Shag On A Rock said:
Well, I'm just flummelghasted!
Firstly ,I have always read you 300 years remarks to mean that's how long your family has been in the USA.
Secondly, I have seen you make the "more Dutch than Dutch" comment many times before and never once considered it a joke. Perhaps you need to add a wink smilie at the end of your joke otherwise you may sound like an arrogant, sheltered, ethnocentric idiot with no concept of decency nor decorum.
I like the term Yankee Dutch a whole lot better (as long as it doesn't offend the people in the USA that don't like being called Yanks)
Dude, why is it such a big deal to you what I am and what I call myself? I NEVER said we've lived here for 300 years. QUITE the contrary. I said, I know my genealogy as far back as the 1600s. Then I said, we are all first, second, and maybe third generation here. Just b/c we know our genealogy doesn't mean it has to be from this country
It pretty much my mom's purpose in life, to find this all out, and she's spent decades researching both here and in Europe. We also have family back in the Netherlands who help her out from that end. I'm sorry if it was unclear, but your interpretation is incorrect.
Second, you can call me Dutch or Yankee Dutch. Yankee Dutch is more correct in the sense that to people who aren't Yankee Dutch it implies Dutch-American, but the true Yankee Dutch are those in Pennsylvania and many of them came to the US before our "clan" or whatever the hell you want to call it. So within the US, I can't tell someone else I'm Yankee Dutch b/c it's not historically or geographically correct.
As for the more Dutch than Dutch comment, you say I've said that before, which could be true, but I never though it was a big deal since no one said anything about it before. If it's really that big of a deal, a mod can go ahead and erase it, I don't care.
It's not that I'm not proud to be "American", but the term American means absolutely nothing except that it indicates where I live at the current point in time. Everyone in our community refers to themselves as Dutch, so feel free to stop over and convince tens of thousands of people that they're something they're not. Not to mention anyone else living around here who calls themselves Irish, Polish, Mexican, German, Italian, etc, etc. Feel free to post politically/historically/goegraphically correct re-classifications for every person on this forum......
c) or theres a more sinister interpretation of her pride in her Aryan roots
Sorry, this one probably doesn't deserve a response, but....wtf? If you're going to get all picky about what fucking word we're allowed or not allowed to use, I'd think you'd at least know that "Aryan"s are people from Asia/Middle East. If you want to call me a fucking Nazi, just do it straight up, alright? Yes, b/c I'm white and have Dutch heritage and live in a Dutch community, I'm a Nazi. What the fuck ever. Nevermind that half of the elderly people in this commuity fled the Netherlands during the war, stayed and helped save Jews on the underground, or went back and fought (if you must know, my grandpa fought in the 7th marine corps who were of the first to cross the Rhine and also liberated the Nordhausen concentration camp).
Finally, like you said, YOU don't live HERE so how the fuck would you know what we like to call ourselves and why? I'm not allowed to say what I am based on what our community has defined ourselves as for the past few decades, but you, not knowing me and having never been here are somehow more qualified to make that call? We don't call ourselves American, it doesn't make sense and it sounds absurd. If I met some new people at school and they asked what I was, if I said "American" they'd laugh in my face! In Africa is people asked me where I'm from, I say "Michigan, in the States". If they ask what I am, I say "Dutch." Just like when I ask them where they're from they say "Tanzania" and if I ask them what they are they say "[insert tribe/clan name here]".
If it makes you feel better, just think of it this way: ALL of my immediate family or ancestors are from the geographical area of Europe now refered to as Groningen. We have Dutch names (no, NOT Dutch-American, straight-up Dutch names), Dutch traditions, and Dutch/Yankee Dutch/Grunings language. Like ANY place in the world, our immediate local culture is obviously not purely synonymous with "The Netherlands" as a whole, I don't think that even needs to be said.
Sicy is Italian, I am Dutch. End of story. Thank you and goodnight.