Q&A: Ethnic & Cultural Background

Is OP the white-adjacent troll?

I assume you are assuming we're all American? Why, may I ask?

Mainly Dutch-Norwegian-British. BTW, I'm Canadian.

And, as for an accent, Canadians think I'm American and Americans think I'm British.

I am here as you are here and we are all together

I'm part Saturnian and part Vulcan (so, the ears are smaller). My Terran roots are British. My accent is somewhere between BBC Standard and Mancunian, but it's impeccably authentic. The only time my fellow citizens can tell I'm from Somewhere Else is when I slip up at local and ask for a Saurian brandy.

Mom was first generation Sicilian, her parents came from Messina in the early 1900s. Dad was first generation Portuguese, his parents (they met here) came from the Azores (San Miguel). Both from very large families (by today's standards anyway). Our trilingual household was filled with love, laughter, music , people, and of course food. it was just my sister and I in our house along with my parents, but we had over 100 first cousins.

r2 Well, for Americans, it's often that ethnic/cultural backgrounds get replaced by race. America is considered the great diaspora for many, where the majority of its peoples are cut off, removed, from its ancestral roots and modern peoples. The lack of a connected history often leaves them with anxiety. There are a few exceptions. And also, while there are some conflicts between more defined ethnocultural groups, we're also more capable of bridging gaps of understanding when we get into the nitty gritty of group identities and cultural differences/similarities vs the stereotypical extremes of black/white, rich/poor, etc dynamics.

But largely, it was a curiosity.. born out of the many posts that accuse others of being members of certain races or backgrounds. Yes, I doubted many would earnestly participate but I thought it would be interesting to see the makeup of DLers.

White Eldergays like R6 are often not all that far removed from their European roots and the parents or grandparents who came here from "the old country". They are far more aware of their ethnic heritage and grew up in a time when most big cities had multiple ethnic enclaves and when White People Who Weren't WASPs (Catholics and Jews in particular) were discriminated against.

In fact, many DLers have still not gotten past that stage.

Mostly Mustang. I hear there might be some Arabian back there.

Pennsylvania Dutch on my mother’s side, the oldest house in Lancaster County, which is now a museum, was built by my descendants from Switzerland. They really created one of the truly unique American cultural groups in this country and reinvented themselves for the new country, rather then maintaining cultural traditions that they brought with them. I always hated those school assignments about bringing something from the “old country,” what they created once they got here was much more interesting than anything they held over. That’s said, the dialect was not something to be held onto, coming from a family of educators speaking correctly and not with an accent like the less educated branches of the family was important.

germans directly from berlin on the mother's side

Hungarians and Slovak on the dad's side

people ask and I always answer vaguely, "central european"

[quote]was built by my descendants from Switzerland.

oh, dear. . . .

[quote] Add and answer other questions you'd think that should be asked

How big is your penis?

Can I see it?

I was born in November, 1963, the day Aldous Huxley died...

My parents are from Bucharest, Romania. I was born and raised in L.A. I can't really tell if I have an accent or not. My parents have Romanian accents. It's cute.

British. Father's side landed Jamestown 1618. Mother's side Virginia 1630.

Lilting Southern accent which means I'm sooooooooooooooo gay.

Fun story: I was born in the Bronx and raised in the tristate area, but have lived in non-Anglophone Europe for over 20 years now, and I always get asked where I'm from when I'm back in the States.

I don't consider myself to have an accent, but I guess over-enunciating due to years of conversing with people whose English is iffy has left me sounding pretty Un-American.

From US Southeast. Mild southern accent. (23andme results in image)

Definitively from Mars.

Maternal side is something out of Hillbilly Elegy with Tennessee Valley Scotts/Irish. Cemeteries feature waves of dead relatives buried after the Civil War and the wars that followed.

Paternal side is a mix of Virginia Welsh and Winnipeg Prussian. Grossma insisted she was German and her balding pointy head helped convince me she was telling the truth. What a cunt.

Father's side got off the Mayflower in 1620. Arrived in California before it was a state.

Mother's side arrived from Sweden in the 1800s.

23andMe says I have 5% Nigerian in me. Based on peen size they gotta be wrong.

43

Percentage of DLers on this thread who will claim some descent back to Mayflower

I'm from India (FOB not ABCD...those of you in the "know" will know to what I'm referring).

