Referring to hyphenated Americans--what do you say?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I’m from New York City and have lived in Boston-it’s not uncommon in the Northeast to describe friends and acquaintances to others referring to their ethnicity-such as “Her husband’s Italian but she’s Irish.” Or “My roommate is Polish.”–In all these cases, the people referred to are native born Americans from ethnic (or hyphenated) families and likely do not speak a foreign language at home. But a colleague from the South (NC) told me that where he’s from people don’t do this–the only ethnic difference anyone mentions is Black or White ( and maybe would also mention if the person were Mexican or Jewish). A suburban Midwestern friend said they might mention if some is Swedish or Norwegian in origin (or possibly Jewish or Mexican) but would never refer to Irish, Italian, Polish ethnicities. I gather that Chicago is more like New York or Boston.</p>

<p>I’m looking for more data about various US regions–how is it where you are from?</p>

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<p>I never thought about it until you mentionned it, but being from the Northeast where its a real mix of people, yes, we did talk like that. “She’s very WASP-Y and she’s married to a jewish guy” or whatever. Now that I’m in the Southeast I never hear people talk that way, but in this town, anyway, there just aren’t alot of people of different ethnicities. Its pretty bland whitebread around here.</p>

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<p>dke,</p>

<p>So is everyone in your town a WASP? Or people just don’t bother about the finer distinctions if you are white?</p>

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<p>CA here and I can’t think of a time when someone was introduced to me or talked about in terms of their ethnicity. Of course, lots of times you really aren’t sure about a persons background unless they mention it or you are nosy enough to ask. California tends to be a bit of a mixture of everybody from somewhere else.</p>

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<p>Also California here - no one around here refers to people based on their geneology. If I hear someone say that either they or someone else is French, Indian, Italian, Mexican, etc. then I think of them being from that country. If they’re not from that country then they’re typically American which I think is the best way to refer to them anyway rather than pigeon-holing them.</p>

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<p>When I grew up in the Boston area, we used to say “He/she’s from the North End/Southie/Wellesley/ Newton” and we knew exactly the ethnicity and socioeconomic bracket.</p>

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<p>Motherdear, would that be</p>

<p>North End = Italian
Southie = Irish
Wellesley = WASP
Newton = Jewish?</p>

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<p>I don’t hear much talk of ethnicity around here. I often say who someones kids are or their ages or something like, “That’s Joan. Her kids went to Smith elementary school and her middle one played soccer with my son. I think they attend Bible Lutheran.” I really don’t know most people ethnic background unless they are new to the country.</p>

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<p>Now that you mention it, here in Maryland where I live now, nobody seems to refer to white people by their ethnicity, unless they’re Jewish, which still seems to be considered a meaningful distinction. It’s as though nobody has an interest in white people’s ethnic heritages anymore.</p>

<p>But back when I lived in the New York area, people often referred to their own or other people’s Irish, Italian, Polish, or other backgrounds. </p>

<p>Then again, we have so many people here who are not white that maybe the finer distinctions among white people have gotten lost in the shuffle.</p>

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<p>I agree with ebeee and UCLAdad, with one exception. I do hear people distinguishing African-Americans. They might say “she’s dating a black guy.” Also, with gays. “One of my friends, who’s gay…” European-Americans are increasingly becoming the minority in California, so I expect to someday hear “she’s dating a white guy…”</p>

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<p>Florida here,
No one that I know mentions ethnic backgrounds. No one I know discusses where your family “originally” came from. Maybe it’s because just about everyone around here came from somewhere else, whether a different country or a different state. It just isn’t of interest what religion, country, or race you came from, at least in my circle (unless it’s somehow pertinent to a discussion).</p>

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<p>Texas here,
Interesting topic. Lived in chicago 20 years ago when most neighborhoods were pretty much dominated by one ethnic group, I heard some interesting and sometimes unflattering descriptions of those areas. </p>

<p>Here in Houston while I was growing up, everyone was white or black with a sprinkling of Hispanics. But this morning I heard on the news that the Houston school district is 60 percent Hispanic and 30 percent African American.
I am African American and I know that my family considered all white people to be just white people. Jews did get a special mention some time, but there weren’t many in our area. Sometime between my mother’s generation and mine, the family grocery stores changed from being Italian owned to Chinese owned. Of course, these days there no such thing as a family grocery any more.</p>

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<p>Our area is like NYC people do at least sometimes talk about being Irish or Italian or Jewish. We also have a growing Hispanic population - there seems to both the communality of all speaking Spanish and the individuality of where the individual countries people are from - Guatamala, Peru and Mexican are the main nationalities I’ve worked with. </p>

<p>Amusingly when we lived in Germany, we noticed that whenever two Germans got together who weren’t from within about 100 miles of each other, and sometimes less, they’d immediately start asking where they were from based on their accents. (To us foreigners they all sounded equally hard to understand if they weren’t speaking Hoch Deutch. i.e. the equivalent of BBC English.)</p>

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<p>Totally interesting. The consensus here is that most people either don’t refer to others by ethnicity or hyphens. Also, most think that because we are all “Americans”, of the United States persuasion; as opposed to Canada, Mexico, Central, or South America; that hyphens and referring by ethnic background probably isn’t a really good thing. Yet, there’s the ACLU, NAACP, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton, and other who supposedly speak for the “Majority” who will have us believe that “Hyphenated-Americans” is the “RIGHT” and “Politically Correct” way of addressing someone when needing to point out someone or to refer to someone. </p>

