I've gotta say (and this is totally tangential to your point, I apologise), I have *never* understood the American obsession with ethnic background (or, more accurately, perceived ethnic background).
I'm confused by your confusion... I've never really given it much thought, because it always seemed obvious to me: we're a nation of immigrants, and a lot of people in the US really are "from" somewhere else, within the last generation or two (myself included-- my grandfather was born a few months after his parents arrived in the US).
The fraction of recent immigrants is smalller than it was a generation or so ago, but ingrained habits die hard.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-08-09 10:23 am (UTC)I'm confused by your confusion...
I've never really given it much thought, because it always seemed obvious to me: we're a nation of immigrants, and a lot of people in the US really are "from" somewhere else, within the last generation or two (myself included-- my grandfather was born a few months after his parents arrived in the US).
The fraction of recent immigrants is smalller than it was a generation or so ago, but ingrained habits die hard.