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View Full Version : What is your race/ethnicity?



Captain Obvious
03-26-2013, 07:43 PM
Unscientific poll for no real reason other than curiosity.

Votes will NOT be public.

Mister D
03-26-2013, 07:46 PM
Italian, English, Polish, and Irish. IOW, I'm a typical white man from New Jersey.

oceanloverOH
03-26-2013, 07:49 PM
Dutch/Irish ancestry by blood. Adoption by my Italian dad threw a little of that in there too, lol!

hanger4
03-26-2013, 07:51 PM
I am what I am.

Can't do nothin' about it

and won't/don't apologize for it.

I be Caucasian

Dutch, Danish, German

Mister D
03-26-2013, 07:52 PM
Dutch/Irish ancestry by blood. Adoption by my Italian dad threw a little of that in there too, lol!

A little love for cooking too I reckon!

oceanloverOH
03-26-2013, 07:53 PM
A little love for cooking too I reckon!

Yes, indeed.....mmmmm, that Italian food!

Peter1469
03-26-2013, 07:57 PM
Prussian

Mister D
03-26-2013, 07:58 PM
Prussian

Both sides?

KC
03-26-2013, 08:29 PM
As far as I know I'm German, Austrian, Polish and Irish, although I suspect there are more. Not an unusual mix for a white guy in Wisconsin.

Chris
03-26-2013, 08:43 PM
German, Irish and a shot of Scotch.

Peter1469
03-26-2013, 08:43 PM
Both sides?

85%. The rest is Scot-Irish.

Mister D
03-26-2013, 08:49 PM
85%. The rest is Scot-Irish.

Ah, the traditional southern stock.

Guerilla
03-26-2013, 09:35 PM
Mexican, Puerto Rican, Native American, Irish, and Israeli.

Agravan
03-26-2013, 09:57 PM
Tejano

Captain Obvious
03-26-2013, 10:01 PM
For the record, my dad was Polish (mostly I believe) and my mom was mostly Russian and a small part Jewish though she was raised an Orthodox Catholic.

Mister D
03-26-2013, 10:03 PM
For the record, my dad was Polish (mostly I believe) and my mom was mostly Russian and a small part Jewish though she was raised an Orthodox Catholic.

You mean Eastern Orthodox? They aren't Catholics. I'm from a Catholic milieu but I like Orthodox imagery. I have an icon of Tsar Nicolas II on my desk.

Captain Obvious
03-26-2013, 10:06 PM
You mean Eastern Orthodox? They aren't Catholics. I'm from a Catholic milieu but I like Orthodox imagery. I have an icon of Tsar Nicolas II on my desk.

Probably. I was raised Roman Catholic and never delved into the Orthodox stuff.

I just remember those odd crosses with the slashes through them at my maternal grandparents house.

Mister D
03-26-2013, 10:08 PM
Probably. I was raised Roman Catholic and never delved into the Orthodox stuff.

I just remember those odd crosses with the slashes through them at my maternal grandparents house.

Gotcha. That's Eastern Orthodox. It's an ancient branch of our faith. Poles are fiercely Catholic. No wonder you were raised that way.

Captain Obvious
03-26-2013, 10:13 PM
Yeah, my mom was never really religious but my dad and his parents... look out.

My paternal grandparents house was like a small shrine. Every room had holy pictures in it, last supper portraits with decades of palms hanging on and behind them and a bathtub statue of the Virgin Mary in the courtyard. Mass cards everywhere, candles, pope portraits... No wonder I'm as fucked up as I am.

My dad sort of did that a bit but didn't get carried away with it.

Mister D
03-26-2013, 10:18 PM
Yeah, my mom was never really religious but my dad and his parents... look out.

My paternal grandparents house was like a small shrine. Every room had holy pictures in it, last supper portraits with decades of palms hanging on and behind them and a bathtub statue of the Virgin Mary in the courtyard. Mass cards everywhere, candles, pope portraits... No wonder I'm as fucked up as I am.

My dad sort of did that a bit but didn't get carried away with it.

You know, sometimes it doesn't even matter if people are churchgoers or not. It becomes so wrapped up in ethnic identity that the tenets of the faith become secondary. I remember my mom commenting on her childhood in Jersey City saying something like "of course you were Catholic...I don't think I knew anyone that wasn't".

roadmaster
03-26-2013, 10:47 PM
Scot-Irish and English.

