Feels like I was the next to arrive at the party where there is cool conversation that I can't follow was happening and am not sure whether to interrupt or just wait patiently off to the side.
Oh and hi
Hi. *awkward intp-wave and half smile-attempt*
A currently possibly from 10 to 17 year old English/Australian/Irish/German was born to a un-single mother and raised in the even deeper south(Australia) until he/she was 10 to 17. he/she did have a religion, and she/he loved knowledge. Possibly more people (this is australia after all) has a problem with that but she/he was stro---- clever and fast. so he/she just laught at people trying to beat him/her as nobody could catch her/he if they tried and didn't pay much attention to school, still hasn't found people more intelligent than the ones he/she already knew. Became an INTP and then had it reaffirmed by the test, has now welcomed you and just realised he/she also wrote this in third person But she/he is that weird and so doesn't care.
Welcome to you as well! From my perspective, you're all new, and I'm the old one. I like your ending to the story better. I will do my best to adopt such a motto. You really sure more people in Australia have a problem with the love of knowledge thing than in Louisiana? I don't know if you've ever been to Louisiana...but...
Why do people say these things? I find it rather common of those who come from the USA. How far on the ancestry trail does one go? Why stop there? What does this mean?
It probably is more common for people from the USA (or Canada...or Australia for that matter) to list a longer mix of heritage. Really, the German/Polish/Russian thing is my mom's side, who I live with, and the "African" is my father, who I never knew. He probably had some other European or Native American ancestry mixed in that I will never know about.
I think it is most common for people here to go back 2 to 3 generations, or to simply remember what they are told by their parents, grandparents, etc. For example, the main reason I know about the "German" thing is because my mother's mother's mother was an immigrant from Germany, and her story of immigration is rather memorable, and funny, and so has been remembered by my family. Then, after deciding to learn the language at school, I became more interested in that side of my heritage. At the same time, I am not denying all the other parts of my heritage, such as being african-american. Really, this is not so much going back to the "roots" of Africa, as recognizing the influence growing up half in the African-American culture of most of my peers, and half in the white-american culture of my mother has had on me.
At the same time, I also know some other Americans who know nothing of their heritage except "probably European" or "African...maybe some English?", or who simply don't care to remember. And that's fine.
For many people, though, the national identity, "American" (or "Canadian", "Australian"), just doesn't describe fully the cultural influences they have from their family or the community they live in. Instead, it is in large part influences of their forefather's culture which still resonates with them in the food they eat, music they listen to, history they remember. Sure, the national culture reigns supreme, it is sort of like the connecting cultural language everyone can tap into, but although most outside observers might just see this one, monolithic "American" (or "Canadian", "Australian") culture, really, it is not so.
not just USA b.t.w.
I live in Europe and I'm a Hungarian/Dutch/English/German/French mix (going back 2/3 generations)
Good to know, good to know. European heritage is much more mixed around between "nationalities" than it is commonly thought to be. Chances are, if you're German, you've had some relatives living in France back in the day, or vice versa.
I would say, however, these sorts of "heritage lines" are much more...remembered? fixated upon?...in countries with a colonial past. Mostly because if they are not actively remembered, the knowledge is lost, and because when you take a bunch of immigrants from different places and put them together, everyone wants to tell their story so that the others "understand" them. Because the dialogue between cultures became a major way divisions could heal, remembering the cultures themselves became important.
Now you're all automobiles!
).