As I write this while driving on the railways of the country
I am visiting, yup I’m in the EU at the moment. I am listening to two local
gents talking about life and family as they sit behind me. I keep myself nice
and quiet just to slip in and blend in with the locals. The moment I speak
people are easy to peg me as an American. Soooooo, sitting in my seat and just
listening I hear this conversation from the two gents.
“My Dad’s
family is in town, we had to pick them up and bring them home yesterday. They
think they’re (insert country here) but they aren’t. Their English, well more
than that, they are American. They can’t be (insert country here) because they
don’t know us, know our ways and their accents are horrible.” This gent
proceeded to then berate how Americans ‘claim’ to be from a country they weren’t
born into and ‘pretend’ to then know the local customs and try to assimilate
into the culture that is rejected them out right for trying to be one of them.
Now, I can understand
if we, Americans (Yanks, what have you), do go around rudely and do pretend to
assume we know the customs and move on like we own the place. Sure there are
dolts that have no clue as to what to do and how to do things in another
country. My grandmother is an immigrant and does know the customs and has
passed them down to her daughter and to myself, her granddaughter.
I can see
how they can think we are claiming what we are not, saying “I’m Irish or I’m German”,
and not being born there. Sure we use our heritage to identify our roots and
forget that when we are in the other country we have to turn and identify ourselves
as American. We mean no disrespect to the locals by this, not at all! We are
proud and delighted when we can go back to the origins of our families to see
where they grew up, where they lived and how they lived.
Many in the
EU get angry or pissed off and then go around saying we’re nothing but rude and
silly Americans. Again, I’m sure this is case by case, however in hearing this
conversation with these two gents I have to wonder is this more wide spread
than what I have heard. I didn’t get myself involved in the conversation; I
didn’t want them to know I was American and ‘eavesdropping’. It’s just said
that there is such a mix up as to what we are really trying to say.
I grew up
in Chicago, and as many know it was
separated by streets and cultures. You had Little Italy, Chinatown,
Germantown, South Side Irish and so
on. You identify with where you were brought up and raised. I was brought up
south side Irish, with south side German. I do know the traditions that were
passed down from my great grandparents through my grandparents and parents. I
do say that I’m half Irish and German, that’s how to identify myself within
American culture.
What I
think many people misunderstand and I think we fail to communicate to them is
that we are American with heritage of this and that country or countries. We do
assume and that is your error that our accents set us apart from other English
speaking countries. We do have the sweet lovely accent of the Irish or the
strong firm accent of the Scottish, we’re not the English (England),
no one can ever mistake us as Welsh, and our accents are neither Aussie nor
Kiwi.
In the
respects that our accents set us apart and we assume that EU then understands
we are talking about where are roots are from. Sure, it is assuming on both
parts of this conversation. And I’m not faulting one side or the other, I think
we are both to blame for the mistakes and mishaps. I would love to talk to some
members of the EU to understand their side of it. I would like to find a better
way of now only conveying our roots of where we came from, but how that ties
into our identity as Americans. I think if we can find a better way to show our
respect for the cultures we are from; to the countries we are visiting (being
the native countries our families are from) we can find a better bond and try
to reestablish a link to continue to keep the culture alive even in America.
Just in my humble opinion.
Junie