Cigar
03-27-2013, 07:04 AM
Chocolate Mocha Cream w/plenty of Long Lasting Flavor and a After-Kick ... :wink:

killianr1
03-27-2013, 01:07 PM
Irish English Dutch But you already knew that didn't you (at least the Irish)

Ravi
03-27-2013, 01:08 PM
Human

TNHarley
03-27-2013, 01:09 PM
I knew ol Marie would say something like that :)

TNHarley
03-27-2013, 01:10 PM
Chocolate Mocha Cream w/plenty of Long Lasting Flavor and a After-Kick ... :wink:

What is the after-kick? std-related death? lol

Chloe
03-27-2013, 01:23 PM
From what I have been told russian/baltic but i'm sure there is more of a mixture the further you go back in history probably

Mister D
03-27-2013, 01:39 PM
From what I have been told russian/baltic but i'm sure there is more of a mixture the further you go back in history probably

Are both of your patens Jews?

Chloe
03-27-2013, 01:45 PM
Are both of your patens Jews?

yes everyone in my family is jewish. If you count that as an ethnic group then we are obviously ashkenazic

Mister D
03-27-2013, 01:47 PM
yes everyone in my family is jewish. If you count that as an ethnic group then we are obviously ashkenazic

I have no idea what a paten is. :grin:

Some Jews are sensitive about that sort of thing but I tend to see it that way too.

Chloe
03-27-2013, 01:48 PM
I have no idea what a paten is. :grin:

Some Jews are sensitive about that sort of thing but I tend to see it that way too.

It's ok I assumed you meant parent :)

Chloe
03-27-2013, 02:18 PM
Prussian

Prussian...ugh...I had to write a term paper my senior year of high school about the military strategy of Frederick the Great....we obviously did not get to choose our topics for that paper otherwise I would have gone with something else. In fact I think my teacher thought that I was going to pass out when he handed out the topics and then he absolutely would not budge on letting me do something else. It was probably the hardest i've ever worked to get a B on something. Typing out over 15 pages of stuff about military strategy, war, and very old european dead people who carried swords was painful to say the least...oh and on top of that we weren't allowed to get our reference sources from the internet but we had to get them from actual book form instead which meant reading portions of books that I think were actually written during the war they were so old and hard to find. You're cool, but Frederick sucks, and Prussia sucks. :hmh:

Mister D
03-27-2013, 02:20 PM
Dang! :shocked:

Common
03-27-2013, 02:44 PM
Mother born in Italy, father born in NYC and he is italian so im full blooded AMERICAN Italian. American first

Peter1469
03-27-2013, 04:24 PM
Prussian...ugh...I had to write a term paper my senior year of high school about the military strategy of Frederick the Great....we obviously did not get to choose our topics for that paper otherwise I would have gone with something else. In fact I think my teacher thought that I was going to pass out when he handed out the topics and then he absolutely would not budge on letting me do something else. It was probably the hardest i've ever worked to get a B on something. Typing out over 15 pages of stuff about military strategy, war, and very old european dead people who carried swords was painful to say the least...oh and on top of that we weren't allowed to get our reference sources from the internet but we had to get them from actual book form instead which meant reading portions of books that I think were actually written during the war they were so old and hard to find. You're cool, but Frederick sucks, and Prussia sucks. :hmh:

I did a term paper on Frederick the Great and his military strategy / tactics in college. I enjoyed it a lot. :wink:

Chloe
03-27-2013, 05:17 PM
I did a term paper on Frederick the Great and his military strategy / tactics in college. I enjoyed it a lot. :wink:

Well yes YOU would have enjoyed it since that's your thing, but if I made you write a long term paper about how great tofu is you'd probably be in hell i'm assuming, much like I was writing about old war stuff. Also see that proves a point that I was trying to make to my parents at that time that it was pretty much like a college level subject and paper and not really something that I should have had to write in high school. Granted my high school was a good college preparatory school and that was the point of being there, but still. I really don't remember anything from that paper in spite of it all.

Peter1469
03-27-2013, 05:19 PM
Well yes YOU would have enjoyed it since that's your thing, but if I made you write a long term paper about how great tofu is you'd probably be in hell i'm assuming, much like I was writing about old war stuff. Also see that proves a point that I was trying to make to my parents at that time that it was pretty much like a college level subject and paper and not really something that I should have had to write in high school. Granted my high school was a good college preparatory school and that was the point of being there, but still. I really don't remember anything from that paper in spite of it all.


At least it made you learn cool stuff. Like the oblique order attack. :smiley:

I would like to right a paper on tofu. About how unfermmeted soy is a poison and is not fit for human consumption.

Chloe
03-27-2013, 05:30 PM
At least it made you learn cool stuff. Like the oblique order attack. :smiley:

I would like to right a paper on tofu. About how unfermmeted soy is a poison and is not fit for human consumption.

