BerndDasBrot Posted March 30, 2008 Posted March 30, 2008 (edited) OH TEH NOES!! So many ethnicities! I take everything back. I am 100% human and I will stay at that. the same for me! Edited March 30, 2008 by BerndDasBrot Quote
Username_Taken Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 You are 100% Danish and 100% correct. This is a very typical American topic of conversation. I notice it usually stems when someone learns your last name. There are many different surnames here and no one knows how to pronounce anything so they search for the source once they learn how to pronounce it. "That's an interesting last name. Where is it from?" and the fascinating discussion ensues from there.Also, I'm confused by these younger members telling us they're some percent American. Do you mean native or has that part of your family been in the states so long that it's not worth naming the eight different nationalities that produced that side of the family? Well Hinckley, when I said I was "all american" I meant it not as in that I was osme percent American, I meant it jokingly... U_T Quote
blueandwhite Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 Also, I'm confused by these younger members telling us they're some percent American. Do you mean native or has that part of your family been in the states so long that it's not worth naming the eight different nationalities that produced that side of the family? Thank goodness! I thought I was the only one who was really confused by all of this. I still would love to know what people mean when they say they are arbitrarily throwing around all of these percentages. It seems that some people are speaking of nationality, others of race, while others are speaking of heritage and a few simply seem to be mixing them all together. Quote
Jipay Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 25% french 25% german 50% polish (that makes 100% european X-D ) Quote
Lord Of Pies Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 (edited) All of my relatives, and grandparents, and great grand parents and great great grand parents roots can be traced back as far as the 1890's, all from England. And possibly 1/16th French, but don't mention it! Edited March 31, 2008 by Lord Of Pies Quote
blueandwhite Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 All of my relatives, and grandparents, and great grand parents and great great grand parents roots can be traced back as far as the 1890's, all from England.And possibly 1/16th French, but don't mention it! Ah, but are they Normans, Saxons, Celts, or pre-Celtic? :-D Quote
UniqueBuilder Posted March 31, 2008 Posted March 31, 2008 (edited) 100% Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene That's a type of plastic... Oh, I got the joke now.... :-P Edited March 31, 2008 by UniqueBuilder Quote
Cardinal Brick Posted April 1, 2008 Posted April 1, 2008 I'm White British and that's all I've ever bothered to think about, well unless the university asked "which ethnic group do you most identify with?" again, when along with most people I'd select something at random. Quote
BerndDasBrot Posted April 1, 2008 Posted April 1, 2008 (edited) "white british"... excuse me if I dare to ask, but didn't this go too far...? (Just my point of view - no offense.) EDIT: spelling mistake. Edited April 1, 2008 by BerndDasBrot Quote
blueandwhite Posted April 1, 2008 Posted April 1, 2008 (edited) I'm White British and that's all I've ever bothered to think about, well unless the university asked "which ethnic group do you most identify with?" again, when along with most people I'd select something at random. Cool. I wasn't actually being serious about all that nonsense. I guess I just find the whole ethnicity question a tad silly. All of my ancestory can be traced to England, yet I would never identify myself as being of either "English" or "British" ethnicity simply because I associate those terms with nations or national identity first and foremost. I mean, I've always seen somebody who is "British" or "English" as being somebody who is born in those countries. This question has just been on my mind as I've never identified myself as being anything but a Canadian. Edited April 1, 2008 by blueandwhite Quote
BerndDasBrot Posted April 1, 2008 Posted April 1, 2008 (edited) I mean, I've always seen somebody who is <enter_nationality_here> as being somebody who is born in those countries. that's what I believe. Disclaimer: I've edited your post in my quote: <enter_nationality_here> instead of "British" or "English"! ;-) Edited April 1, 2008 by BerndDasBrot Quote
WhiteFang Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 (edited) I am a chinese whom is born in Singapore. Maybe, have some China blood, somewhere from my great grandparents :-X Edited April 4, 2008 by whitefang_sg Quote
El Bucanero Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 Err... Some Indonesian (love the food), Chinese, Austrian and perhaps even more I don't know of :-P Born in the Netherlands. Don't ask about bloody %, cause I have absolutely no idea :-D Quote
Opproperaar Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 (edited) A tad silly I feel since ethnicity is frequently used as a means of labelling people into groups and select which ones are wanted and which ones not. Besides we're all humans and we all inhabit the same planet. I see no point in division. We're all the same apart from a couple of cosmetic differences. I am however, proud of being a European. And since there's little use in calling myself a world citizen, unless there was an *alien* race we could somehow converse with, I call myself first and foremost a European. If you were to prod deeper, I'm Flemish since several generations but apparently my family immigrated from France during the Middle Ages. The entire nationality issue is completely artificial, made up by us. Every country is a piece of land on the same planet and by living on it you barely produce other genes (leaving climate influence out of the debate here) than somebody else. Does living in Belgium make me any less "English" or any more "Belgian" than an Englishman? What does it matter, it serves no use in your daily life other than as an excuse of drawing lines and dividing people who are all essentially human beings. Edited April 3, 2008 by Hairy Ruben Quote