<p>Me personally go very far out of my way to NOT be politically correct. I believe that it is demeaning to people and it separates us. If you were BORN in the USA, you are considered an “American”. If you were born in a different country and have moved to the USA, legally, then you can be Hyphenated if you wish. Then again, the only reason to bring it up for those people might be because of a noticeable accent making someone curious. In that case, I might understand someone being referred to as a French-American, Chinese-American, etc… Or simpler, if they prefer, Asian-American, European-American, etc… Personally, to me they are still just “Americans” if they immigrated here, legally. Now, if you came here “ILLEGALLY”, then I have the right to call you anything I damn well please. And anyone who doesn’t think that is right, can call me anything that their “bleeding-heart-liberal” self want to. I am 2nd generation American. My Grandparents came from Italy and Germany. I am quite proud that they busted their ass to come to this country; LEGALLY. I have no respect whatsoever for illegal immigrants. I don’t care if they drown on their way over, don’t have health care, get paid $3 a hour to pick crops, etc… They are on their own.</p>

<p>But EVERYONE that was born here or immigrated here legally is an “AMERICAN” in my book. Those are the people I served in the military for. Those are the people who served along side of me. I don’t want to be hyphenated and I don’t want to ever refer to a “REAL AMERICAN” in the hyphenated form. A hyphen is meant to separate. It is designed to take something that we ALL HAVE IN COMMON, and find a difference between us. I truly believe that it was designed for political gain. Political Correctness is buzz words used for popularity. Think of all the buzz words that politicians use to make you believe they care. Then realize why an American, who happens to be black, is then called “African-American”? It’s a feel good phrase for some politically motivated person to appear to be caring and sensitive.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, because we have many different ethnic groups in our country, we sometimes have to refer to them. I.e. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Jim at this party. Can you point him out for me please”? “Sure. Do you see those 5 guys over there talking to the 2 girls. He’s the Asian one; Hispanic one; Black one; White one; Fat one; Tall one; Bald guy; etc…” Sometimes you just need such adjectives. But, for normal references; they aren’t needed. And when they are needed, Hyphen-American is definitely not needed. It should be commonly accepted that the majority of people we see, hear, interact with, etc… in our every day lives happen to be AMERICANS. Unless you are in an area with a lot of tourists.</p>

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<p>Here in SoCal the common terms are White, African American/Black, Latino/Mexican American/Hispanic, Native American/Indian, and Asian.</p>

<p>Whites are very seldom if ever broken down by European country of origin in most conversations. I do not think of myself nor would I ever refer to myself as an English-American, Anglo-American, or British-American, although I suppose technically, I am. Although I have been known to joke that in my family, even after five generations in the US, we still speak the language of the old country.</p>

<p>However, I noticed once while visiting New Mexico that there they commonly call all white folks “Anglo,” even though many of them may not have a single ancestor from England.</p>

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<p>I have a very diverse group of friends–many of whom are expatriates of one sort or another. all of us identify each other by our birth countries–with hyphens if needed. She’s a "Malaysian-Sri-Lankan, for example. He’s a German-czech.</p>

<p>When Americans hear my last name, they often ask me ‘what’ I ‘am’, even though our surname arrived in the US in 1632.</p>

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<p>I grew up in what was really a small neighborhood in NYC and the ethnic distinction was always made. The population was probably 85% Irish and their ancestors were there since the Potato Famine but that didn’t matter - you were Irish - none of this hyphenated crap. Actually, I assumed my family was Irish until I was about 7 and my mother put me straight. My brother-in-law who is about as Irish as Paddy’s pig has always been vehemently American - in a kindof Lou Dobbs way.
Living in CT, no one even mentions ethnicity - I’m not sure there IS any.
PS Like cheers, my surname has been around since the 1600s.</p>

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<p>Pyewacket, I don’t think everyone’s a WASP, but just sort of blonde whatever. Florida so its kind of like what Doubleplay said. No one talks of their own heritage like they do in NYC (“I’m Irish so …”). I think it has to do with people coming here to make a fresh start. You don’t even see photos of grandparents around. It almost like they want to erase the past, its not interesting or relevant in the least. The past was important in our family growing up and was talked about alot, so its been different. I still say things like, “I have too much Quaker in my blood to pay @@@$ for a pair of shoes,” etc. but I’m the rarity. In the NY area, too, there were towns with certain ethnic identities with their own club membership perameters, where here everyone’s the same. No one cares if you’re African American, Jewish, whatever to join the golf club. If you can pay the entry fee, you’re in. People just aren’t that conscious of all that.</p>

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<p>My personal motto: Beware of hyphenated women.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot , all of you. This is really interesting–I teach “American Culture.” My theory is that this type of usage is more common when there are still several distinct neighborhoods around where a community of the same ethnicity tend to live and where marriages are more commonly within the same ethnicity. But when the larger community is either mostly white homgeneous or the various ethnicities are each represented by only one or two families, it’s considered not worth mentioning or even noticing. Also if there are a couple of dominant ethnicities around, like Irish around Boston, then other people start thinking of themselves as non-Irish and something else instead. BTW–as I remember it in NYC, these uses are in no way prejudiced or discriminatory, but descriptive–like when you say strawberry ice cream instead of just ice cream. My impressions is that all New Yorkers in the city who are Americans also consider themselves to be some sort of hyphenated ethnicity at the same time as part of their natural identity. As was pointed out above, people may use “my gay friend” the same way–probably because they also think of there being such a thing as “the gay community” to which this friend belongs.</p>