April 24, 2003
Fractions
There are many things that Han finds peculiar, amusing about Americans. For some reason, he finds the way that Americans traveling abroad introduce themselves funny : 'John, from Texas'. I suppose that I can see his point, he would never stick out his hand and say ' Han, from Holland', or- to be more precise - 'Han, from Brabant'.
Another thing that most Europeans I have met find bewildering, totally incomprehensible in fact, about Americans is how we fractionalize ourselves. You know what I mean : all Americans know precisely what percentage of themselves is from where. Here, to illustrate my point , my simple fraction : I am half Polish, half Irish ( we tend to try and ignore that Alsatian in the family woodpile, even though he actually brings in close to 30% of the total. After all, he ran off with that French woman to live in a log cabin- of all things- in Canada- of all places.). Now, if the conversation is going well, I could go into the smaller fractions- that French bit and where was Bucky's Grandmother really from ? Hungary ? And then there is the question of what county in Ireland are we talking about, potato-famine or lace curtain ? These things matter, you know, when discussing the fractions.
When I go back to visit my family in the sleepy southern town they have retired to, I am always drawn into conversations like this, end up hearing the genealogical backgrounds of all but total strangers. And I find it interesting. They seem to as well.
But I can't recall ever having told my fractions tale to anyone here. I can already picture their reactions if I were to do so. They would let me talk, be polite, after all, we have been friends for years, but when I wasn't looking they would exchange a puzzled glance, one very similar, I would guess, to the puzzled glance the little boy in 'The Emperor's New Clothes' had on his face a moment or two before he called out ' But he's naked !'
'What is she going on about ?', their look would say, ' half this, half that. She's an American.'
They are right, of course.
And it is impossible to explain.
Posted by at April 24, 2003 08:38 AMI remember making pie charts as a kid, exaggerating the Irish slice and the Mohawk slice, trying to figure out what the hell Pennsylvania Dutch really was, and if our Alsatians were German or French, and so on, nine slices worth.
Posted by: Mig at April 24, 2003 09:02 AMFrom where I am from, the more foreign slices in the pie you have, the better your chances are for getting special treatments (in a good way). People are interested in where you are from and what you do. Consequently, even the most remote foreign blood a person here has is proudly acknowledged.
Posted by: laila at April 24, 2003 12:24 PMAnd:
-To the world a yankee is someone from the US
-To someone in the US, a yankee is someone from the north
-To someone in the north, a yankee is someone from New England
-To someone in New England, a yankee is someone from Vermont
-To someone in Vermont, a yankee is someone who eats pie for breakfast
I have never in my life introduced myself as "Brian, from (wherever)". People from Texas are inordinately impressed with this particular distinction, I find.
Oddly enough, I was just thinking about that "What percentage of FOO am I?" Children are obsessed with trying to find their place in the hierarchy of things, and unfortunately a lot of adults never grow beyond their inner 12-year-olds (as I have often observed about blogging), so they continue to see the world in those terms.
Posted by: Brian at April 24, 2003 02:37 PMWhat used to drive my European friends nuts was hearing Americans say "I'm Irish" or "I'm Scottish." No, you're American. "Oh, well, my great great great grandfather came from Scotland" or something to that effect. So if nothing else, I learned to say "My father's family was from Denmark," not "I'm Danish."
When I was in Northern Ireland, on the other hand, I caused a few brain freezes by not claiming to be Irish. I don't think they get many Americans who don't say "I'm Irish ," no matter how tiny the sliver of their genetic pie.
Posted by: Sarah at April 24, 2003 02:54 PMBrian, Han's experience, not mine. And he travels a lot.
And people here do find the fractions very difficult to understand.
Posted by: sue at April 24, 2003 02:55 PMFractions are an experience that Europeans can't relate to because they are most likely to be 100% whatever nationality they are.
With immigrants arriving in America from many different countries last century, the boy or girl next door could be Irish or Italian or German, etc. While in Ireland, Italy and Germany the boy or girl next door was almost certainly Irish, Italian or German, respectively, and thus no fractions for their children.
Maybe with the world becoming smaller and people traveling more there will be more fractions even among Europeans, but when you think of it, it will never become as big a deal as it is in America. (On the other hand, the fascination with fractions might actually diminish in America as immigration slows down and the boy or girl next door is more likely to be 3rd or 4th generation American.)
Posted by: Marina at April 24, 2003 11:14 PMMarina- Han's family has moved and inter-married so little that he is really and truly-I-kid-you-not 100% Taxandrian. This is the tribe that the Romans encountered when they came up here. Sometimes, I feel rather bad about disturbing such an old and long blood-line ( although it seems, in some way, to be so pure, so strong, that despite the fact that I have brown eyes, all 3 of our children have those Taxandrian grey eyes...)
Posted by: sue at April 27, 2003 01:01 AM"Fractions are an experience that Europeans can't relate to because they are most likely to be 100% whatever nationality they are."
Or, if they aren't 100 percent, they probably aren't proud of it and won't volunteer the information. You won't see many "Kiss me, I'm Ukrainian" buttons in Poland. The major interactions this place has had with neighbors (Turks, Swedes, Germans, Russians, etc.) have been invasions, not friendly migrations.
You might, however, see the equivalent of US-style hyphenation with members of old and honorable subpopulations of Poland. For example, a Kashubian
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashubian
will be somewhat proud of being not only 100 percent Polish, but 100 percent Kashubian Polish, and may actually wear a shirt indicating such, or have a decal on the car, or attend Kashubian gatherings. You won't see much of it, but I have seen it.
Saraqh says: 'What used to drive my European friends nuts was hearing Americans say "I'm Irish" or "I'm Scottish." No, you're American.'
Yeah, same here. I'm German, and when I first met my American future husband, one of the first things he told me about himself was that he was Italian. I didn't get it at all, and my reaction was the same: no, you're not, you're American! What the hell are you talking about?
While Europeans may not do fractions, the minorities do a similar thing: a coworker who had grown up in Poland and has a Polish password, describes himself as Ukranian.
And my former housemate doesn't speak of himself as Italian - although technically he is - but as Sicilian.
Posted by: Elke at April 30, 2003 02:04 AMYes, my husband used to say "I'm italian", and I was always replying, "no, you're american!". I guess only people in US would think that saying "I'm italian" means "I'm an american but my family came from Italy". Everywhere in the world people would think you were born and lived in Italy.
In Brazil we do talk about fractions a little, not as much as here (we say where our families came from, but actully not the percentages).
You guys have a nice blog here!
Luciana
Brazilian living in Michigan, USA