Topic: Wow, you Brits spell just as poorly as my fellow Americans...

[TasteTester]

Yes, I'm clear and edumacated on the Britsh terms now (England, Great Britian, UK, etc.), but an explanation would have gone a long ways in my school days. It also would have helped if teachers had explained why they marked my spelling wrong when I'd write "colour" rather than "color." I knew I'd seen it like that! But they don't bother to explain anything to children.

I get kind of irked when some people call themselves Mexicans when they are, in fact, American ("Statesman" would sound so much cooler, but it means something else altogether). Why the need to distinguish? I shouldn't be offended, but I am. That is very different from being Scottish first and British second though. Because... Mexico is not in the US, and these people were born in the US.

Not that it matters, but I would like to see the UK get the hell out of the EU, too! The British are so different from other Europeans. When I see other Europeans, I know right away they are European. But when I see all kinds of British people, I don't know the difference between them and us. When I've met them abroad, I've thought, "Oh, hey, North Americans..." and then simultaneously been asked, "Are you English?"

It's more than language. It's in the face or the mannerism. There is a common heritage. The language link was almost lost, however, when German was almost voted the national language of the US in an effort to distinguish themselves from the Motherland. English won by a single vote!

[peterandjen]

Sorry TasteTester but unless i'm being a bit thick, you never mentioned where you're from

[Peripatetic Phil]

I get kind of irked when some people call themselves Mexicans when they are, in fact, American ("Statesman" would sound so much cooler, but it means something else altogether). Why the need to distinguish? I shouldn't be offended, but I am. That is very different from being Scottish first and British second though. Because... Mexico is not in the US, and these people were born in the US.

OK, but are they born of Mexican parents and speak Mexican as a first language ?  Because if so, I would agree with them that they are Mexican, regardless of where they were born, and regardless of where they are now living.

And come to think of it, I have just spent the evening with two children who will almost certainly identify themselves as French-Vietnamese when they grow up, despite the fact that both were born in Baldwinsville (New York), simply because they are born of French/Vietnamese parents and will be raised in a French/Vietnamese culture (they have now returned to France, but will be brought to visit their Vietnamese grandparents in London very frequently).

Not that it matters, but I would like to see the UK get the hell out of the EU, too! The British are so different from other Europeans. When I see other Europeans, I know right away they are European. But when I see all kinds of British people, I don't know the difference between them and us. When I've met them abroad, I've thought, "Oh, hey, North Americans..." and then simultaneously been asked, "Are you English?"

It's more than language. It's in the face or the mannerism. There is a common heritage. The language link was almost lost, however, when German was almost voted the national language of the US in an effort to distinguish themselves from the Motherland. English won by a single vote!

Well, that may be your perception, TT, and I would not want to suggest for one second that it might be wrong, but speaking as a Briton I can feel perfectly at home in Germany, France or the Netherlands (and I would be happy making my home in any one), but I am afraid that I have felt very much like a fish out of water on the few occasions I have been in America : it just feels so foreign, with no shared values at all ...

** Phil.

[Vindaloo-crazy]

I'm the opposite; I've never met an American I didn't like. As for the French and Germans...  Well don't get me started!

[Peripatetic Phil]

I'm the opposite; I've never met an American I didn't like. As for the French and Germans...  Well don't get me started!

Well, I hope I didn't suggest  that in general I do not like Americans : I know some from my professional field whom I like very much indeed, and for whom I have the greatest respect, both professionally and personally.  But when I am in America, I do not feel at home : it is hard to put it into words, but I feel that American priorities are very different from mine.  Yet in most of Northern Europe I feel very much at home, and feel that we share a common heritage and a common set of values.

** Phil.

[TasteTester]

Phil, perhaps it's because my people have redefined the "American Dream" to mean materialism.    Left and Right.

And I also understand why some people would choose to identify first with their cultural heritage (no matter how many generations removed), but nonetheless, it's slightly painful for me. This isn't a matter of absolutes; it's just how we mentally categorize and associate things. My paternal grandmother's family were "Germans." No matter if they lived in Russia as farmers or after the migrated to the United States. Until my grandmother's generation, they saw themselves as German. That is well and fine.

The problem comes when you are too into defining yourself by your heritage that you lack communion with the rest of the larger community around you. I have lots and lots of Mexican family members, and they are cool. But there is one in-law I do not like because he can't see himself as human first. He is Mexican, first and last. He will go to the functions on the Mexican side of the family but not the white. He wears T-Shirts that say "100% Mexican" lest we forget. This is not a Mexican-American problem. This is a HUMAN problem.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Phil, perhaps it's because my people have redefined the "American Dream" to mean materialism.    Left and Right.

You may well have hit the nail on the head 

The problem comes when you are too into defining yourself by your heritage that you lack communion with the rest of the larger community around you. I have lots and lots of Mexican family members, and they are cool. But there is one in-law I do not like because he can't see himself as human first. He is Mexican, first and last. He will go to the functions on the Mexican side of the family but not the white. He wears T-Shirts that say "100% Mexican" lest we forget. This is not a Mexican-American problem. This is a HUMAN problem.

Agreed, but perhaps neither of us knows what caused this problem (I certainly don't; maybe you do).  But it does seem to me that if someone suffers persecution because of his/her race, then one of two outcomes is likely : the weaker person will seek to disguise his/her race, and do their level best to become fully assimilated into the host nation; the stronger person may prefer to fight back, and to say, as your Mexican in-law is doing, "I am Mexican and don't you dare forget it".  Obviously I can't know if this is the cause in his situation, but it does seem a possible explanation.

Anyhow, let's get back to curry : maybe a shared passion for curry cam finally unite all the nations of the world !

[TasteTester]

I thought so, too, but this guy won't eat curry. That there's the real problem!