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Denver is 5.1% Italian, which is not much lower than Baltimore's 6.5% (national avg is 5.9%).
I think the big difference between the Northeast and the Midwest is the percentage of the non-Hispanic white population that's Catholic or Jewish. Last week, we were doing calculations for this by metro area. In the NYC metro, more than half of the non-Hispanic white population is Catholic. I didn't even bother to include the Jewish population.
I've never considered Germans to be "ethnic" whites. They assimilated faster and to a greater degree than most white ethnic groups.
It's hard to find stuff on Google about Italians in Denver; maybe I'm using the wrong search words. Anyway, here's a website for some group that's trying to raise money for something, but they do give a little history: Denver Little Italy
As for Germans not being considered "ethnic", you have to be kidding! In Rural Wisconsin, German Reigned For Decades : NPR
My mother grew up in a German family in Wisconsin. She was born in the US, as were her parents and some of her grandparents. However, they spoke German, she could read German, maybe write it. Germans were very much discriminated against during/after WW I. In fact, even when Eisenhower was running for president, some people thought his German name would be held against him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nei
Seattle has one of the highest Asian % in the country outside of California and Hawaii. By metro:
Seattle: 11.4%
Portland: 5.7%
San Francisco: 23.2%
San Jose: 21.1%
Los Angeles: 14.7%
Denver: 3.7%
I assumed Denver was more similar to Seattle. In the Northeast, NYC and DC have similar % to Seattle. Boston and Philly lower.
Boston: 6.5%
New York City: 9.9%
Philadelphia: 5.0%
Washington DC: 9.3%
Neither Denver or San Francisco shows up on the list. Perhaps it means something that whites in the southwest are lumped together as "Anglo" rather than sometimes distinguished by "Italian-American", "Irish-American", etc.
I've never considered Germans to be "ethnic" whites. They assimilated faster and to a greater degree than most white ethnic groups.
WWI sure helped with that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezus
Except for Louisiana though, which has pretty high percentages of Italians in the New Orleans suburbs.
Anyone know if the port of entry for most New Orleans Italians was New Orleans or New York City? I only ask because of how similar that Yat accent sounds to the NYC accent (but with that Southern flare). I wonder if it's a coincidence, because of similar roots (immigration population) or another factor (such as immigrants arriving in NYC first and then going to New Orleans).
Anyone know if the port of entry for most New Orleans Italians was New Orleans or New York City? I only ask because of how similar that Yat accent sounds to the NYC accent (but with that Southern flare). I wonder if it's a coincidence, because of similar roots (immigration population) or another factor (such as immigrants arriving in NYC first and then going to New Orleans).
I think the majority came straight to New Orleans as it was the biggest port in the South. I believe it was just a similar combination of ethnic groups immigrating at the same time(Italians, Irish, and some Jews) that ended up with a similar accent. New Orleans had one to the largest concentrations of Sicilians anywhere, the lower end of the French Quarter around Decatur used to be a predominantly Italian neighborhood.
I think the majority came straight to New Orleans as it was the biggest port in the South. I believe it was just a similar combination of ethnic groups immigrating at the same time(Italians, Irish, and some Jews) that ended up with a similar accent. New Orleans had one to the largest concentrations of Sicilians anywhere, the lower end of the French Quarter around Decatur used to be a predominantly Italian neighborhood.
Yeah, I knew there was a huge Italian population. I just didn't know if it was direct or indirect--i.e. did some New York Italians set up a community in New Orleans with an accent and then future waves of Italians learned it from them. I'm sure a linguist can tell if the Yat accent developed from the New York accent or if they were developed independently or originated from the same sources.
Saying the "New York accent" is a touch misleading in that New York, different from any other city, tends to have different accents based on people's cultural background (there's a Jewish NY accent, an Italian one, an Irish one, etc.). Many linguists (notably Labov) consider these to be variations on the same basic New York City accent rather than separate accents themselves. The most notable feature would be differences in the rate and degree of the tensing and raising of "oh" (more Jewish) and "aeh" (more Italian). New Orleans, on the other hand, tends to break down by neighborhood, from my understanding, which makes it unique too. No other city really has this extreme of an accent diversity (as much as people in Philly swear there's a South Philly accent, linguists can't find it--also, there's no Brooklyn accent or Bronx accent).
That said, there are some features of the NY accent that linguists have at least made some progress into pinpointing the origin. The split short-a (also found in Philly and Baltimore) comes from southern England. Non-rhotic speech was also taken from England, but it may have been because England was considered prestigious during the time of the accent's development. Dental Ds/Ts (as in an aversion to the T sound) is considered to have come from Italian or Yiddish, though problems with the "th" sound (common in Philly and I believe NYC) easily could have come from Irish. I'm not sure how much of these features are shared in the Yat dialect, but it sounded like a few. I think this easily could have come from the same ethnic soup, but I'm surprised it didn't develop in Boston (Yat sounds a bit like Philly, but I'm not quite ready to make the leap that it doesn't sound more New York).
IF the Northeast was one of the best places - the remaining northeasterners wouldn't have to brag about it. It's like the guy saying he has the biggest .... or is the best lover.
Here are the projected job rates for the country. Most of the NE is in the bottom 5 ---whoops! To the poster who said North Dakota has the fastest growth -its only 15,000 jobs. That is akin to a rookie baseball player batting twice and getting one hit and saying he is the MVP because he is batting .500.
IF the Northeast was one of the best places - the remaining northeasterners wouldn't have to brag about it. It's like the guy saying he has the biggest .... or is the best lover.
Here are the projected job rates for the country. Most of the NE is in the bottom 5 ---whoops! To the poster who said North Dakota has the fastest growth -its only 15,000 jobs. That is akin to a rookie baseball player batting twice and getting one hit and saying he is the MVP because he is batting .500.
... and European democracies long predate Washington, ...
Blatantly false. At the time of the American revolution, all European countries were either monarchies (England, France, Spain) or a loose collection of city-states (Germany, Italy).
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