I've noticed that some of Gangster BB's members usernames say 'Irish', even though their Location reads they are from elsewhere. Where do your roots descend from?

care to explian which irish usernames you have seen?

You mean the only Irish people in the world are in Ireland :rolleyes:

I'm going to defend Sbalzi because I know where he's coming from and what he means. There's a tendency for people who are part Irish, or Italian or whatever in America for them to believe they're still that nationality. Sometimes it goes back generations. In America their background is part of their identity. Outside of America you are just 'American'. Not Irish-American or Italian-American. Not a lot of people in Ireland would class second and third generation Irish people in America as Irish.

Same goes for me. I have a full blooded Irish grandad and Scottish mother, but I'm English and no one from either Ireland and Scotland would see me any differently.

For Sopranos fans this is seen in the series 2 episode 'Commandatori'. These Wiseguys still think they're really Italian but no one in Italy cares. It's not because they're stupid characters, for example - Paulie, it's because they're American.

I only know of two irishman's on the boards

Irishman12
The Irish mafia 28

If thats what your thinking of.

Turi -

The U.S. is a relatively young country, and the bulk of our European immigration occurred in (only) the last 150 years. Its more natural for us to think of our ancestors' homelands as our "background".

Political correctness aside, nobody really refers to themselves as Irish-American or Italian-American, etc. They're simply Irish or Italian.

You Europeans have had a much longer history and look at your backgrounds differently.

Oh yeah I understand and appreciate that SC and I hope I cause no offense. I just wanted to eloborate on what I though Sbalzi meant with this thread. Maybe the way he went about creating this thread could have been done differently. I just think it's an interesting culture difference and offered my point of view.

Personally I think it's weird when I see something in America mentioned because of their background. For example, (first person in my head) Bill O Reilly mentioning he's Irish making a point of something. Over here, something like that would hardly be mentioned or even noticed unless there was an accent. And I think this comes down to Americans wanting to maintain their own identity.

I never realized Turi, that other countries felt that way. Don't get around much. :p

Like SC mentioned many of our ancestors immigrated to America, and in my case, my father and both sets of grandparents. Although I am American and my loyalty of course is with America, my Italian roots are deeply imbeded and a great part of who I am. I was raised to take great pride in my heritage. Many customs/beliefs that I was raised with come from the "old country".

However, as time goes on, I'm sure, as with my children, and their children after, sadly they will slowly diminish. Eventually I think, everyone is going to have roots from more than just one or two countries and not have one "specific" homeland, so to speak.

To many Americans, I think, having that "connection" is a sense of pride, no matter where there roots are. I never say I am Italian American either, but for me, to not have a connection to my roots, would seem so empty.

TIS

Turi- I agree with you. I always wonder why people my age insist on saying they are Italian or whatever. Usually they can't speak a word of Italian and don't have a clue about the heritage or history of the country.

TIS seems to have a deep understanding of her family's heritage and it seems that her family really celebrates their background. That I completely respect. It's when people don't have a clue that annoys me. It seems like saying your Italian was the cool thing to do where I grew up.

I've always considered myself an American. My great-grandparents are from Italy and Germany, but I've never stepped a foot in either country, I don't know any of the languages, and I couldent tell you a thing about their history either than what I've learned about WWII in school. So I consider myself an American more than anything else.

Mind you, you'd think the Irish would be a lot more sympathetic about those that are related to the ones that left their country during the potato famine.

But you will pay the price for being a picky eater.

I am 1/4 Irish.

Why? The ones that stayed behind had it harder. Over a million people left Ireland then and sure they had a hard life in America but an even larger number died at home.

Mind you, you'd think the British wouldnt have started the fucking famine in the first place.

I chose this name because I'm about 80-85% Irish and I'm damned proud of it. Yes I am born an American, but does that mean that you can't be proud of your roots? Of course not. I understand and see your point about people outside the US seeing us as Americans, but I guess we in the States know we are Americans and see ourselves as our roots. It's more of a pride thing more than anything I think

I'm wondering if this "nationality" thing isn't really just a matter of how one was brought up and/or how much they know about their roots and background. I know many people who don't know what nationality they are, or they "think" their this or that. It seems so strange that they wouldn't and like Krlea mentioned, many of them do just consider themselves American.

There have been a few times (very few here in CA), I'll find out that someone is of Italian decent, and I'll say (in my best California accent :p ) "Oh my God, so am I." ...and the other person doesn't really think it's a big deal.


TIS

I'm half irish.

Honestly, as an European, I consider the American people American! But when it comes to a deeper meaning of people own identity, I'm so happy to see that a lot of Americans here on the board are proud of their own roots -- as far as I'm concerned, being Italian, I was happily surprised to realize how much the Italian Americans here on the board love Italy and are proud of their Italian roots. But whatever your roots are --Italian, Irish, German, English etc..--I think that your past history must be remembered and cherished as something important, something enriching you as human beings. Of course you are Americans in your heart and passport, but whatever nationality your ancestors were, please keep on remembering them. It's remembering who they were that helps you know better who you are now. As for me, when I read TIS (for example) talking about her Italian family and the way her relatives grown up her in the proud respect of Italian traditions and culture, I'm not ashamed to tell you that I feel a little bit moved. It's something touching for me to see this spiritual bridge between our two countries being still strong. When I think of our immigrants who left Italy two centuries ago for a better future, I don't know....it's so beautiful to see that this link is not broken. On the contrary, Italy has a special place in Italian Americans hearts and so Italian Americans have in mine. Of course there is a risk that this link will be diminished as time goes by, but it's up to you not to let this happen.

PS. I wish I could speak English better to wholly explain my inner feelings. It's not easy to do this in a language that is not your own language.

You've mentioned that before and I'm always intrigued how you got to that percentage, it doesn't make sense. Full, Half or Quarter Irish would make sense based on parentage.

Why? The ones that stayed behind had it harder. Over a million people left Ireland then and sure they had a hard life in America but an even larger number died at home.
[/b][/quote]I'm not debating who had it harder, it was a tough period for all your countrymen at the time. It's just things like that usually bring people together or totally tear them apart.

I'm not debating who had it harder, it was a tough period for all your countrymen at the time. It's just things like that usually bring people together or totally tear them apart.

Sorry, I took your meaning wrong

Has any of you gone back to your original countries to search out ancestors? We get Americans here all the time, looking for leprechauns

Turi- 85% is reasonable.

his father is 100% and his mother is 75% (just an example)

You've mentioned that before and I'm always intrigued how you got to that percentage, it doesn't make sense. Full, Half or Quarter Irish would make sense based on parentage. [/b][/quote]Well it's not an exact science, but my ma is 100% Irish and I believe that my father is 50% Irish. That's what they've always told me, that I'm 80-85% Irish, so I don't know. I'm prodominatly Irish I'll tell you that.

<---<---<---<---< My username is Irish, what's your point :p

It's nice that you're proud of your heritage. I read somewhere that the amount of Irish-Americans in America called themselves Irish has decreased.