However, I've lived in the USA longer than many of you have been alive. I definitely get the head wobble going when I'm amongst my "peeps" and yes, my accent does change slightly.

Interesting post, OP, despite the typical snarkasm in some of the responses.

What is American Born Confused Desi

I'll take Indians for four hundred please, Mayim

R24 well done!

We are all the products of oompa loopa genes combined with various gold digger legacies.

Mother is from Pangasinan and speaks Pangasinense, Tagalog, and English. Father is from Pampanga and speaks Kapampangan, Tagalog, and English. I speak English with a California accent.

My culture does not start sentences with "So." Yours shouldn't.

I'm Black and have the standard "I don't have an accent" American accent. Since, most slaves brought to the Americas during the Transatlantic Slave Trade were brought from what is now modern day Nigeria, I just assume my roots are at least 80% Nigerian, maybe about 19% European thanks to slave rape, and 1% Native American. Because every American more than likely has that somewhere in their bloodline.

Other than that, I have no idea what my actual ethnic background is.

[quote] I'm from India (FOB not ABCD...those of you in the "know" will know to what I'm referring).

*squints* Nah, again?

According to 23andme, I'm Scottish, Belarussian, French, some Italian and Spanish, and a small amount of First Nations. My dad's side is Scottish and my mom's side is all the other stuff.

I'm Canadian, and I have an accent that would pass as a standard American accent to most people.

For me, you’d just have to watch THIS COUNTRY on BBC3.

Not from the Cotswolds, but still it’s the closest and most accurate representation of my background I’ve ever seen. Same community dynamics, very similar way of life, even quite a good match for the accent.

So many white Brit rural/suburban lower-income/class people live in exactly this way; a contented and sheltered existence, but also an insular and delusional and small-minded dead-end.

^^^and one of my bruiser butchy aunts is a near dead ringer for the character ‘Big Mand’ Harris. Just without the psychotic streak.

My dad’s side is mostly Swedish and English, but that originates a few generations back. My mom is a first generation American, though, so there is a closer connection there to me. Her dad was a first generation Irish American, and her mom was half German, half Russian-Jewish/Ukrainian. No accents for myself or my parents, but my maternal grandmother, great-aunt, and great-uncle all had thick accents. My mom apparently looks Russian enough that she’s had strangers try speaking to her in Russian, but she doesn’t know the language.

I am purely Uranian.

I don'tt have an accent if my mouth is full of cock.

My mother's side are Bohemian Czech and Austrian/Swiss Jews. My father's side are Iranian and Turkish Kurds. I have an accent that throws people due to it being a weird mix of a father who spoke English as a fourth language, an East Coast mother with a mid-Atlantic intonation, and growing up in the Pacific Northwest. I live in Texas. Most people think I am Ethnically Italian, and from Canada.

R35 reply is from Your Anus.

I've lived in the U.S. since I was about three. I look Eurasian to others. From both sides of the family, I have Spanish and Filipino blood (not Chinese, for you racist posters here). English is my language. I understand about 75% of spoken Tagalog but don't speak it myself. I'm not fluent in Spanish, either.

I sound like many Northern Californians (hey, R27). My parents were born and raised in the Philippines.They speak English with an accent. I grew up influenced by American pop culture, but I'm also familiar with Filipino culture and food, which I appreciate because they give an added perspective.

Pretty much 100% Western European split between French, Irish and British.

All four branches of my family have been here for a very long time. My maternal grandfather's side since 1640. They lived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony until an ideological split.

Have lived in the Midwest my whole life, but have been told repeatedly that I have a Southern accent. That is probably due to my mom's side of the family.

[quote]So, what is your family's ethnic and/or cultural background?

Irish and German

[quote]Do *you* have an accent? Does it match the rest of your fam or differ?

Everyone has an accent. My siblings and I sound alike.

[quote]Do you code switch between language, behaviors, colloquialisms, etc?

No idea what this refers to. I'm middle/working class and don't put on airs or feel ashamed of who I am. When I am around other gay people I might act differently then when I'm with a client at work or speaking with my neighbor, but it's hardly "code switching."

[quote]Add and answer other questions you'd think that should be asked

What are you after here? Why are you fixated on ethnicity?