I tried to change topics but he said no, and when I asked if I could just write about frederick the great as a person instead of his military strategies and his battles I got lectured on not taking the easy road and how to learn how to accept assignments. Basically he told me he'd rather see me write a good paper about something that I have no interest in and struggle a little bit instead of me getting an easy A writing about something that I could finish in a day. Looking back I get it and I appreciate it since he was one of my favorite teachers in high school, but I probably spent a good solid day cursing him behind his back.

Captain Obvious
03-27-2013, 05:33 PM
I tried to change topics but he said no, and when I asked if I could just write about frederick the great as a person instead of his military strategies and his battles I got lectured on not taking the easy road and how to learn how to accept assignments. Basically he told me he'd rather see me write a good paper about something that I have no interest in and struggle a little bit instead of me getting an easy A writing about something that I could finish in a day. Looking back I get it and I appreciate it since he was one of my favorite teachers in high school, but I probably spent a good solid day cursing him behind his back.

And just think, if it weren't for this teachers belligerence, you wouldn't be having this discussion on this message forum.

You should send him a thank you note.

:laugh:

Peter1469
03-27-2013, 05:45 PM
I tried to change topics but he said no, and when I asked if I could just write about frederick the great as a person instead of his military strategies and his battles I got lectured on not taking the easy road and how to learn how to accept assignments. Basically he told me he'd rather see me write a good paper about something that I have no interest in and struggle a little bit instead of me getting an easy A writing about something that I could finish in a day. Looking back I get it and I appreciate it since he was one of my favorite teachers in high school, but I probably spent a good solid day cursing him behind his back.

Sounds like a good teacher. Did he assign other students topics that would be outside of their comfort zone too?

Chris
03-27-2013, 05:57 PM
I find it interesting, getting back to topic, that most answer in terms of ethnicity, German, Irish, Italian, Russian, etc, and very few in terms of race. Does that the significance of one over the other to people generally these days?

Chloe
03-27-2013, 06:04 PM
Sounds like a good teacher. Did he assign other students topics that would be outside of their comfort zone too?

A friend of mine in the class didn't really love her assignment either but other than that i'm not sure. He gave us all a piece of paper with our assignments on it and didn't really announce them out to the class or anything, and I didn't really ask around.

Chloe
03-27-2013, 06:04 PM
I find it interesting, getting back to topic, that most answer in terms of ethnicity, German, Irish, Italian, Russian, etc, and very few in terms of race. Does that the significance of one over the other to people generally these days?

True. I'm white :)

Chris
03-27-2013, 06:06 PM
True. I'm white :)

Like Snow? ;-)

Peter1469
03-27-2013, 06:06 PM
A friend of mine in the class didn't really love her assignment either but other than that i'm not sure. He gave us all a piece of paper with our assignments on it and didn't really announce them out to the class or anything, and I didn't really ask around.

I had a similar thing in high school, but the teacher let me change my topic.

Common
03-27-2013, 06:06 PM
I find it interesting, getting back to topic, that most answer in terms of ethnicity, German, Irish, Italian, Russian, etc, and very few in terms of race. Does that the significance of one over the other to people generally these days?


I would think that stating your ethnicity in most cases identifies your race. Italian-Caucasian etc

Mister D
03-27-2013, 06:15 PM
I would think that stating your ethnicity in most cases identifies your race. Italian-Caucasian etc

True.

Captain Obvious
03-27-2013, 06:16 PM
I would think that stating your ethnicity in most cases identifies your race. Italian-Caucasian etc

Unless you're Donovan McNabb.

Chris
03-27-2013, 06:22 PM
I would think that stating your ethnicity in most cases identifies your race. Italian-Caucasian etc

True but the focus seems to be on ethnicity. I wonder if nationalism influences that?

Common
03-27-2013, 06:27 PM
True but the focus seems to be on ethnicity. I wonder if nationalism influences that?

I dont know Chris I can speak for me and say no. The reason I put ethnicity because it was asked in the Poll. What race or ethnicity so to answer both I put my ethnicity which in turn tells everyone Im caucasian.
Now had the poll question been just what race are you, I believe most would have put just their race.

Common
03-27-2013, 06:28 PM
Unless you're Donovan McNabb.


Not necessarily what would he put for ethnicity certainly not scotch irish lol.

Captain Obvious
03-27-2013, 06:30 PM
Wasn't there a big frackus during one of the censuses when a bunch of people chose "native American" and argued that they were just that because they were born in America?

Dr. Who
03-27-2013, 06:52 PM
Just for the record, Caucasian or Caucasoid refers to skull formation and not skin pigmentation, thus many people of South Asian (i.e. Indian), or middle eastern origin are Caucasian. Equating "white" with Caucasian is a misnomer. White, Black, Yellow or Red are not ethnicities or races. There are four basic races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid and Australoid. There are numerous sub-categories.

