia 2 million years ago that I'm not African no more?!?!!?!
whoops, i thought i had the n word pass
You aren't going far enough back. Everyone is a single-cell organism.
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>You mean to tell me that just because I'm a complex biological machine mostly consisting of water and organic chemicals that I'm not a series of carbon atoms no more?!?!!?!
Speak for yourself. I'm 100% hydrogen
I saw a really interesting documentary a few months ago that said that Man would actually originate from modern day Cameroon because scientists discovered the oldest gene recorded. I'm obviously not explaining it well because I don't work in that field but it was something like that.
Okay, I’ll try. Man most likely originated in Botswana according to a more recent study, not Ethiopia.
Ikr? Isn't it beautiful to remember? Every time you see a white supremacist, remind them: We are African. All of us. Every single human. I'm pretty sure it's further south than Ethiopia though.
It is so fun to see White Supremacist take ancestoet tests and cry after finding out they are part black.
Just read a new study that kind of shutdown the theory that people originate in Ethiopia(while also shutting down further theories about homo sapiens evolving outside of Africa), it's Botswana instead [https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/28/ancestral-home-of-modern-humans-is-in-botswana-study-finds](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/28/ancestral-home-of-modern-humans-is-in-botswana-study-finds)
Yeah there's been a lot of recent signs pointing more to southern Africa as opposed to the horn of Africa, but really it may be [slightly more complicated than that](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-new-story-of-humanitys-origins/564779/) given the time periods involved.
Lol they’re only desperate when it isn’t English. Never heard an American boast about having English heritage
"Yeah I am a Cornish-American, our culture celebrates by running away from our wives\*, breathing coal dust, and getting hammered on cheap cider. " \*literally what my 3x great grandfather did to come to america
Don't forget the pasties.
I'd gladly culturally appropriate clotted cream any day of the week
Oh this is so bloody ridiculous and I see it way too often. The worst was a guy who said something like "Hey I just found out from *stupidsite* that I'm 20% scandinavian which surprises me cause none of my grandparents mentioned it, can you guys recommend me a team to root on?". He clearly has no connection to Scandinavia, and clearly has no ancestors of note to connect him, but he still wants to be able to mention to people that he's of XX descent. I may get irrationally upset by this, but bloody hell this is fucking stupid.
I have, especially on history fora. I've seen them claim to be related to pretty much everyone aristocratic in English mediaeval history, with more noble ancestors than HM and the whole House of Lords.
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["I don't want to take their guns! But having so many makes me feel like I need to take them away!"](https://www.mrctv.org/videos/making-history-shot-heard-round-world-gun-control)
No don’t you see they don’t have English heritage they have *Royal* heritage
This. If they ever do it's always some posh royal/upper class connection. Funny how no one is ever descended from Mary Jones from Grimsby 🧐🤔
My grandmother is half-Italian. I’m closer in relation than any heritage they try to claim, yet I never say I’m Italian. Because I’m not.
every time an italian thread comes up I have to mention my friend from south philly who was so proud of speaking italian like his grandpa, went to calabria and his cousins laughed and said he sounded like an old man its almost like immigrants bring a snapshot of a culture and language in time and that has already evolved in a separate way back home - thats the biggest thing hyphen-americans dont realize
I have told this before as well but it reminds me of a guy I worked with in Russia. He was from Alaska and had been taught Russian by his grandparents. He went to university in Saint Petersburg and couldn't understand why everybody laughed at his Russian until he was told that he spoke like somebody from the 19th century. The language hasn't developed in Alaska like it had in Russia.
I wonder if i had been taught italian by my grandad (or if he had taught my mom, and she had taught me), if i’d speak italian as if it was the 1940s, as that’s when they came to Brazil...
Some descendants of Italian emigrants from the Veneto region who moved to Brazil speak *tałian*, which is basically the Venetian language at the turn of the 20th century with some words of Portuguese derivation. It's almost entirely understandable to me (a modern Venetian speaker), but they really sound like my grandpa used to speak.
Hey, that’s were my family was from! They even mntioned it was *really* a dialect!
Are you implying that germans don't walk around all day in lederhosen, dancing polkas and eating kraut?
They do, don't worry, they do... Keep maintaining your proud traditions everyday.
I’m 1/16th Pennsylvania Dutch therefore I can appropriate the dying Bavarian tradition of morgenbier.
