[Opinions] Re: why do people seem to like Celtic names so much?
by Dot (Spider from Mars)
1/20/2008, 3:41 PM
Is it really seen as pretentious to use the phrasing "I am ____" rather than "I have ____ ancestry"? I understand what would make it confusing when living in Europe, but most people are going to understand that if someone who has clearly grown up in America is saying "I am French", they mean that that's their ancestry. It's just a convention of language because it's shorter to say.
I know I sound wicked defensive. It's probably because I hate the Irish trend (I don't particularly like the sound of Irish (or for that matter, Welsh or Scottish) names in general, with a few notable exceptions) and I'm American but I often say "I'm Irish" or "I'm Irish and German" or "I'm Irish-Catholic", because that seems simpler than saying Irish-American/Irish-German-American. I don't ever say that because I think of myself as really Irish, and I get offended by people who do that. So now I am worried that I come off that way. That's why I'm defensive.