I am part .... and part... and a quater ....

Ah, but if he was born in the US, he most likely IS American, as being born in US soil gives you citizenship. Most people as being discussed in this topic do not have citizenship of the country they claim.

good point!

My pedigree is 100% English on my father's side -- they arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony back in the 1630's. My mother's parents were more recent immigrants -- both from Ulster. It always amused me that my mother (a bit of a Hyacinth Bucket type) liked to think of herself as "Scottish" and maybe the family did come from Scotland generations ago. But my grandparents were Irish. They thought of themselves as Irish, their immigration papers gave "Ireland" as the place of birth, their parents were listed as "Irish".
And now I am officially Irish. Does that mean I can call myself "Irish-American" to designate the dual nationality? 

I certainly don't think there is anything wrong with being proud of your heritage. But would you say you were Italian if an Italian person who was born and raised in Italy asked you where you were from, or would you say you were American, but your family is from Italy? Or that you are an Italian American? I guess the point is, if you move over here with an American accent, but tell people you are Italian, it seems it would just confuse them without a lengthy explanation of how you are Italian and American. Same applies if you are Irish-American, but are living in Ireland, then you really can't say you are Irish, necessarily, because you don't have the same accent as they do, and the culture you grew up in may be similar in some ways, but different in others.

When in the UK, I would most definitely say I am American. But when here in the states and I tell people my last name, they look at me and say, Oh you must be Italian. My family lives and breathes our Italian Culture.

I think when people start throwing out 1/8 percentages, that is a bit silly but to each their own. I am Italian-American. Where I live in Tampa, we have a vast and rich culture of Hispanics and Italians reaching back generations. Our cities founding industry built upon the trades that our Italian-Cuban-Spanish relatives brought from our home countries. To dimiss this.... is ignorant.

In our family we celebrate in the ways we are most familiar with Italian traditions. Food, music, large gatherings when people are spilling out of the house because there are too many of us.

We recongise and celebrate the freedoms that America (sorry) The United States has provided us, especially on days like the 4th of July whatever, it is then we roll out the Bar-B-Q to cook hamburgers and hotdogs. But on all other days we use our Bar-B-Q grill to cook our Italian Sausage and grill our onions and peppers.

 

Not sure why this is sooooo controversal, why can't we just be tolerant of our differences. I know once I explained it to my BF he came back and apologised for not understanding, he certainly didn't argue with me about it, even though we both have different views on the topic.

Does that mean I can call myself "Irish-American" to designate the dual nationality?  

Hell yeah, I would!


ETA: A million years from now (exaggeration) when I gain dual nationality, I'll totally call myself British-American or English-American.  It will have taken a lot of time, energy, and £ to get that title!!!

I think we should just all say we are British when we live there...that will really annoy them!

 

Hell yeah, I would!


ETA: A million years from now (exaggeration) when I gain dual nationality, I'll totally call myself British-American or English-American.  It will have taken a lot of time, energy, and £ to get that title!!!

I do wonder if the title should be in a particular order depending on your country of origin. American-British, or British-American?

 

I think we should just all say we are British when we live there...that will really annoy them!

 

 

I do wonder if the title should be in a particular order depending on your country of origin. American-British, or British-American?

 

true.... hhhmmmmm.....

ETA: A million years from now (exaggeration) when I gain dual nationality, I'll totally call myself British-American or English-American.  It will have taken a lot of time, energy, and £ to get that title!!!

By that time it may be European-American   

#1 I have been to Italy thank you very much and # 2 you would NEVER profess to be Italian even though your Father is born and bred Italian... now I think that is weird!

Good for you.  Like I said, if I met you for the first time and said you were Italian I (and most other British people) would find it confusing.  I don't think I am Italian despite having lots of cultural links and having a huge Italian influence on my upbringing, I think am British having been born and brought up here.  It's different understandings of what nationality means which you would have seen I was trying to say in my original post.

Does that mean I can call myself "Irish-American" to designate the dual nationality?  

I call myself an American-British!    I do that because the American came first, the British second.  

I'm not English (and never will be), however, because I wasn't born in England.  However, I do have Danish, English, Dutch and French ancestry.  Oh and I'm a native Kansan because I was born there.  Then I became an 'adopted' Floridian.  

But who the f*ck really cares?  One way or t'other (that's Yorkshire-ian!), it's not a big deal.  

But who the f*ck really cares?  One way or t'other (that's Yorkshire-ian!), it's not a big deal.  

  Exactly! 

My family lives and breathes our Italian Culture.

I think part of the confusion is that what you call your Italian Culture would be foreign to someone from Italy; I'm sure they would see some familiar things but it would be different.  It's unarguable that there are vibrant communities in the US with unique cultures based on Italian/Irish/Whatever roots but those cultures are uniquely American and distinct from the base culture.   That's what looks odd or confusing (from a non-American perspective).

I think part of the confusion is that what you call your Italian Culture would be foreign to someone from Italy; I'm sure they would see some familiar things but it would be different.  It's unarguable that there are vibrant communities in the US with unique cultures based on Italian/Irish/Whatever roots but those cultures are uniquely American and distinct from the base culture.   That's what looks odd or confusing (from a non-American perspective).

True! Anyone remember the Sopranos episode where they went to Italy and Pauly was all sad because he realised that even though he was Italian, he wasn't exactly Italian? It made me laugh because so many foods and things they had were so different from what they were used to. 

By that time it may be European-American   

True true, but the news on the European Union and European Council would be another thread entirely. Hahahaha.


The mind boggles with learning the politics of a new country/countries.

True! Anyone remember the Sopranos episode where they went to Italy and Pauly was all sad because he realised that even though he was Italian, he wasn't exactly Italian? It made me laugh because so many foods and things they had were so different from what they were used to. 

I like that way of expressing it!

The reason non-Americans find the whole thing confusing is that when you say "Italian" we're never sure if you mean Italian or Italian.