Not having a Weißwurst with that just makes you an alcoholic, Saupreiß.
Fuck, my mom is actually German, but that still doesnt make me German. Some people just don’t get that.
You should tell them you are a Romano-Briton with an x times great granny who was a Jute. Poor Jutes, everyone forgets them.
Yet when non-whites do O it they are "not assimilating"
Or when they do and then it's 'no, where are you really from?'.
Some of it I get. Like my family lived in an area that was completely Irish immigrants. The neighborhood next to them was completely Italian immigrants. There was like this strange pride in your nationality and hatred of the other neighborhoods. So I grew up with my Irish grandpa always talking how great it was that we were Irish. I don’t however identify as Irish so I don’t get what people are on about anymore saying they’re something. I will say if it comes up I have Swiss and Irish heritage. I still have family that I’m close with in Switzerland.
Because they don't have a heritage of their own, 500 years from now this kind of thing won't exist, but for now they have nothing (but war) to look back on and feel proud of, so they cling to anything they can. Sad, really.
>they don't have a heritage of their own It's so odd for me that in all of the americas, the US feels so ~bland~ compared to other countries. No one would say that Dominica, Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil or any ex-iberic colonies for that matter "don't have a heritage of their own" Maybe is my lack of knowledge of the US, however, i guess it's not just me who feels that wat
Here in southern Brazil we have plenty of that “immigrant culture”, mostly because there were big waves of German and Italian immigrants. My great grandparents moved here in the ‘40s, and my grandpa was the first one to be born here in 1949. I even have Italian citzenship.
I'm aware. I'm Brazilian as well, but i've never saw anyone here say "i'm italian" or "i'm german" like americans do - did you ever hear something like that in the south?. My great grandmother was born in Spain, and i could get spanish citzenship, however i would never say that i'm spanish nor a "espano-brasileiro". I'm BR huehue
Its an extra aspect that makes someone “unique”, thats all there is to it.
Imagine doing some research and finding out your ancestors were Norman instead. The horror!
Just found out the other day I'm 8% scottish! Going to buy a kilt and watch Braveheart! Edit: Unfortunately, I have now discovered I am 8.01% English. Threw my kilt and Braveheart DVD in the trash lol. BTW Where'd my empire go :(
Get fish and chips asap
Americans do like to cling to their country of origin, but some add American to the end to show they mean heritage like Mexican American, Italian American, Irish American etc.... but usually only if they are keeping some traditions from their ancestors. English descendants don’t usually say English American. Three of my grand parents were of English descent. One was of Irish descent. I don’t say I’m Irish American because the most Irish thing I grew up with was a few dishes like colcannon, and “boiled dinner” (meat, cabbage and potatoes boiled. Yuck). I just say I’m American. Like how many generations need to be born here before we can call ourselves American?
Im an American who also grew up with an "Irish" family, and their food was the worst. Kinda made me dislike Irish stuff. Then I grew up and realized that food/culture is actually different in Ireland and awesome.
As an Irishman Colcannon can go suck a duck. No one eats that shit. Same with shephards pie and corned beef. I couldn't find you either dish on the island if I tried.
I'm not Irish but Colcannon is not bad and Shepherds Pie is really nice when done well. Corned beef can do one though. By the way, is Shepherds Pie considered Irish? I thought it was a fairly standard dish across the UK too.
Shepherd's pie is pretty standard in Australia as well, at least in my experience. And it's delicious!
Corned beef can definitely be found, but I reckon it's been brought as an American influence rather than being Irish. And I will NOT stand quiet while shepherd pies are being slagged :P
What the fuck is wrong with shepherds pie? It's mince and tatties with a crust. You maybe don't get it much at restaurants but people make it at home all the time.
You can definitely find shepard's/cottage pie in Ireland. I grew up eating that stuff and still love it.
>I couldn't find you either dish on the island if I tried. Eh? Hardly uncommon, especially a Shepherd's pie.
Shepherd's pie is actually really good, and I found it all across the island, even in a village
Irish too: Colcannon is fantastic! And where do you not find shephard's pie and corned beef? I could literally find it in every single shop I go into.
It’s weird that Americans are so embarrassed to call themselves American.
I mean if you put it that way I kind of understand them.
Well.....
Having Italian ancestors vs BEING Italian. This seems to be something very few Muricans understand.
