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The funny thing is I noticed it as I was going to reply to this thread. My experience growing up in the Chicago area was that it was a common question to ask what nationality one was. I suspect part of it being more common there was that there were large Polish, Irish, Italian, etc. communities with more recent immigrants. It was a means of identifying and relating to others and a source of pride to say one was "whatever." .
It was only when I moved away for college that I realized not everyone asked this question. I no longer ask people the question, but I wouldn't be offended by it in general.
The funny thing is I noticed it as I was going to reply to this thread. My experience growing up in the Chicago area was that it was a common question to ask what nationality one was. I suspect part of it being more common there was that there were large Polish, Irish, Italian, etc. communities with more recent immigrants. It was a means of identifying and relating to others and a source of pride to say one was "whatever." .
It was only when I moved away for college that I realized not everyone asked this question. I no longer don't ask people the question, but I wouldn't be offended by it in general.
thanks for pointing out that thread!
as a current "Chicagoan", I guess that's why those kind of questions never offended or bothered me!
Although I will soon be moving to Arizona, so I guess I better practice a more politically correct mindset before we move out there..
My spouse is from the U.K. and has an accent, so when he meets people the first thing they would ask is "where are you from?" Sometimes, total strangers would walk up and ask him this question, where are you from? And then he'd say Glasgow but he wasn't always interested in getting into a conversation with them. Then they would get excited and start telling him "Oh, I'm Scottish, too" and he'd say "oh really?" and they would say, " oh yes, my great-great-great-grandfather came here from Scotland" or "my last name is Scottish". I think my husband was unprepared for how obsessed many Americans are with they believe to be their Irish or Scottish ancestry, and how they will yammer on incessantly about it to anyone who will listen. We often had to extricate ourselves from conversations with strangers and got tired of it. I never walk up to total strangers and ask them what their ethnicity is or where they are from. I think it's rude as hell no matter what their intentions are.
thanks for pointing out that thread!
as a current "Chicagoan", I guess that's why those kind of questions never offended or bothered me!
Although I will soon be moving to Arizona, so I guess I better practice a more politically correct mindset before we move out there..
My son lives in AZ. We've been 1/2 dozen times. No one ever asked there! Probably wouldn't be appropriate unless you went to a Cubs Spring training game. Lots of former/current Chicagoans at those.
People ask me that question very regularly. I am Southern Italian with dark bronze skin and other strong Mediterranean features and can pass for Lebanese, Greek or a variety of other ethnicities. I never would take offense to someone's genuine intrigue. If anything I'm flattered if anyone wants to know more about me.
I specified in my thread I don't have a problem with the question. Inappropriate follow ups get ridiculous. Like "oh you don't look like what you say you are". I didn't realize this was a pass or fail exam. Don't like my answer and you're some racial expert then why ask it? That is what pisses me off. Take my answer or don't ask. How is that not rude to follow it up by pretending you now know my past?
Somehow some Northerners can't get it through their heads that people moved around continents and that not everyone looks the same even if they have the same national origin.
thanks for pointing out that thread!
as a current "Chicagoan", I guess that's why those kind of questions never offended or bothered me!
Although I will soon be moving to Arizona, so I guess I better practice a more politically correct mindset before we move out there..
It has nothing to do with political correctness if you go about it like a person without manners. I love discussing race and politics but if someone says to me "your features don't match xyz race" then at that point they really are just being stupid.
That or pretending that people who don't fit into an all American stereotype can't identify more with American as opposed to the country their ancestors came from. This is especially hypocritical when someone who is Polish or Italian holds these views as their ancestors haven't been in the US that long. You're not "more American" than I am because you're Polish or Italian or anything. That makes zero sense.
well, acting like a person without manners sucks no matter what question you might ask someone, so that one is a no brainier..
and, if someone says "you dont look polish/greek/jewish/hispanic/asian, or whatever, they may just be genuinely curious, and most of the time, a polite response is more than enough..
What some of the "younger people" dont quite get is that even though the last 20-30 years, its been much more accepted to mix races/culture/ethnicity, and all that, 40-50-60 years ago, it was unusual of for Italians to marry Irish, asians to marry jews, Polish to marry Greek, and so forth, and the recent phenomenon or any race/background/ethnicity mixing with a different one has produced some unique looks/names/faces/skin colors, so to me, its totally understandable why someone might ask a seemingly weird question to someone who doesn't quite look like their "perceived" look of that ethnicity..
Here again, if its asked for the desire to understand, and learn, I'm all for it...
What's the point? If their ethnicity is not obvious, chances are they've been in the U.S. for several generations and either don't know much about their background or don't care.
It seems rude to me - like when people ask about someone's disability just because they are curious and then almost immediately tune out because they don't REALLY wanna hear about it. I mean, do you want to know if they can do folk dances from "the old country" or still know the language? And how will you treat them differently from knowing that?
So much this.
Especially if the person doesn't even have a foreign accent. What. Is. The. Point.
Do you guys defending your asking of this question all have ties to your ethnic culture? No matter the answer, what makes you think others do or care?
It just signifies stupid priorities. Why does it matter? If they care, they will tell you.
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