What ethnicity do British and Irish people resemble most? (live in, stats)

[callmemaybe]

Is it common for a person of pure British Isles descent not to have a single blue eyed extended family member?

[Mac15]

I think the Dutch or the Scandanavians. Apparently we are connected to the spanish but i don't buy that. I don't look one bit spanish.

[Mac15]

Originally Posted by mxcolin

I've lived and travelled all over the UK as well as travelling throughout Europe and I now live in America. I would say most Brits look German/Scandanavia. I don't know where people are getting that southern English people look Italian/Iberian, that's nonsense. The Welsh/Portuguese thing relates to Portuguese immigrants specifically in Wales. Scots and Irish can be quite Celtic looking but the vast majority of Irish and Brits look White Northern European. As much as Brits will make fun of Americans for tracing their heritage/ancestory they are the first to latch onto anything that sets them apart such as being 1/16th Irish or 1/8th Spanish.

Could you please tell me what is celtic looking?

I think this whole celtic thing has gone overboard there is barely a difference between english and scottish people.

[Mac15]

Originally Posted by callmemaybe

Is it common for a person of pure British Isles descent not to have a single blue eyed extended family member?

No, very uncommon.

[mxcolin]

Are some people trying to miss the point? Ethnicity is a tenuous concept at best. An artificial construct to make people believe they are more interesting. Take the UK and the US. Irish heritage is celebrated as if people have some ancient link to the greatest civilization that ever existed. If the lies... sorry census statistics are to be believed then Ireland must have had a population of around 100 million at some point. There is no doubt that Americans over emphasize their Irish, Scottish, Italian roots while playing down their English/German roots. I've met people who are 1/8th Irish that talk as if they personally survived the potato famine. And to compare Scots/Irish to Spanish. The cultures couldn't be more different. But like I say. It makes people happy to be different. Me, I was born on an island that happened to be called Britain at the time. That's as much sentimentality as I have to this ridiculous notion of ethnicity.

[Mag3.14]

Originally Posted by mxcolin

Are some people trying to miss the point? Ethnicity is a tenuous concept at best. An artificial construct to make people believe they are more interesting. Take the UK and the US. Irish heritage is celebrated as if people have some ancient link to the greatest civilization that ever existed. If the lies... sorry census statistics are to be believed then Ireland must have had a population of around 100 million at some point. There is no doubt that Americans over emphasize their Irish, Scottish, Italian roots while playing down their English/German roots. I've met people who are 1/8th Irish that talk as if they personally survived the potato famine. And to compare Scots/Irish to Spanish. The cultures couldn't be more different. But like I say. It makes people happy to be different. Me, I was born on an island that happened to be called Britain at the time. That's as much sentimentality as I have to this ridiculous notion of ethnicity.

I agree. We are all products of the society around us - bloodline has very little, if anything, to do with it.

[Fear&Whiskey]

Originally Posted by mxcolin

Are some people trying to miss the point? Ethnicity is a tenuous concept at best. An artificial construct to make people believe they are more interesting. Take the UK and the US. Irish heritage is celebrated as if people have some ancient link to the greatest civilization that ever existed. If the lies... sorry census statistics are to be believed then Ireland must have had a population of around 100 million at some point. There is no doubt that Americans over emphasize their Irish, Scottish, Italian roots while playing down their English/German roots. I've met people who are 1/8th Irish that talk as if they personally survived the potato famine. And to compare Scots/Irish to Spanish. The cultures couldn't be more different. But like I say. It makes people happy to be different. Me, I was born on an island that happened to be called Britain at the time. That's as much sentimentality as I have to this ridiculous notion of ethnicity.

That's totally up to the individual concerned though, isn't it? The Irish have long been a nation that has exported much of their population because it has long been a poor country and since the Celtic tiger has descended into economic meltdown yet another young generation of Irish people are finding they have no choice but to abandon their homes and seek work in London, Montreal, New York and Australia to name but a few destinations.

What right does anyone have to diminish their right to feel proud of their culture and heritage?To say that they have no choice but to abandon their culture upon arriving at their destination? One that isn't a choice at all but one made through economic hardship and a need to find employment.

Are they just economic entities who have to swear allegiance to whatever country they are in at any given time? Does Morrisey do that in Los Angeles? David Beckham? The Brits on the Costa Del Sol and other parts of Spain? Dubai? Hong Kong? Melbourne? Nah, didn't think so.

If anything I think British people are too desperate to sell this utopian melting pot idea that everyone rallies around notion of Queen, country and deference to the Union Flag when in reality identity is very much a personal choice and one that shouldn't be dictated to me or anyone else. Every time there is any question about identity in Britain everyone immediately mans the barricades and there are too many posters in British threads who immediately jump right in, too eager to assert authority and declare themselves senior spokesperson on national identity for a whole nation. What is everyone so scared of? Identity is a personal choice, simple.

