Quote:
Originally Posted by KingOfJericho
I agree and disagree, depending on the situation. I always joke with my buddy who is of Italian descent (has an Italian flag on his car, talks like he's on the Sopranos, and has never been to Italy) that he's only Italian when he's in the US, because the second he steps off the plane in Italy he'll realize how not-Italian he is.
That being said, there's a difference between being from a place and being born in a place and it depends on the context of the conversation. People often hear my last name and ask if I'm Irish - is the correct response that I'm American? They would look at me like I'm some asshole because most people in this country are "American" by your definition.
On the fip side, if I run into Dutch people, I might tell them that my mother was born there but I would never say "I'm Dutch" as that would sound pretty silly, so I do agree on that front.
This country is somewhat unique in that nearly everyone here is from somewhere else. Brasil and Argentina are similar in that they had a large European influx around WWII. Like Gisele Bundchen... she's famous as a Brazilian model but her ancestry is 100% German.
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I'm damed if I do damed if I don't. If I tell people I'm American they will say nah where are your parents from? Cuba, well then you're Cuban (even though they came here as kids).
If I tell people I'm Cuban they ask me what part of Cuba I'm from, I tell then Miami, they inform me I'm not Cuban.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nkc
Where ever I go, I'm fucking chinese lol.
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I actually have a friend who is married to an Indonesian chick and her and his mother got into a huge thing because his mother referred to some waitress as a "chinita" which is basically Chinese in spanish. Now she wasn't saying anything derogatory, but my friends wife got all upset asking her how she knew she was Chinese.
Anyways got me to thinking and in spanish (at least Cuban spanish) we call pretty much all Asians chino. It actually took me a bit to try to think if there was even a word for Asian in spanish. It would be asiatico, however I can't ever recall hearing that in any spanish conversation ever. Even Cubans who have some Asian in them are referred to as chino.