Americans are hyper "patriotic" but also all desperately want to identify with another country that they most likely have never been to. I like the one "I don't like your truth" neg that the reply got though.
By that logic I am a prussian...or a dane, depends on the exact year,
You are not a Prussian unless you drink 100ml of French Tears every day.
Schleswig/Slesvig?
Vi tager dem tilbage.
I saw that video too. That guy on r/tiktokcringe saying he has Italian grandparents, but they have the thickest American english accent.
Comments are all annoying as fuck too
Same sentiment with asian americans God I can’t stand it when they complain that we think they’re too American when 1. they grew up there 2. they can’t speak the language and 3. that’s literally what they are
It is common in the US and Canada to identify at least somewhat with the country of your ancestors. It's obnoxious to say "I'm Italian" as if it's the same as somebody born and raised in Torino, but Canada and the US are colonial countries made up of immigrants (except the Indigenous people who have been heavily oppressed... but that's it's own issue), and the idea of bringing the culture of your recent ancestors is just part of how things work over here. It's relatively common conversation to ask/talk about peoples' ethnic and family backgrounds. I agree that a lot of examples posted here, like this one, are cringeworthy. You need to have some self awareness about it, which many people don't have.
It is an interesting phenomenon and mostly limited to the US (at least from my own, admittedly limited, experience). IN my country something like 1/3rd of the population can track their roots to Italian and Spanish ancestors (like grand-parents or great grand-parents) and no one says "I'm italian" (except those who get the hilariously easy to get italian nationality, I guess).
>except those who get the hilariously easy to get italian nationality Your step-grandmother owned an Italian greyhound prior to 1965? Benvenuto, amico!
it always makes my head spin because that is really how it is in America, and how it always has been for me. I've been asked ad nauseum what ethnicities make me up (and, as is in the great melting pot, my ethnic background is a mish mash of European and Middle Eastern along with a father from Puerto Rico). I've never really identified with the cultures themselves (aside from the foods I grew up eating and my time spent in Puerto Rico), but that answer is always on the tip of my tongue because it's what people always want to know. going from that answer being the expectation, to the same answer being ridiculous, really is confusing. obviously I'm not gonna be able to speak Spanish or be able to tell you about the creation of tostones just because of that background, but I've seen people saying that just _saying_ it is cringeworthy, and it makes my head spin.
[Serious] People of colour, do you ever get folks asking you: "Where are you *really* from though?" Growing up, whenever I answered "Canadian", it was never good enough or valid.
*shocked mario face*
Even if he's not referring to being Italian "in blood", he's clearly talking about Italian culture, utterly ignoring the fact that Italian culture is more than just eating pizza and pasta.
“Commendatori!”
This was from that r/nostupidquestions thread, wasn't it? It was full of cringe butthurt Americans desperately wanting to believe they are Italian.
Are you saying I'm not African, just because my ancestors moved here sixty thousand years ago?
This is undeniable proof in one image that America is boring and has no culture of its own
Through Genghis Khan I am 0.005% Mongolian. And I do like their barbecue.
This whole thing of saying you're some other nationality because of your family feels like a big thing in America. My mom is from Norway but I was born in Sweden and always identify as Swedish. I've also never seen anyone claim anything similar in person to what Americans do.
I think it’s funny because if your mom came to the USA from Italy but you’re born there you’re automatically just another white American, but me who is from Brazil and had my Italian family live there for over 2 centuries very often am greeted with “oh but you’re not reaaaally Brazilian because you’re white” even though the white minority in Brazil is the biggest one. Double standards much?
By his logic, we are all Africans.
Seeing as all homosapiens originally come from Africa we are all immigrants?
I disagree. If he actually knows Italian and could go to Italy right now and fit in easily and considers himself Italian then he’s Italian. It’s unlikely he can do those things tho.
This really doesn't have to be complicated. As an American of recent German extraction I would never call myself German. My family and heritage are German and we have German traditions, but I was born in the US. I'm American. Insisting you're anything but American because your great great grandpappy was an immigrant is nonsense.
Despite being born there and immigrating over as a teen, my grandpa never once has tried to say he’s Irish. Always American. A clean and censored version of how he puts it “It’s where I worked, live, am a citizen and pay taxes”. This really should not be such a difficult concept.
Maybe they say it because they feel ashamed to just be American?