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How did it happen that New Orleans has white people whose accent sounds right out of NYC? Other white people down there have a perfectly typical Southern accent...
I can't answer your question, but I've been to all these states: Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington DC (not really a state, but I've been), Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Minnesota, South Dakota, and California. And yes, I can fill in all 50 blanks on the map.
And bonus, I've been to Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
So in other words, you've been to Canada and less than half of the US states.
Its sort of funny but I always thought white Latinos were always white and black latinos were always black Latinos are every race and nationality. We count most Arab, North African and Middle Eastern people as white in our census.
First of all, they refer to the United Kingdom (made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and the Protestant chunk of the island of Ireland) as "England" even though England is (while the largest and seemingly most important) only a small portion of the UK.
Similarly, they refer to The Netherlands as "Holland", even though Holland is only part of the country they mean to refer to. And why on earth are the Amish and Mennonites (who primarily are of GERMAN origin) given the name "Dutch" by Americans? I find this especially ironic since lots of the same Americans who speak of the "Dutch" (Amish/Mennonites) seem oblivious to the fact that the word "Dutch" is primarily the name of people from The Netherlands (again, "Holland" is only part of that country).
And this REALLY gets on my nerves, but happens every day: Americans (even Hispanic ones who are fluent in both English and Spanish) refer to all people from Spanish-speaking countries (of which there are at least 20 of) as "Spanish" instead of as "Hispanic". This is very irritating (and sad) because parts of the USA (including Texas and California, both huge states) joined the USA after the USA won battles with MEXICO, which by then (over 100 years before World War II!) had already been independent from Spain for a long time, and Puerto Rico (now one of our own territories) became part of the USA after the USA fought Spain!
Even worse, even though people of Hispanic origin can be of any physical race (white, black, Amerindian, or Asian, in the case of Filipinos), job applications and other important documents in the USA force Hispanics to pick "Hispanic or Latino" as their race, even though neither of those is neither a race nor an ethnicity. While the choice given may be the best choice for recent immigrants from Mexico, Puerto Rico, etc, this choice may alienate someone of pure Spanish or Portuguese origin who identifies as white, or black immigrants from Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries, or indigenous Mexicans who have assimilated into English-speaking Amerindian tribes, or Filipinos, etc.
And Americans refer to the whole of the former Soviet Union/USSR as "Russia", which could really cause offense if they said that to a Ukrainian, or a Kazakh, or a Bulgarian, or an Armenian, etc.
Similarly, Americans substitute the word "Jew" for "Israeli" (noun) and "Jewish" for Israeli (adjective). While certainly the majority of Israelis are Jews, this mixup could cause offense to an Arab (whether Muslim or Orthodox Christian) who lives in Israel and identifies as Israeli, or to an American Jew who strongly disagrees with the actions of both Israel and Palestine, or to an Israeli of Jewish blood who has rejected the Jewish religion.
I do not mean to hurt the feelings of anyone who has made the above mistakes, but it really is in the best interest of society for people to stop making these mistakes.
I would relax. Most Europeans are much more ignorant and arrogant about fellow European countries.
Misuse of any terminology most often done by people with little practical exposure to other places. Travel opens the mind and heart. The comfortably drive the width of Europe through North and South takes about two weeks. To do a similar round trip through the US takes about the same. It stand to reason Europeans with the means and will will gain great exposure to their fellow European cultures and know more about more countries. At same time, I find most Europeans utterly ignorant about the US save for stereotypes generated through infotainment media and pop culture. They know even less about Asia save for its beaches.
UK/English. Blame the British who often "forget" in daily conversations that Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are in their union.
Netherlands/Holland. Blame international organizations, like the IOC (Euro dominated) who mix the terms quite often themselves.
Dutch: the term for German is "deutsch. Throw in accents and 150-300 years of linguistic evolution and BAM, you have Pennsylvania Dutch.
Spanish: I have never heard native Spanish speakers refer to others from different countries as Spanish.It might be a local custom. But I have seen a few Black comedians refer to Hispanics as "Spanish." I don't think its usage is any more than referring to language. Few will differentiate by Latin American country unless there is a need to do so. I do think local flavor also plays a role in differentiation. If you live in Florida, you will note the difference between Cubans, Puerto Ricans and South Americans. However, to break down South Americans into their constituent countries? For most, it is unlikely. For Europeans? LOL. Even less likely or interested.
Russia/USSR. Blame WW2/cold war vernacular and the official use of Russian for Soviet correspondence.
Israeli/Jew: Israel is the self-described Jewish state. In one was a Martian reading official correspondence, it too would be confused. Add seventy years of religious violence and territorial hatred and few will differentiate in casual conversation.
But hey, you know the difference of each are are sensitive to the diversity of cultures. And if you are from Motown and I am from North Idaho and we are both Americans, that is two in the know!
As bad as our collective knowledge is of one another on this blue planet of ours, it is better than it was and will only get better.
The several times I have heard "Jewish" when the speaker CLEARLY meant "Israeli" has really gotten on my nerves. Why? Arabs and Muslims have a tradition of making this mistake because they refuse to accept Israel existing as a nation. Their hatred of Israel is based on Islamic leaders talking out of their arse.
maybe they meant jewish since so many Israeli politicians speak first as a Jew and then as an Israeli.
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