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I’ve heard a few people of my parents’ generation (around 80 years old) refer to themselves as “Anglo-Saxon”. They (and we) have mostly English ancestry. (My family also has some Scandinavian and, way back, some other Germanic something), so we are descended from the Angles and the Saxons.
I would think that saying that we’re mostly British, or mostly English, would be the way to describe what we are.
But “Anglo-Saxon”? That sounds like an outdated term, but is it common to use it (and acceptable to use it in polite company)?
Gosh, I can't imagine why it would be unacceptable. It does feel like an old-fashioned way of saying "mostly British", but it is more accurate when there is some Germanic or Scandinavian in the mix. That mix is very common, so Anglo-Saxon would be widely applicable. Maybe I'll start using it. I'm mostly British, but perhaps all the Brumbachs in my family tree deserve a little more acknowledgement.
I have sometimes used Anglo-Saxon to describe myself physically because I'm taller and bigger than most women and relatively strong for a female.
"Who" the Anglo-Saxon were is historically interesting because it is a "cultural" description that many in England opted into.
There are negative aspects lately because rabble-rousers march proclaiming their superiority with reference to their whiteness and Anglo-Saxon heritage. I'm not one of them, never have been, never will be.
I have never heard anyone use that Anglo-Saxon description. I think saying English or Welsh is more common and descriptive. Early English history is confused, at best. Æthelstan became the first King of England in 927 when he consolidated control. Before that he is called King of the Anglo-Saxons so I suppose England began about then. But the people were the same.
I have heard people claim to be Celtic which is not a very good descriptor at all.
Anglo-Saxon, as in White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - WASP.
Consider that there are British people who are not WASPs.
Yes, although I always considered WASP a racial slur, used by people who aren’t white Anglo-Saxon Protestants to disparage those who are. I am white, British/Germanic and Protestant, but so what.
Anglo-Saxon, as in White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - WASP.
Consider that there are British people who are not WASPs.
Anglo-Saxons were a bit of whatever religion they were born into until the push came to make them Christian, in the 600s I think. So originally they'd have been WASC's ha. Martin Luther came 900 years later with Protestantism but also happening in England was Henry VIII, born a Catholic but needed a divorce so out with Catholicism and up with the Church of England.
Anglo Saxon again seems more of a cultural factor than a religious one.
Anglo-Saxons were a bit of whatever religion they were born into until the push came to make them Christian, in the 600s I think. So originally they'd have been WASC's ha. Martin Luther came 900 years later with Protestantism but also happening in England was Henry VIII, born a Catholic but needed a divorce so out with Catholicism and up with the Church of England.
Anglo Saxon again seems more of a cultural factor than a religious one.
My Anglo-Saxon ancestors were Catholic, Protestant, and pagan.
There are negative aspects lately because rabble-rousers march proclaiming their superiority with reference to their whiteness and Anglo-Saxon heritage. I'm not one of them, never have been, never will be.
Yep... I'm definitely Anglo-Saxon but way not into that scene! It's just a neutral descriptor as far as I'm concerned. Neither something to elevate nor denigrate.
Anglo-Saxons were a bit of whatever religion they were born into until the push came to make them Christian, in the 600s I think. So originally they'd have been WASC's ha. Martin Luther came 900 years later with Protestantism but also happening in England was Henry VIII, born a Catholic but needed a divorce so out with Catholicism and up with the Church of England.
Anglo Saxon again seems more of a cultural factor than a religious one.
More to the point of 'Anglo Saxon' in a context on this side of the Atlantic Ocean...
"The present generation, I am persuaded, scarcely takes note of what the Confederate soldier meant to the welfare of the Anglo Saxon race during the four years immediately succeeding the war, when the facts are, that their courage and steadfastness saved the very life of the Anglo Saxon race in the South – When “the bottom rail was on top” all over the Southern states, and to-day, as a consequence the purest strain of the Anglo Saxon is to be found in the 13 Southern States – Praise God." - Julian Carr's speech at the dedication of the Confederate War monument known as "Silent Sam", located Chapel Hill, NC.
"Today I have stood, where once Jefferson Davis stood, and took an oath to my people. It is very appropriate that from this Cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland, that today we sound the drum for freedom as have our generations of forebears before us done, time and again through history. Let us rise to the call of freedom-loving blood that is in us and send our answer to the tyranny that clanks its chains upon the South. In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny...and I say...segregation now...segregation tomorrow...segregation forever." - From the inaugural address of Alabama Governor George Wallace, January 1963.
I also recall off the top of my head that Confederate generals used to use the concept of defending white Anglo Saxon Protestantism against the northern invaders when addressing their troops.
I was trying to tip-toe around the subject, but my previous obfuscation appears to have been too effective.
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