Mister D
03-27-2013, 07:01 PM
Just for the record, Caucasian or Caucasoid refers to skull formation and not skin pigmentation, thus many people of South Asian (i.e. Indian), or middle eastern origin are Caucasian. Equating "white" with Caucasian is a misnomer. White, Black, Yellow or Red are not ethnicities or races. There are four basic races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid and Australoid. There are numerous sub-categories.

Race doesn't merely refer to skin pigmentation and, yes, the white race and the Caucasian race mean the same thing. What is "white" in social terms is a sub-category of the Caucasian race (i.e. European).

Dr. Who
03-27-2013, 07:12 PM
Race doesn't merely refer to skin pigmentation and, yes, the white race and the Caucasian race mean the same thing. What is "white" in social terms is a sub-category of the Caucasian race (i.e. European).
If a motorcycle is a sub-category of motor vehicles, you wouldn't say that all motor vehicles are motorcycles would you? Just because people abuse the term, doesn't make it right.

Mister D
03-27-2013, 07:16 PM
If a motorcycle is a sub-category of motor vehicles, you wouldn't say that all motor vehicles are motorcycles would you? Just because people abuse the term, doesn't make it right.

No doubt there is some ambiguity. That's because the term has both biological and social utility. The problem is that they don't always jive. In a strictly biological sense, you're correct. Eurasians (the peoples of Europe, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East are "white" or Caucasian.

Common
03-27-2013, 07:39 PM
Just for the record, Caucasian or Caucasoid refers to skull formation and not skin pigmentation, thus many people of South Asian (i.e. Indian), or middle eastern origin are Caucasian. Equating "white" with Caucasian is a misnomer. White, Black, Yellow or Red are not ethnicities or races. There are four basic races: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid and Australoid. There are numerous sub-categories.

Try telling a black guy with a head shaped like mine that hes caucasian lol

Dr. Who
03-27-2013, 08:06 PM
Try telling a black guy with a head shaped like mine that hes caucasian lol
My point exactly. People should stop trying to categorize people according to race or skin color. We are all human. Period.

Mister D
03-27-2013, 08:17 PM
My point exactly. People should stop trying to categorize people according to race or skin color. We are all human. Period.

The concept of humanity is the most meaningless of all.

"In the course of my life, I have seen Frenchmen, Italians, Russians, etc.; I am even aware, thanks to Montesquieu, that one can be a Persian. But, as for Man, I declare that I have never met him in my life. If he exists, I certainly have no knowledge of him." - Joseph de Maistre

Guerilla
03-28-2013, 12:23 AM
I think people are more focused on ethnicity than race because ethnicity brings a sense of culture and heritage that race just doesn't bring. Race encompasses to many different types of peoples that maybe we don't identify with as well as the specific subcategories of the race. For example, irish people may not want to say they are white because maybe they don't want to be confused with Italians because irish and italian culture and history are different even if they are both white.

Chris
03-28-2013, 05:49 AM
I think people are more focused on ethnicity than race because ethnicity brings a sense of culture and heritage that race just doesn't bring. Race encompasses to many different types of peoples that maybe we don't identify with as well as the specific subcategories of the race. For example, irish people may not want to say they are white because maybe they don't want to be confused with Italians because irish and italian culture and history are different even if they are both white.

I'd agree. Ethnicity is meaningful, race really is not. Man makes his own meaning, call it culture, nature does not.

roadmaster
03-28-2013, 10:37 AM
I think people are more focused on ethnicity than race because ethnicity brings a sense of culture and heritage that race just doesn't bring. Race encompasses to many different types of peoples that maybe we don't identify with as well as the specific subcategories of the race. For example, irish people may not want to say they are white because maybe they don't want to be confused with Italians because irish and italian culture and history are different even if they are both white.

Exactly, it's all about heritage not the shade of ones skin. Even Native Americans state which tribe. Like my husband will tell you he is Sioux, Italian, and Irish.

Chris
03-28-2013, 10:46 AM
Exactly, it's all about heritage not the shade of ones skin. Even Native Americans state which tribe. Like my husband will tell you he is Sioux, Italian, and Irish.

Or the shape of one's skull. :-)

roadmaster
03-28-2013, 11:03 AM
Or the shape of one's skull. :-)

Lol correct and still on his BC it says white.

Chris
03-28-2013, 11:41 AM
Lol correct and still on his BC it says white.

You must mean the numbskull we have for prez.

Cigar
03-28-2013, 11:49 AM
What is the after-kick? std-related death? lol

The footprint in your ass will clearly enlighten you. :)

TNHarley
03-28-2013, 11:54 AM
I was jk pookey :)

roadmaster
03-28-2013, 12:02 PM
The footprint in your ass will clearly enlighten you. :)

You still haven't said your heritage only skin tone.