UK and America are two countries separated by a common language, UK and US Q&A cont'd

[mathanxiety]

Started another one in case anyone wants to do it again...

I would be wiling to believe that goes on, espcially in Appalachian communities, but I don't know for sure.

If you have Netflix, look and see if you can watch a documentary called, "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia." I don't think they are inbred, but they are fairly backward.

Oh, I was researching my husband's crazy family tree, and found his great-great grandmother married her own uncle. That was just two generations ago.

3.bp.blogspot.com/-tzJUGfBJzz4/T2_pDQZ43gI/AAAAAAAABBo/4kQ4dmZegoM/s400/INBREEDING.jpg

I just want to clarify that my husband's great-great grandmother's uncle was her first husband. His great grandmother was the product of her second marriage, to a man who was not related to her at all. I hope. :)

I am a descendant of a group of Scots who came from the same area of the Hebrides and all settled in one area of North Carolina. Cousin marriages (although no first cousins as far as I know) were fairly common so my surname appears several times in my family tree. I think it was fairly common in Scotland too. The gene pool did broaden in later generations.

My FIL's mother's gene pool is fairly shallow.

My father's family came from Germany two generations ago, but my mother's family came over before the American Revolution. I was able to join The Daughter's of the American Revolution (DAR) because of my mother's family. I go to meetings every month with a bunch of old ladies. :)

My family immigrated to America from Ireland because of the potato famine. Dropped the O off their last name to get work.

I am always struck by the number of people who tell me they are Irish (meaning their ancestors were Irish).

I had no idea it was such a big thing, before I arrived. It was not really an advantage in Britain.

When my grandfather became the first of his family to marry outside his small Scottish-American community group, he married my grandmother whose father was a second generation Irish-American.

I particularly like it when Americans tell my Scottish mother that they are also 'Sgarrrrdish' :-)

We always ask them where in Scotland they are from and they're never quite sure but they're all either descended from the William Wallace or Robert the Bruce.

Most of us are proud to be hyphenated Americans.

not me wobbly My mother actually is quite interested in the family tree stuff, but it's the Gordon clan, specifically Huntly (Huntley) that we apparently come from. But I'm not fussed, as I believe that castle is pretty much demolished, is it not? I'll stick with my council house.

but 'Sgarrrrdish' ?? What in the blazes is that?? Is that supposed to be putting on an accent??

There's not much identity in being a born American, most are not past a few generations. It becomes important to us to acknowledge where our ancestors immigrated from, as it's usually what shapes our traditions, family recipes, etc.

math stbx's father came over to England from Ireland years ago in his 20s with practically no money or clothing or anything. I understand he has relatives in Ireland (obviously as he is from there), but don't know any of them as he has passed away and stbx is miserable at communication at best.

Alice i live a short distance from Huntly. The Castle is ruined. It is the Huntly Hairst festival this weekend.

Many people just walked away from Ireland in the past, and never looked back.

oneflew that's what I thought. so no family singalongs in front of a Huntly hearth. I do want to go there sometime though. If my mother comes over to visit, I am going to insist we go. She has always always wanted to go to Scotland. (If only I could meet some nice Scottish man, I suspect my mother would be rather pleased - she'd certainly ring me regularly - she loooooves the accent, as do I)

My parents are related in several ways, and I live in New England. We're mostly old Swamp Yankee, descended from the Great Puritan Migration. I know some people who have married their cousins for nearly four centuries. It was not a Good Idea.

We always ask them where in Scotland they are from and they're never quite sure but they're all either descended from the William Wallace or Robert the Bruce.

A Scottish friend of mine went to the States years ago. She got talking to a couple in a bar. The woman commented on my friends accent and asked her where she was from. She said she was from Edinburgh.
'Oh' said the lady, 'my ancestors were from Edinburgh. I'm Irish too.'

Alice my dh who come from central Scotland sometimes struggles to understand the real country accents round this way which makes me chuckle. Huntly has an excellent primary and secondry school with a long standing excellent reputation, we may in the future move for ds secondry schooling to be there but i am hoping for a relocation overseas. The outskirts of Huntly is overcome with giant windfarms which is having a devastating impact on the landscape and some properties right next to them are almost unsellable. I am looking forward to the Huntly Hairst though, a couple of years ago we took ds just before he was 3 and he got to do a pony ride, got a front row seat to see how to skin and joint a rabbit and butcher half a pig He loved it although we are rural and live on a smallholding so it was nothing shocking to him. Scotland is lovely but for some reason a lot of tourists only visit Edinburgh and maybe go see where Nessie is supposed to live and miss out big chunks of beautiful places. We live in the Castle, whiskey and coastal train for Grampian so when the weather is nice (small part of the year) we take advantage of it. There is an excellent facebook page called Scotland by the roadside where people post photos of all over Scotland some of the photos are stunning, pure white beaches with crystal clear water like the Carribean

oneflew I'll have to look at that facebook page. Thanks!

Back to food, there was an article in the paper today that said Americans don't eat lamb. Is this true?

I never had lamb growing up, and I don't think it's common to eat it with most people I know. First time I had it was here in the UK.