【海外の反応】「5世代前の先祖がイタリア人なのにイタリア系って名乗るの？」アメリカ人の謎文化に外国人が疑問

theres no real answer to this, its just a vibe. depends on how the other person is

Ironically, it's not about "ethnicity" like genetics, it's about culture, and not the original culture, it's the "something-American culture".

It's like, being "Irish-American" is, itself, a thing. it's a subculture within the United States that's based around a shared heritage, history, values, family dynamics, etc.

"Irish-Americans" probably don't know shit about the Struggles, Finn MacCool, peat bogs, or what the air smells like in Donegal on a fall morning. But that's not the point. They know what their parent's told them about what their parents told them about what their parents told them coming over on the Coffin ships was like, they know what the Tenements were like, they know what's it's like to be refused jobs and forced to lose limbs building the railroad. They know what it's like to laugh in bars and put shamrocks on their walls and yell at the Italian boys on the way home from Church. They probably know a rockin' recipe for soda bread or cabbage. And *all their friends and family do too.*

For hundreds of years the Irish in America have brewed up their own culture identity within America and *that's* what we so obsessed about. And yeah, it is cool to go back to the "mother land" or whatever and see the town that your mother's mother's mother's mother's father fled from in the famine because that's a common thread wound through time in your family back to an origin.

Now, just replace "irish" with whatever demonym and you get that point.

Alternatively, my parents emigrated from Colombia and I'd never identify as a "Colombian-American" because I have zero connection to that culture, I was raised a generic white boy in the North East. My culture is called pizzas "pies" not "pizzas" and ragging on people from New Jersey and loving Ska. Even though I'm genetically latino pretty fucking immediately I'd never stroll down the street in Cali saying "I'm in the mother land!" because *that's not my culture*.

Something Europeans sometimes miss about the US is that there’s a distinct Italian-American subculture here, especially in the northeast. And it’s kind of its own thing, not particularly related to Italy. 

Theoretically you don't. Practically in more recent years that has changed.

You have to keep in mind that for most of American history, these groups were essentially segregated. Irish all lived in the same area, Chinese lived all in another area, Italians all in another, etc. Each group was essentially its own culture and would continue to evolve separately from any other American culture. It wouldn't be the same or evolve in the same way as the mother country, but it is also incorrect say that for example Italian Americans simply have a generic "American" culture.

Said another way, connecting all Americans together would be a bit like saying all Europeans are the same. There are absolutely connections and ways they are, but it is also obviously not a correct way of putting things. Now that is changing (both in America and Europe), but it still remains to a degree and why those qualifiers exist. I think a helpful comparison would be to the UK. Everyone in the UK is British, but are Scottish, English, and Northern Irish the same?

Also, African American is not the same thing as the others. That is a whole other can of beans. It just shares the same naming convention.

When the subculture stops being passed down. That's not to say when the original culture does, but when the immigrant subculture does. Many immigrant groups in America created their own distinct subcultures that are different from both the home country's culture and wider American culture. Big well-known examples are Irish and Italian Americans. My German ancestors didn't really pass anything down, from Germany or from their immigrant communities, so I don't really call myself German-American (though I do talk about that family history) but my Italian ancestors did pass things down from their immigrant community so I do consider myself Italian-American.

It has more to do with how you are raised by your family, and the culture they pass on to you than your genetics. There aren't really any families in the US who are trying to raise their children with Roman culture. Hence not many people in the US claiming Roman American. 

Well African American doesn’t really work like that😂😂😂.