I actually came up with it purely for descriptive purposes - including the ‘dad’ part of it. I wanted people to know the colleges and my relationship (i.e. a dad and not a student) to give some context of some of my posts in the interest of openness and full disclosure. I also thought I’d make a just few posts and that they’d be strictly related to colleges here but that was over 3K posts ago!</p>
<p>However - I do think a parent can take some ‘pride’ to some degree in the accomplishments of their kids since the parents usually have an influence in those kids becoming accomplished.</p>
Yes - frustrating for those doing genealogical research. It’s worse for people from some areas where records don’t go back anywhere close to that.</p>
<p>With genetic research it seems to be getting possible to have a better idea of some origins fwiw. National Geographic had some interesting stuff on this.</p>
<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad, Just curious then, No “flag waving” or “identification” for UCLA , UCLA basketball for instance for you or your child? No celebration, feeling of pride,identification,school spirit,etc. if the the team does well? I assume your child was not on the basketball team?</p>
<p>justforthis, the somewhat typical British reserve keeps most people from self promotion,flaunting of things but I’m guessing the pride is still there. Pride of country,sports teams,etc. If you are English and living in England ( or anyone else is here), it would be interesting to hear the current perspective on this .</p>
<p>^^ I don’t pay attention to sports so no - it doesn’t matter ot me whether UCLA wins a game or not but even if I had an ‘interest’ in it, I wouldn’t have ‘pride’ in it any more than I’d have pride in the San Diego Chargers winning a game - I have nothing at all to do with whether they happen to win or not. I understand I may be a bit unusual in this thinking, especially when I see people going nuts for some local sports team (which is often a for profit business with players who’ll go wherever they’re paid the most and whose owners coerce local governments into subsidizing them). </p>
<p>But like I said, I think generally a parent does have an influence in how well (and sometimes not so well) a student does and I think a parent can take pride in that.</p>
<p>If a parent is involved in a college - supporting it in various ways including donations then it makes sense they can feel some pride in the success of that college. And I guess many/most of us are supporting the colleges in a way through our payments to them.</p>
<p>Truly though, for my moniker on CC I thought it’d be useful to provide the context. I find it useful when other posters do that as well depending on the topic. If I saw a moniker of something like GWU_Mom I’d have a pretty good guess that it’s a parent or alumni of GWU and that might be handy if I had questions about that college. My moniker also shows a bit of my geeky software development side where variables are often descriptive of the function (including the annoying underscores).</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation,ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad. I did ask about identification with UCLA in general,not just UCLA basketball, but you may have replied before I edited my question.</p>
<p>^^ Sure - I have some identification and familiarity with both UCLA and UCSD due to many times I’ve been to those campuses, the knowledge I have of them through my kids, and a certain investment in those campuses. I think they were both good choices for my kids and did a decent job of providing them with an education.</p>
<p>Glad UCLA and UCSD have worked out well for your kids! I am in Virginia and UVa and Virginia Tech were great choices for my sons. I feel an investment with their schools as well.</p>
<p>Well, British is a designation that currently includes the English and the various peoples they have oppressed. The Irish have mostly escaped this, but for the occupied six counties.</p>
<p>The British flag represents death or repression for many people, and so I would hope to see it used less than the flags of less repressive countries.</p>
<p>“Why do British Americans not celebrate their heritage the way other ethnic groups do?”</p>
<p>While Americans of British heritage tend not to engage in showy displays of ethnic pride, nonetheless, there is a great deal of Anglophilia in the US, even amongst persons without British ancestry.</p>
<p>Dr. Google, Thanks for the links. My dad, George, died 10 years ago yesterday at age 77. His older sisters were born in Scotland. He would have loved to have one of his grandsons be named Andrew! He mentioned it more than once but it didn’t fit. Husband is Scottish,English,Dutch, and German but the last name is the German one!
For Scottish pride in particular, the visits to Bannockburn and Culloden were very emotional.</p>
<p>St. George’s Day is Saturday April 23 this year, thanks for pointing it out.</p>
<p>British Flag = Death and Oppression? When I see the British Flag, I am reminded of the bravery and determination of the English during WWII and their willingness to fight the Third Reich against terrible odds. I am not excusing the dark chapters of British History, there are many, but you have to be fair.</p>
I suppose it depends on where your family is from. 842 years is a long time. </p>
<p>And okay, to be fair, the British flag also flew over those who allowed Hitler to absorb Austria and half of Czechoslovakia. “Peace for our time” indeed…</p>
<p>The Irish mostly escaped oppression or mostly escaped being called British? The Irish would certainly insist they were heavily oppressed for centuries.</p>
<p>Used correctly, the term “British” does not and never did include the Irish. “Britain” refers to the geographic island, and Ireland of course is on its own island. So the Welsh, Scots, and English (plus smaller ethnicities such as the Cornish) that share the island are all British but the Irish are not. </p>
<p>That’s why when Ireland was annexed the name of country became “The UK” instead of Great Britain. The full name of the UK is the “United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland.” Back before Irish independence it was just Ireland, without the “Northern.”</p>
<p>*justforthis, the somewhat typical British reserve keeps most people from self promotion,flaunting of things but I’m guessing the pride is still there. Pride of country,sports teams,etc. If you are English and living in England ( or anyone else is here), it would be interesting to hear the current perspective on this . *</p>
<p>My husband and I are both British and yes we are proud of being British and very happy to be recognised as such by our accents when we speak but self promotion was really frowned upon “in our day” so it’s just not done. We are expats now so I don’t know if things have changed.</p>