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I would probably say Danes and Norwegians look the most similar, I think the Dutch kinda have a unique look going on and Germans look pretty different from the people of the Isles. Genetic charts show that Danes and Norwegians fall somewhere in between Celtic and English people and Swedes.
Also the fairer looking Spanish and Portuguese people definitely resemble the Welsh quite a bit. And would you say due to the Roman occupation, some Britons look somewhat Italian especially in the south, I have seen quite a few Brits with 'Roman' noses. Though I've heard the occupation had very little genetic imprint, it's kinda hard to imagine it having none whatsoever.
I recognize people like you are the reason why so many other people outside the US think Americans are so obsessed and paranoid about whiteness and races, europe, and blondeness.
I will try to be kind and answer your question the most efficient possibly.
I have noticed several parts of north/western france people tend to look the most similar to brits/Irish in terms of physical appearance wise,(although still pretty dishtingable) the next would be the wallons from belgium.
Danes look too tall and blond as a whole to be compared with english/Irish people, also they have more robust/bigger boned builds and whole different facial features. Some western norwegians might come a bit closer, but as a whole you can tell they are a whole completly different people from Brits/irish.
Imo, many if not most brits/Irish would pass easier for australians/new zelanders, or even for white americans/canadians than they would do for any other european ethnicity, in fact when Im in the UK i can't forget but notice how many of the people walking down on the street of major or second-tier cities could easily just pass for a regular white american dude. In germany and other continental european coutries the people look different and unmistakeably non-american, even if you ignore the clothing.
Umm....what are you smoking? Danes & Norwegians look similar? but the Dutch distinct? You understand Scandinavians have more of a distinct look than any other Germanic country including Netherlands. Mostly head shape, and around the eye area, small almond shaped eyes are common in Scandinavia similar to this guy's eyes.
& others have even smaller eyes.
Average Brits look nothing like Danes or Norwegians. They aren't even decendent from Vikings much as often as claimed. This is a Dane & a swede, these are not faces found often in Britain
Even a dark haired Scandinavian looks pretty distinct from an average Brits
This is way more common in Britain than the above.
I'm tired of fantisizers portraying Brits as "Pure Germanics" a look at average Brits shows a different story. They are just as much celtic. Anglo Saxons would have looked much closer to modern Scandinavians than they do modern Brits.
Nordid phenotypes are not common in Britain at all, not even in the East as claimed. Most Brits have what anthroplogist call the "Atlantid" phenotype, something that is pretty foreign in most other Germanic countries. The British are mixed, simple as that. The English are only culturaly Germanic, and thats where it ends. Thats not to say that there aren't some rare Brits that can fit in countries like Sweden, Norway, or Denmark. They exist, but they are extremely rare. The majority of Brits would stand out in any Scandinavian country as foreign looking.
I do agree here angles came from very upper german states and lower denmark and saxons from north-west germany//eastern netherlands.
I have never found the brits to look particularly germanic, they look different to continental europeans/scandinavians imo.
I've been living and moving for work in various european countries, Its not hard to notice how much standard white american looking brits and the Irish are (just the typical brown/dark haired, haze eyed, average stature white dude) compared to people like scandinavians, dutch and northern germans, who are way taller, blonder and with more regionally/specific facial features.
And to your information modern brits arent more celtic than germanic, they are neither, vast majority of brits are either fully or mostly descended by brythonic populations that unhabitated the Isles prior celtic/germanic invasions, whom always were a minority overpowered the big bulge of brythonic people, so the celtic and germanic things where mostly cultural and linguistical influences, not a genetical replacement , because even up to this day the vast majority of brits/Irish are overwhelmingly of brythonic origin, even the eastern english (supposed to be most germanic people of the Isles) people are like 2/3 Brythonic ancestry on autosomal dna studies. Let alones people like welsh, cornish,devonish, western scots, and north-western english whom are likely or closely to be 100% brythonic ancestry-wise.
And about the eyeshape in scandinavians its because mainly in northern sweden/norway there is a lot of uralic/lappid mixed people, even if they don't know that, its clearly noticeable on their phenotypes, quite a few scandinavians have eyeset, cheecks influenced by lappid/uralic admixtures.
Maybe the untrained eyes cannot see it well but this guy has some uralic admixture, which isnt rare in many areas of sweden/norway at all.
Anglosaxons would looked closer to modern Dutch and North-western germans than scandinavians imo. Because the latter, specially the Swedes and Norwegians (much less so the Danes) have a lot of people with clearly pseudo-asian/padeomorphic features, short noses, round/flat faces, different eye shapes than typical germanics.
Last edited by Don_Caballero; 09-13-2012 at 10:49 PM..