blueandwhite Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 The entire nationality issue is completely artificial, made up by us. Every country is a piece of land on the same planet and by living on it you barely produce other genes (leaving climate influence out of the debate here) than somebody else. Does living in Belgium make me any less "English" or any more "Belgian" than an Englishman? What does it matter, it serves no use in your daily life other than as an excuse of drawing lines and dividing people who are all essentially human beings. This is an interesting POV. I find it interesting that you consider yourself European (a continental divide), but you feel that national boundries are artificial. By your definition, wouldn't continental divisions be just as artificial? Taking your example a step further; is a Australian living in Belgium less "Belgian" than an Englishman living in Belgium? Obviously the former is not European. Oh, and I'd like to add that I really enjoy the fact that everybody has been so polite in this thread. It just goes to show you that irrespective of one's national or ethnic identity, Eurobricks is comprised of predominantly mature and intelligent individuals. Good stuff. Quote
Opproperaar Posted April 3, 2008 Posted April 3, 2008 This is an interesting POV. I find it interesting that you consider yourself European (a continental divide), but you feel that national boundries are artificial. By your definition, wouldn't continental divisions be just as artificial? Taking your example a step further; is a Australian living in Belgium less "Belgian" than an Englishman living in Belgium? Obviously the former is not European.Oh, and I'd like to add that I really enjoy the fact that everybody has been so polite in this thread. It just goes to show you that irrespective of one's national or ethnic identity, Eurobricks is comprised of predominantly mature and intelligent individuals. Good stuff. As I said, I'm inclined to call myself a world citizen, a human, in the first place but since people asking me this can already derive that from the way I look I'd generally call myself a European to 'statisfy' people with an answer. That being said, I'm proud of Europe and European achievements (especially in the pro-European context) as a whole but even more so of humanity's achievements as a whole. (I like to unify :-D) I concur on your second paragraph by the way. Quote
WhiteFang Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 (edited) Err...Some Indonesian (love the food), Chinese, Austrian and perhaps even more I don't know of :-P Born in the Netherlands. Don't ask about bloody %, cause I have absolutely no idea :-D *sweet* Understand, btw i amended it Edited April 4, 2008 by whitefang_sg Quote
Cardinal Brick Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 (edited) "white british"... excuse me if I dare to ask, but didn't this go too far...? (Just my point of view - no offense.)EDIT: spelling mistake. Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean? I was just stating what I HAVE to fill in on my civil service and university forms. I wasn't intending to appear in some way extream, just answering as I normally do through habit. Edited April 4, 2008 by Cardinal Brick Quote
Admiral Blockbeard Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 i must say this is interesting! i personally as many have said consider myself human, putting religion or theory of evolution to side every one agree basically thinks we all came from an original 2 people or something like that anyway... BUT that said i am 50% English 25% German 12.5% Danish and 12.5% UNKNOWN *alien* dododoodo... (that was a freaky alien sound) ohh and i am born and raised in Australia... plan to have Canadian wife :-$ Quote
Opproperaar Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 I'm sorry, my last post I feel was a bit too unclear so I'll write one last one, I wrote the other one last night. I refer to myself as a European in a practical context. For example I am a EU-supporter (for many reasons and if you want to debate PM me and I'll happily indulge you :-P ) and as such I think of myself as first and foremost European. You do have a point that in the end, as I said so myself all divisions are purely artificial. Of course there's skin colour but how you look isn't what you are. Even so, I do feel that continental division is a tad more 'tangible' than national boundaries. Even if it was just mentality or history (IMHO I barely regard history solely on a national level) Pure theoretically, I'm a human - practically I'm European But I let none of that divide me from somebody with different nationality, skin colour and/or religion. I hope that answered your question ;-) Quote
Cardinal Brick Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 I'll agree that are divisions are artificial and pointless, however I feel that have some use in some contexts. Though this is mainly linked to my ideas of patriotism, that I feel is linked to seeing your country as part yours and like your garden something you want to make a nice as possible, even if it’s just by picking a bit of litter up on the way home rather than changing it fundamentally, but that’s just my rather strange romanticised idea of nation. Quote
DNL Posted April 4, 2008 Posted April 4, 2008 I'm 100% Dutch, but i live in Norway... :-P so maybe i'm 90% dutch and 10% Norwegian? Quote
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