How do you define your nationality?

[C4tt4nn4]

the long answer it, its complicated. my mom is american and my dad is italian. i was born in switzerland, 'cuse they work there, but i've lived (just across the border) in france since my birth. i speak italian, english and french. i visit italy regularly, and i sometimes feel italian. i also go to the states at least once a year, speak english at home, and go to an english speaking school. so i sometimes feel american. there's the fact that i spend most of my time in a swiss city, so i sometimes feel like a native of that city. and yet i have lived in a house in france for most of my life and thus know french culture (for better or for worse...).

the short answer would be i dont feel like im from anywhere. i wish i did, national identity sounds kinda fun.

 

[redmoretrout]

I wasn't aware there was anything complicated about it. I always just assumed people would identify themselves with the country that they spent their adolescence in. The formative years where one finds his/her identity and all that.

But to answer your question I am Canadian through and through.

 

[MorganL4]

In the states that question is always rather funny. You get people, and you ask them where they are from and they will say the city they live in (maybe the state) You ask them about nationality, and they pretty much NEVER say American, you will get Norwegian, you will get Irish, you will get Italian..... But they will almost NEVER say American... Then you ask if they were born there, and the response is, "No, but my great great grandparents were". I mean that is like me saying that I am a Slovak, because if you go back 5 generations my family immigrated from Slovakia, But I say I am American, if they say "no, where are you FROM" ( Which happens all the time) I say well my Dad is from Kentucky and my Mom is from England... But I was born here. Then they look stumped..... (I have a slight skin pigment) I smile, and respond with, if you are wondering about the skin color, my grandfather was from India... Then they say Oh!! Okay.... It is such a fun song and dance to go through and It happens at least twice a month (has done since I can remember)

People in the states have a hard time actually saying what they mean... Here we always seem to attempt a "politically correct" backward means of finding out information about others.

 

[dvd_72]

For me it's my most recent (or next to most recent depending entirely on mood) genetic heritage. My mother is Belgian, my father is from Israel so I'm half Belgian half Israeli. I feel this way regardless of where I lived because if I did, I'd see myself as purely Belgian.

I know that this doesn't apply to everyone and my definition for someone elses nationality will often conflict with their own and in those cases their own opinion supersedes my "rules".

It should be noted that I also like to make a distinction between cultural nationality and biological nationality. When it comes to my cultural nationality I'm Belgian, pure and simple. I have found people often prefer to name themselves by their cultural nationality rather than their biological such that people born in England with parents who are themselves not English still consider themselves English and almost reject the nationality of their parents. Perhaps this is an effort to fit into the land and culture they live in.

 

[revjor]

How do I describe my nationality?

 

[Rogue Trooper]

Irish or Northern Irish depending on the situation

 

[SirDeadly]

I'm half Australian, half English. I renounce all claim to being English during the Ashes though. I live and was born In Australia but the whole of my Dad's side of the family is English and I can get an English passport.

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Canadian. Born and raised there, so I will always identify as that. I also slightly identify as British as I'm technically half-British, since my mum was born in Yorkshire (doesn't sound it though).

 

[Froggy Slayer]

Yorkshire. If the Scottish get to try out for independence, I don't see why we shouldn't be able to either.

More generally, British. Or human.

 

[Raikas]

Personally, I think where you've lived and where you were born are irrelevant. It's the parent's nationalities that count. If they're both english, then you're english. If one is german the other chinese, you're half german-half chinese. Boom. Simple stuff,really.
I, for example, was born in germany, but I don't consider myself german at all. Both my parents are Hungarian, therefore I, in turn, and 100% Hungarian as well.

In the sense of legal nationality or ethnic nationality? Because it seems like that's a different question in different contexts.

Legally, I'm both 100% Belgian and 100% Canadian since those are the passports I carry - I have a South African mother, but since I don't have the passport, I can't rightly claim the nationality (I actually haven't looked into inheritance rules there - so maybe I could).

Culturally, I sometimes meet people who are surprised that a Belgian/Canadian doesn't have a French accent, at which point I have to say "Flemish Belgian/English Canadian" - but within Canada "English Canadian" means "of English ancestry", which I'm not, so I'd use my parents nationalities to answer the same question in that context (and also in the context of people who look at my name and ask if I'm Dutch).

