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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I know many people are of many nationalities, but in general, people of which nationality are the most integrated into American society - in other words, most 'American American?' Btw by British I mean English, Scottish and Welsh.
In Australia it would be the Irish for sure, but in the US continental Europeans seem to represent, and many parts of the US have Irish people with a very proud Irish identity (you seldom hear of 'Irish Australians' but 'Irish American' seems more common) - that is NOT to say, of course, that makes them or any other nationality any less truly American. I'm more referring to those who seem to have lost most of their original nationality identity or had to transferred to being 'American.' Like in Australia, people aren't called 'English Australians' (even though who have been here 1-2 generations) while a fifth generation Chinese or Italian Australian is often identified as such, and less commonly as simply 'Australian.' The same seems to be the case in America. There aren't really 'English or Scottish Americans.'
Anyway, Germans seem more integrated in America for sure, and are probably less likely to be known as 'German Americans' than say 'Italian Americans.' Would they come before or after Irish in general? Which would follow after that? Maybe Northwest Europeans like Dutch, and maybe French?
I'd be interested to hear your perceptions. It's not a case of stats or demographics, more of cultural integration.
Mexican. Just depends on what part of the country they're integrating into. I don't think Canadians have many problems, as a nationality, integrating into the U.S. I, for one, have never heard of anyone describing someone else as a Canadian-American before.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,087,446 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by backdrifter
Mexican. Just depends on what part of the country they're integrating into. I don't think Canadians have many problems, as a nationality, integrating into the U.S. I, for one, have never heard of anyone describing someone else as a Canadian-American before.
Lol I forgot about Canadians, apart from Canadians and Mexicans I guess...
"After the British"? The most common European ethnicity in the U.S. is not English (or "British"), it's German.
When including Scottish and English together, and ignoring all the southern scots-irish who ruin the census by saying "American", British might edge out German.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,087,446 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWereRabbit
When including Scottish and English together, and ignoring all the southern scots-irish who ruin the census by saying "American", British might edge out German.
Precisely, 'American' is one of the nationalities used by the stats department. The overwhelming majority of those have ancestry from the British Isles. I read that an estimated 60% of Americans have at least some British ancestry.
I would say Irish are the most integrated after the British. The Southerners are from Scotch-Irish stock so that would make them Irish as well.
As for Canadian-Americans, just go to New England and while they don't call themselves "Canadian-Americans", you'd be surprised to find that many (it wouldn't surprise me if more than HALF) of the people there are of French-Canadian ancestry. And they readily acknowledge it, and you can tell from their names usually, too. They just don't use the term "French-Canadian-American", they usually just say they're American with French-Canadian roots. They are fully Americanized and don't speak French for the most part. But they're French Canadian in ethnicity.
And I'm talking about Northern New England - Vermont, New Hampshire, and especially Maine (Maine might be more than half French-Canadian, same with Vermont).
Precisely, 'American' is one of the nationalities used by the stats department. The overwhelming majority of those have ancestry from the British Isles. I read that an estimated 60% of Americans have at least some British ancestry.
That might have been true in, oh, 1880. But today neither an "overwhelming" or bare majority, nor even a plurality, of Americans have British ancestry.
You seem fond of asking questions that are nearly impossible to quantify. Why is that?
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
24,544 posts, read 56,087,446 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drover
That might have been true in, oh, 1880. But today neither an "overwhelming" or bare majority, nor even a plurality, of Americans have British ancestry.
You seem fond of asking questions that are nearly impossible to quantify. Why is that?
A 'plurality?' I'm sure it's still over 50%.
Think of all the Presidents you've had. I can think of a handful who were not mostly Anglo-American. Obama, Kennedy and Eisenhower come to mind. Think of all the Founding Fathers. Even if the Brits are a minority (which they aren't) they'd have a huge impact - certainly more so than German - on culture. Like I said, I didn't want to get into demographics. Culture is a bit more unquantifyable than that.
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