I grew up in and am now living in a very ethnically diverse area. Indians, Poles, Romanians, Jamaicans and Irish the list goes on. When India won the cricket world cup the streets were packed not just with immigrants but the sons and grandchildren of Indian immigrants who stopped the traffic and celebrated their country's victory even though they wear England shirts when the football is on.

The other day I walked through Harlesden and there were Jamaican flags everywhere. Not a Union flag in sight and the only other flags in prominence were Brazilian and Portugese. Amir Khan fights for the UK, his brother fought for Pakistan and Tyson Fury boxes for England even though he is a traveller of Irish descent.

Identity isn't clear cut for many people and as someone who was born in Ireland I don't take kindly to being told how unimportant my national identity is. It's very important to me and that is my personal choice. It doesn't mean I have to parade it like a badge of honour but so what? British people love to be condescending about Irish-Americans yet when St.Patrick's Day arrives in London it is ten times the festival you'll ever see on St. George's Day. Many people quick to proclaim their "1/8 Irish heritage guv" too so let's ditch this superiority complex it is tedious, patronising and woefully hypocritical and misplaced.

I would never fly the Union flag and I don't identify myself by it at all. I despise the national anthem but celebrated Anthony Joshua'a gold medal because I am friends with alot of people that have worked with him at Finchley boxing club.

Identity isn't the wholesale embrace of the Union flag that so many posters seem somewhat disingenuously over-insistent on purporting it to be. Do as I say not what I do appears to be the attitude of alot of British people.

And we heard all the usual whines about 'multi-culturalism' and 'lefty' agendas at the start of the Olympics when Danny Boye's somewhat understated opening was overblown into a rioutous affront to middle-England purity of a kind that never existed anyway of course. People complaining about multi-culturalism haven't walked around East London for some time. All these middle-England bores sneering about a London they aren't even from whose families moved out to Kent, Surrey Essex and beyond over 30 years ago and think eveywhere is as demographically white-middle-class British as their cosy village pub.

There was a program on BBC the other night about British identity and it included a perfectly pleasant Indian lady who says that no matter how hard she tries she never feels part of the whole 'British' thing.

And maybe she shouldn't have to. I wouldn't like to live in a country where she would.

[mxcolin]

I personally just don't understand how anyone has the time to get that worked up about it. My ethnicity means almost nothing to me most of the time. I like to see team GB win at the Olympics but it's in no way a big part of my life. If it makes you happy then go crazy.

[portlanderinOC]

I would probably say the French look similar, at least the ones in the Northern half of the country. Many French people have brown hair and light skin like the English do, as well both of them did descend from Normans.
I wouldn't say Danes or Norweigans as much due to blond hair occurring much more there than in England. Scotland I would assume sees more blonds however. Oddly enough, I don't hear much of Irish being stereotyped as blond, but either red or dark brown hair instead.

Originally Posted by owenc

I think the Dutch or the Scandanavians. Apparently we are connected to the spanish but i don't buy that. I don't look one bit spanish.

Not all Spaniards have dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin, as there are many Spaniards that look more like other Western Europeans. My dad is half Irish and half Spanish, and he has chestnut brown hair, brown eyes, and pinkish skin. I have heard somewhere that most Irish have distant Spanish ancestry, which probably explains why many of them have darker hair than expected.

[Fear&Whiskey]

Originally Posted by mxcolin

I personally just don't understand how anyone has the time to get that worked up about it. My ethnicity means almost nothing to me most of the time. I like to see team GB win at the Olympics but it's in no way a big part of my life. If it makes you happy then go crazy.

The weasel implication being of course that anyone who has even the mildest divergance of an independent identity that is not informed by a wholesale embrace of the Union flag has far too much time on their hands, is some kind of defiant reprobrate who dares not to conform to the mill to the grind 24 hours a day 7 days a weeknotion of purity as espoused by the virtuous paragon of toil that is the esteemed poster above.

And as we unravel the tangled web of intrigue and examine further this incapacity we can only conclude that this is probably the result of some kind of bordeline personality disorder and a serious mental dificiency that culminates in one "going crazy" and doing something "unhinged" like drinking a pint of Guiness on St. Patrick's Day or waving a mini Jamican flag as Usain Bolt wins the 100 metres Gold for Jamaica.

If the mill and grind makes you happy, stay sane. As Oscar Wilde once commented "Time Is A Waste Of Money" anyway. And I'll be more than happy wasting my share of yours.