So that's my answer to the OP - it depends.

 

[BrotherRool]

I'm Welsh and British which is as surely better than being one nationality by itself as 2>1.

I'm always gutted that I can't put both down on the census, so I fluctuate depending on how I'm feeling. Being Welsh is awesome, being British is awesome and I don't have to be English. I was born and lived my life in Wales and I've got blood going to all the four nations but I'm proud of being Welsh, proud of having the best rugby team, proud of Swansea totally rocking it in the premiership, proud of the NHS, proud of the fact we're happy to call our Prime Minister a c*** and don't go in for any of that Yes sir! Right away Mr President! crud.

One of the cool things about being British is the sheer variety you get in choosing your nationality

 

[DanielBrown]

I base nationalities on ancestors.
As for myself: I'm pretty much fully Swedish, apart from a slight bit of Indian gypsy blood on my mothers side(my great grandmothers fling was apparently from there), so I'm not exactly torn between nationalities.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm human. That's as far as I go. I don't care about the concept of countries and nationality, national pride, flags, anthems etc. It's all just man made hogwash. And it's boring. We should try to outgrow those things. Like in Star Trek.

 

[N3squ1ck]

I would prefer not to say where I'm from, because it just doesn't matter, we're all human.

I just explain "Hey, I'm German", because then I hope that people look past the language mistakes I tend to do. Also it helps to explain why I am so strictly anti-right-wing and anti-censorship. Yeah

EDIT: once I graduated from Uni, I will drop that though, then I hope that my English is in a for me acceptable level (studying English studies here, and I am just not happy with how I write and speak just yet)

 

[ace_of_something]

I tend to think of myself as a 'mid-westerner' (region of the united states)
I could get in to my genealogy but not much of that culture has been part of my upbringing despite the fact that my father is a European immigrant and both of my mother's parents are also European immigrants. I don't think of myself as a 'Scandinavian-American' or 'Sami-American.'

 

[Kennetic]

I'm American. Don't really know my family's heritage but I'm pretty sure I'm of Irish descent. Don't really know, don't really care. From the great state of Georgia.

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

Pretty straightforward. I'm Irish. No relations from outside Ireland really. I have never understood the plastic paddy phenomenon. Why would someone who has never even visited the country claim Irish nationality. If you're proud of an Irish heritage, and there is a strong Irish ethos in your community that is fine. But some vague connections really push the limits. But where you live and how you were brought up defines your nationality seperately. (For instance I have a friend from England who has always considered himself Irish as he has two Irish parents and was always brought up to be Irish. We beat the accent out of him eventually) It's pretty annoying to hear how someones Dad's fathers best friend had a dog who visited Ireland once. I just don't get it.

 

[SwimmingRock]

I'm gonna be honest with you: I have no idea what it feels like to have an emotional connection to a country. It's land. I live here now; might not in a couple years. Big flipping deal. I wasn't born or raised here, but I hated that oppressive, fundamentalist shithole, so definitely don't identify with them.

Hell, I've only been in Holland 7 years, but sometimes it seems like the 19 years before never even happened. Pretty sure if I moved somewhere else, Holland would eventually feel like a distant memory too. I've been to a few countries, but I can't say I've ever found a place that made me want to stay and be part of the city even, let alone country. Maybe that's just poor social skills. Who knows?

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

English. I was born here, raised here and I'll probably end up dying here. As far as I'm aware I don't have any foreign ancestry so it's not something I have to give much pause for thought. I do find it weird that some people refer to Enlgand and Britain interchangeably as though they were the same entity and yet if they here someone speaking with a Scottish or Welsh accent they won't identify it as 'British.' >.>

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

I'm human. That's as far as I go. I don't care about the concept of countries and nationality, national pride, flags, anthems etc. It's all just man made hogwash. And it's boring. We should try to outgrow those things. Like in Star Trek.

Don't get me wrong, I completely agree with you on all of that. And speaking of Star Trek, it actually aligns very closely with my views.
But as much as I dislike nationalism or patriotism, "where you're from", culturally or otherwise is a big part of how most people define themselves... and this thread has had some really interesting responses.