But for how many DLers is the primary accent really Gay Voice?

I’m originally from Newfoundland, from Irish stock. my father was born in England (Wales) so my accent was never quite as Newfie as it could have been. After spending years in Europe, NYC and Toronto most people can’t identify me as Newfoundland born although it does emerge now and then after a few drinks. . .

English, Irish, Welsh, Scots, French, Italian, German, Swiss, Nigerian according to 23 and Me. My family came to US in 1600’s to Virginia and I’ve got a slight Southern accent. I look Mediterranean.

OP Russian troll trying to build a report on the people here.

[quote] my father was born in England (Wales)

Fe ddylech chi wybod y gwahaniaeth rhwng dwy wlad wahanol! Cont!

Da, R44

We use to refine troll content to better fit with audience demographics. Is big idea of Svetlana who also works for Moscow ad agencies.

Maternal: Chinese, emigrated to the U.S. after the Communist Revolution (her father worked for Chang Kai-shek, mother was from a wealthy family). Paternal: 1st generation American, parents were Filipino and Spanish.

Raised in Chicago, moved to California for U.C. Berkeley. I probably sound more Californian than mid-western (my father was a linguist and HATED the mid-western vowels). However, if I'm in Chicago, Boston, or anywhere in the south for more than 2 months, I tend to unconsciously adopt the accent. When i worked in London for a bit, I would end my sentences like a question. I'm lucky to look ambiguously Asian/Central American when I travel overseas, but once I open my mouth, I am American.

My patrilineal ancestor arrived in the Chesapeake Bay/Virginia peninsula in 1623 as an indentured servant. Next year will be our family's 400-year anniversary in this country.

My DNA says 80% Scots/northern England, the rest Irish. However, I know for a fact that I'm about 1/8 German/Alsatian/French.

All of the branches of my family had arrived in the USA by the time of the Civil War. Despite being in the vanguard of settling a lot of 'new' places, my family always seemed to arrive after the choice real estate had been mostly gobbled up.

R45 ydw i'n gwneud fy nghariad!

All my grandparents were born in Norway. I only knew one grandmother and she had a heavy Norwegian accent. I met several other relatives and a few had Norwegian accents.

The only traditions are food. Norwegian dishes such as Lutefisk and a Norwegian potato dumpling. Also Norwegian Christmas cookies.

My grandfather was from Scotland, everyone else was a southern hillbilly. This is my oldest family photograph, great-great-great-grandpa McGee from West Virginny. I think he's kind of hot, like an outlaw.

R8 we had no ethnic enclave that I was ever aware of. I mean there was an old Italian couple that ran a small grocery store not far away, but other than that, our neighborhood was like the United Nations. My mother was a pediatric nurse and worked at a local hospital, our neighbors on each side were both physicians (both husbands and wives) - one family was Chinese and the other Japanese. My sister and I used to spend a lot of time at their houses, even though their children were younger. My mom knew the doctors from work. Across the street we had a family from Ireland, and another from England. We had Jewish neighbors behind us, I ended up attending college with one of their daughters. My dad was a mechanical engineer and traveled a lot. When he was in the Navy, we lived in Japan, California and Virginia before settling in Rhode Island.

maternal: grandfather was a dual native (his father was mi'kmaq and scot-irish but he was lynched when my grandfather was an infant and had no other known relatives, his mother's tribe was was a small tribe, though they gained federal recognition a few years ago, that was absorbed into and registered with what is now known as keetoowah), grandmother of persian and south indian descent.

paternal: also possess scot-irish as well as mediterranean and mena ancestry, they came from chile and argentina respectively but the only surviving paper trail beyond that was with grandmother's family, both her sides were rooted algeria, although in the states, grandmother would tell people she was french instead.

i take consumer level dna sites with a grain of salt, having been an early adopter, I've seen the percentages between services wildy vary over the years. third party aggerators are helpful but i find it's only useful to connect with cousins and compare histories.

Mom- German Jew

Dad - Irish/English

Cajun-Irish: I have a regional accent so strong my friends tease me. My siblings have moderate local accents. We do not sound Cajun, although our grandmother did.

Code switching: My family used brother, sister, mother, father like names. E.g., tell brother dinner's ready. There are certain expressions I only use with family. I classify these as hick/non-hick.