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How the English seem to 'forget' their ethnicity/ancestry
In the US and Australia, for instance, most people of English ancestry are quick to 'forget' their ancestry, whereas other groups, be they Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian - seem to retain a consciousness of being that ethnicity, even if they are culturally in no way German or Irish or anything. Heck it seems even people with some Scottish or Welsh ancestry will tell people about it but a lot of people with English ancestry will say I'm 'just Australian' or 'American' or something. Heck I've met people born in England who come here at a young age who are like that. I guess it's because the UK was the colonising power and English is the 'default' in these countries. Also English is a global language so English people seem to have less of a need to identify themselves.
Basically. America and Australia were both founded by the English and despite later influences the bedrock of the countries (its institutions, laws, mores) is English. So many consider English ancestry to be the most "legitimate" ethnicity of those nation-states and so people with it identify easily as Americans or Australians. Of course, there were indigenous people but they weren't the creators of the nation-state, their older societies were just annexed into it and they still have a competing sense of independence from it that hasn't fully gone away.
In the US and Australia, for instance, most people of English ancestry are quick to 'forget' their ancestry, whereas other groups, be they Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian - seem to retain a consciousness of being that ethnicity, even if they are culturally in no way German or Irish or anything. Heck it seems even people with some Scottish or Welsh ancestry will tell people about it but a lot of people with English ancestry will say I'm 'just Australian' or 'American' or something.
I guess it's because the UK was the colonizing power and English is the 'default' in these countries.
So true. I do think it's because they were the first settlers (outside of the native population).
My background is English, Welsh, and a little French on one side, and Irish and Swiss on the other. The English/Welsh side came here very early, before the American Revolution.
I don't forget any of that, but it seldom comes up in conversation.
In the US and Australia, for instance, most people of English ancestry are quick to 'forget' their ancestry, whereas other groups, be they Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian - seem to retain a consciousness of being that ethnicity, even if they are culturally in no way German or Irish or anything. Heck it seems even people with some Scottish or Welsh ancestry will tell people about it but a lot of people with English ancestry will say I'm 'just Australian' or 'American' or something. Heck I've met people born in England who come here at a young age who are like that. I guess it's because the UK was the colonising power and English is the 'default' in these countries. Also English is a global language so English people seem to have less of a need to identify themselves.
It's because they're American or Australian, not Welsh or English. The UK did not 'found'' the USA either - they established the early colonies but the USA was established as a revolt against Britain and its King. People born and raised in the US are American, the same is true of people born and raised in OZ.
In the US and Australia, for instance, most people of English ancestry are quick to 'forget' their ancestry, whereas other groups, be they Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian - seem to retain a consciousness of being that ethnicity, even if they are culturally in no way German or Irish or anything. Heck it seems even people with some Scottish or Welsh ancestry will tell people about it but a lot of people with English ancestry will say I'm 'just Australian' or 'American' or something. Heck I've met people born in England who come here at a young age who are like that. I guess it's because the UK was the colonising power and English is the 'default' in these countries. Also English is a global language so English people seem to have less of a need to identify themselves.
I sort of agree with you. The English tend to be less patriotic than even the Welsh, Irish and Scottish all of whom are extremely patriotic, which I've always envied and wish the English were more like that. I think patriotism is a fantastically positive thing. I'm not sure exactly why the English are like that. Everyone else seems to be able to fly their flags with pride, whereas until recently if you saw a St Georges Cross flying, some people almost took that as almost being offensive. Maybe it's also to do with that English thing of 'selling yourself short' and the self derogatory sense of humour. The English don't tend to like to brag about stuff.
This year has been lovely though with the Olympics, the UK being tied together as one united nation. Not an English thing, but a British thing. I loved that. Long may it continue.
I'm 40 now and at my stage in life it wouldn't matter where in the world I moved or what age I was i'd always be English. If I was 5 when I went abroad? Probably not so much, Where I grew up would probably be the deciding factor. If I'd spent the last 35 years living in Norway (for example) i'd probably think of myself as Norwegian.
In the US and Australia, for instance, most people of English ancestry are quick to 'forget' their ancestry, whereas other groups, be they Irish, Italian, German, Chinese, Indian - seem to retain a consciousness of being that ethnicity, even if they are culturally in no way German or Irish or anything. Heck it seems even people with some Scottish or Welsh ancestry will tell people about it but a lot of people with English ancestry will say I'm 'just Australian' or 'American' or something. Heck I've met people born in England who come here at a young age who are like that. I guess it's because the UK was the colonising power and English is the 'default' in these countries. Also English is a global language so English people seem to have less of a need to identify themselves.
Because we from the British Isles are basically all the same except maybe the Southern Irish. We all originate in GB.
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How the English seem to 'forget' their ethnicity/ancestry
