Polish, American, Polish-American - what am I to you?

i feel you on the percentages - both of my moms side of grandparents are polish, so she is 100% - and my dad is just a mixture of euro countries so i am half polish >.> but since i dont speak it and have never been to poland or anything, i consider myself a polish american

Excactly! I hate "Germanico" nationalists!


Well depends, if your a huge Polish patriot then I don't really care if you can speak Polish. As long you have plans on learning it or something :)

Although I could consider myself more German then BB himself still I consider myself half Norwegian and half Polish. Why? Becaouse I grow up in Norway in a Norwegian society with my Polish father, who learned me Polish history and language. I have also been to Poland each year, while I can only speak some few words in German even tho I could comunicate with a Ukrainian for instance using German. But it would been only to most simple words.

It's always amazed me why so many Americans hold on to a national identity they have left behind them, at times generations ago. OK, I understand having pride in one's roots but hanging on for dear life to something which you're obviously not goes way beyond that.

Your blood will always be with you, there's not a lot that can be said about that, but how far back are you going to take it. Are we not all offshoots from the same root, is our blood not all the same, how many generations does your family have to be born in a place before this is where you are from?

It's obviously not just Americans of Polish decent who do this but these are the experiences we a reading about on this forum. Patrycja19 is a prime example. Your children are American sweetheart, they were born in America and are growing up there. They might have German, English, French heritage, hell, go back far enough and you can bet your bottom dollar they have some African in them.

But take them out of America, stick them in a foreign surrounding, and they will be pointed at as Americans, they wont be able to escape it. They way they look, behave, speak, think will earmark them for what they are. Americans. Take them to Poland and they will be Americans. Always.

As BubbaWoo says - blood does not your nationality make. Your cultural heritage might, to varying degrees, play a role in who you are but we are all products of our society.

Where are your offshoots from - Adam and Eve or the ape?