To wonder when Americans lose their roots

Never. I do sometimes smirk when an American friend who's never been to Ireland calls themselves Irish, while I, who've lived there for several years on and off, have citizenship cos my mum was born there, and went most years throughout my childhood, don't have the nerve to call myself anything other then English 😂but Canadian DH says I'm being mean. I think cos-playing is kind of a shitty way to put it though. Everyone in North America except for indigenous and First Nations people is from somewhere, where that is matters to a lot of people, and that's just a cultural difference I don't see any point in getting upset about. My DH's family don't refer to themselves as anything but Canadian but some do it there too, and they know where they came from. So do I tbh, a big part of my ancestry is not English, but from several other places, and neither is my name. I don't call myself anything else but I know about it. I think it's pretty obvious why Americans, who are from a land of immigrants, are more attached to the concept. I also think that although it can be annoying, a lot of the way people talk about America on here comes from a reflex anti-Americanism that seems to make them feel big and clever.

It should also be noted that Jews and the Romany people are two groups to retain a strong cultural identity despite long-ago exile from Israel in the case of Jews, and departure from India in the case of the Romany.

Good point @PrincessSophieFrederike .

They live in America, but their culture and values come from the UK or wherever their ancestors have come from and that's why they often say their Irish, Scottish or wherevers decent. I had to have a good think about it but I get it overall.

Why though? How long have you lived in Scotland? What makes you scottish?

My paternal grandfather ( so not many generations before) was from new Zealand with a mosri mother. I don't go round claiming in a NZ er ( or NZ British)

No one is “cos-playing”. They’re Scottish-Americans and care about that, they’re not pretending to be Scottish. Italian-Americans are under no illusions they are actually Italian. They’re into carrying on their Italian-American, not Italian, traditions and culture. Of course there is some crossover and nods back to where their ancestors or previous generations came from but there is no one is going around claiming they are actually Scottish, Italian, Polish or anything else.

Wouldn't they? Doesn't where you grow up & the general culture have any bearing on that?

Most Americans were originally immigrants and as we see many are still attached to this identity : but does this make them non-American?

As a Scottish person I would say that she is what she says she is: Scottish-American.

Judging by how much it gets discussed on Mumsnet, yes.

I'm Australian.
For 5-8 generations in every line my family go back to almost all Irish immigrants. 1 Scottish and 1 English.
We are Australian.

I've noticed this too and researched the same question. The general reasoning is that they are not natives to America, their ancestors came to America and married non natives. Their culture all stems from Europe and they are proud of that.

If I moved to Japan and married another welsh person, raised a family there, my kids wouldn't be Japanese, they'd be welsh/british. If those same kids kept creating in Japan with non Japanese people for the next hundreds years, they still wouldn't be Japanese.

I do think it's a bit disingenuous to say that immigrant groups identifying with heritage country is unique to US. UK also has definable ethnic/nationality areas of Poles, Koreans, Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, Chinese, French & others. If you live in a neighbourhood with others of the same heritage, community centres, schools maybe, etc (eg. Lycees) it makes sense you're more likely to retain a sense of cultural identification.

It should also be noted that Jews and the Romany people are two groups to retain a strong cultural identity despite long-ago exile from Israel in the case of Jews, and departure from India in the case of the Romany.

When British citizens visit the U.S., are they not typically treated quite kindly? I do not understand this annoyance if someone from the U.S. is enthusiastic about your country.

Although it was some years ago, we did save your ass from Hitler…maybe because so many of us felt affinity with the „old country“ that felt it worth saving from fascism.

For all the reasons people have already stated on this thread. It is silly. And they go on and on about it, which is no small part of my annoyance. It's so dull.

The liberal arts education model in particular was a fundamental contribution.

Excellent point. Even the term "high school"
comes directly from Scotland, specifically from the Royal High School in Edinburgh.

I made a joke because we all know that the royal families of much of Europe are all related to each other, not so much as they are to the people in their country. Some exceptions being Mette Marit who married the crown prince.

So it boils down to small-minded parochialism, with a nice big dollop of mean spiritedness.

You yourself are guilty of seeing only the surface level if you think people are behaving or feeling as you describe.

Scottish American culture in particular has roots that are incredibly deep, leaving an indelible mark on the country's history and culture, with many leading figures and ideas shaping the US. The culture came straight from Scotland itself and via plantation Ulster. The liberal arts education model in particular was a fundamental contribution, but strains of religion were very important too, and of course music. Scottish American kids in 5th grade looking at a list of presidents and other important figures from their history can't help noticing how many familiar surnames feature - at least 21 of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence were descendants of Scots.

It's becoming more and more obvious that there are many MNers with a massive chip on their shoulders about America and Americans.

It's the cos-play aspect of it and disconnectedness that doesn't understand or care how the ones with true nationality feel about it that is irritating. Mainly it's just bewildering and tedious to have to go along with the fantasy that we share significant connection (as everyone polite will do if you excitedly share this 'connection' personally). It is sweet but it's also quite dismissive and American-centric. I think that if you read through the thread many nationalities share the same feeling about it.

We have connections to a Scottish island with two main clans. The American money is gratefully received and you would be welcomed but noone feels kinship from this side and people are politely bewildered by the weird claims. Even if you live a lifetime on the island if you are not from an actual local family you are othered so some sharing of 1 percent DNA is ridiculous .

Your explanation hits the nail on the head IMO @Beekman. At first, I found it weird when Americans described themselves as “Irish” or “Italian”, but now I realize that it’s just pride in their heritage, which makes sense in such a culturally diverse country.

My DH doesn’t describe himself as XXXX-American though because he’s such a cultural blend!

Could you maybe tell me the names? Sounds interesting...

Thus Polish Americans often use language and other cultural things which are no longer used in Poland now.

This is also true for some expressions and usages in American English that came over with colonists, but are no longer used in the UK. Two prominent examples are "gotten" and "fall" for autumn.

Yes, especially since you were talking about the Norwegian royal family, one of the most interesting in Europe, in my opinion. King Harald's grandfather was a Danish prince who was invited to be king of Norway. He was married to a British princess who therefore became Queen of Norway.

Imo it's bc lots of Americans with eg. Irish, Polish, Italian etc ancestry often still have a strong connection to that culture.

The culture tends to be an older version (time capsule in a sense) of Polish, Italian etc culture. Thus Polish Americans often use language and other cultural things which are no longer used in Poland now ('Busia' for grandmother when Poles now would say 'Babcia'). I've also heard that Italian Americans still sometimes use names like Dino which would be seen as dated 1950s names in Italy now.

This obviously fine - a more destructive example is that some Asian American parents still use extremely strict and arguably in some cases borderline abusive patenting methods which are less common now in their heritage countries. (Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother was exaggerated for the publisher but is getting at something rea

No surprise there. I am not Scottish.

Yes, salty is the word.

You have to wonder why there's such a strong urge to piss on other people's chips.