Comment by lillecarl
2 years ago
> I am from the northern US (Protestant Scandinavian/German) and my wife is from the southern US (Protestant English/German)
You're American, your wife is American.
2 years ago
> I am from the northern US (Protestant Scandinavian/German) and my wife is from the southern US (Protestant English/German)
You're American, your wife is American.
I'm genuinely curious, what is the point you're trying to make?
Do you think American doesn't have cultural differences within? Or that those cultures don't correlate at all with geography? Or with ancestry?
It's the international part, if there's such a difference between west, east, south and north it just doesn't seem necessary to say where you Mr grandma's from
Edit: I want to move to the Netherlands, if I have kids there they'll be Dutch
They’ll be Dutch when they’re in America, and American when they’re in the Netherlands. So it goes.
They would have Dutch passports and be Dutch citizens, yes. And if they live there for long enough they would take on the culture. But let me ask you this. If you breed a German Shepard, with a German Shepherd anywhere in the world, what do you get?
You underestimate how vastly cultures can differ based on location or background. Also keep in mind the US is young and most of its inhabitants have a migrant background / family history.
The US is the opposite of a monolithic culture.
Even been into Spain? Half of the Andalusian culture around flamenco it's alien to the rest of the country. Basque and the Nort-Western cultures related to the Celtic lore it's similarly alien to the Castilles, Andalusia, Catalonia and Valencia.
And even in regions themselves you can find alien customs to each other. For instance, in the Basque Country from valley to valley. Or in Andalusia with huge differences between East and West. Yes, like a Mandelbrot fractal. Spain it's like that.
You can find here any climate. Desserts? Glaciars? Tundra like climates? Cold winters down to -30C on high peaks? Dry heat? Windy heat? Dry cold? Windy cold? Rainy weather, like London if not more? All of them across the country. Now, from these megadiverse climate diffs you can guess you will find zillions of cultures and subcultures because, you know, traditions and architecture change a lot if you live between ponds in Cantabria with more mist than in a Stephen King novel compared to a dry dessert in Almeria were "Spagetthi Westerns" were filmed here and white homes with Arabic architecture reflecting the Sun was a must in order to just survive the Summer.
This applies to other countries too.
One person from London, the other from Belfast? Both British.
One from Barcelona, the other from Madrid? Both Spanish.
One from Prague, the other from Bratislava? Both Czechoslovakian, until a couple decades ago.
Outside America, this is true. Inside America, if you are unaware of pronounced regional cultural differences arising from the settler groups that form your ancestry and local culture, you're either ignorant, or not American.
But you’re already using perfectly good American regional identifiers for those regional differences in your original post.
Pet peeve from a European: the American habit of using their distant ancestor’s European ethnicity as a shorthand for stereotypical personality and culture today a) undervalues the massive political and cultural changes in Europe since their ancestor’s emigration und b) undervalues the regional differences inside their ancestor’s origin country. Being german I find both Ask and Guess culture here, just 50 km apart. And often in the same place, differing by class or the rural/urban divide. Describing „German“ as just Ask culture is rather wrong from my perspective. I know the outside and Hollywood stereotypes differ.
(And c), I think, distant ancestors ethnic stereotypes undervalues the melting pot/salad bowl effect over generations of the US itself.)
You can’t experience a culture until you leave it. When you’re in it, it’s just water. That’s why travel is interesting.
Ditto with Spaniards. Most of the "Hispanic coulture with flamenco, sun and beaches" won't apply to a whole 80% of the country. The North has beaches, but the Sun it's an English tabloid. The middle Spain has Sun, but water is something you see in rivers in reservoirs. Also, cold as hell winters.
Now try to figure that across the pond with zillions of native cultures merged with an (older than North America itself) Southern Hispanic culture from Mexico to the Patagonia close to the South Pole.
You're not wrong, but there are some pretty big differences between south, east, and west. In a lot of ways US states are like independent countries that share a military
Absolutely, I just disagree with trying to identify as being from somewhere else when you're born and raised in the US
I'm not identifying as being from somewhere else. I'm explaining the broad origins of northern US and southern US culture.
When it comes to talking about US history, people are quick to denigrate the US and explain how young of a country it is. When it comes to talking about the evolution and origins of American culture, people are quick to denigrate the US and explain how far removed it is from its European origins.
Why stop here: your are Earthling, your wife is Earthling.
Bless your heart.