I'm English

[martint235]

If you are half Welsh, half Portugese how does that make you English? At best it makes you British. I am British as I have English, Irish and Scottish in my family tree with some French thrown in from way back. I cannot call myself truly English though.

Before someone wants to throw out what I have said and start throwing racism cards or comments think about this "If a cat is born in a stable does it make it a horse?"

I accept this to an extent, ie probably first generation. But the United Kingdom is a country of assimilation so at some point to use your example you will end up with a weird half cat/half horse variation that is the new British. I think if your parents were born in the same country you are then regardless of their origin you are from that country. So from my own situation, both grandfathers were born in Ireland, both grandmothers in England but both my parents were born in England so in order I'm a Lancastrian, English, British.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

were you talking portuguese?

..I'm just wondering if these donuts mistook it for an eastern european language as it does sometimes sound like that to the uneducated...still no excuse..just a thought.

 

[Paul J]

I accept this to an extent, ie probably first generation. But the United Kingdom is a country of assimilation so at some point to use your example you will end up with a weird half cat/half horse variation that is the new British. I think if your parents were born in the same country you are then regardless of their origin you are from that country. So from my own situation, both grandfathers were born in Ireland, both grandmothers in England but both my parents were born in England so in order I'm a Lancastrian, English, British.

So what you are saying Britain should be diluted to fit in with them ie Halal meat, Indian, Chinese traditions being celebrated, while British ones are surpressed. If I was to move to America and have a child they will never be an American only an American Citizen. If being Portugese or Indian or what ever country you are from and you class yourself as being British why mention them at all.

Come on what you are saying is if a bulldog has pups with a dalmation and they are born in a Great Dane litte box you can call them Great Danes. Come on think about what you are saying.

 

[thnurg]

I'm not totally against Scottish independence, I tend to be quite impartial on it but then I don't have much experience of the Scottish people. Sad to hear some of them are being a bit racist themselves. Given the proximity to each other, I think a lot of them probably have quite a lot of English heritage anyway. The majority of Scots are good people I imagine, they've just developed a bad image because of alcohol and their proximity to their colonial 'masters'.. :P

Absolutely they are good people. I'm an Englishman who has been living in Scotland for over 23 years now. In that time I've only had two or three incidents where being English was a problem. The rest of the time they treat you like a fellow human.

 

[Bluenite]

So what you are saying Britain should be diluted to fit in with them ie Halal meat, Indian, Chinese traditions being celebrated, while British ones are surpressed. If I was to move to America and have a child they will never be an American only an American Citizen. If being Portugese or Indian or what ever country you are from and you class yourself as being British why mention them at all.

Come on what you are saying is if a bulldog has pups with a dalmation and they are born in a Great Dane litte box you can call them Great Danes. Come on think about what you are saying.

Third most stupid thing i have read today.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

I suspect that a lot of the current bad feeling from the people of Wales and Scotland towards England is actually due to the remote and unfeeling governance from Westminster. Sadly they don't realize that rural England suffers (silently) from this too as nothing seems to matter to parliament if it's outside the M25 (they all do it - I'm not picking on any party here). If you asked MP's where Shrewsbury was I bet most wouldn't know (or they'd think it was in Wales somewhere).

The point I'm trying to make is that yes, The Clearances were terrible. Yes, it is awful to bulldoze a community just for a new reservoir but it is not my fault and I can't do anything to make it better. Judge me for who I am, not just because I have an English accent.

 

[mcshroom]

So what you are saying Britain should be diluted to fit in with them ie Halal meat, Indian, Chinese traditions being celebrated, while British ones are surpressed. If I was to move to America and have a child they will never be an American only an American Citizen. If being Portugese or Indian or what ever country you are from and you class yourself as being British why mention them at all.

Come on what you are saying is if a bulldog has pups with a dalmation and they are born in a Great Dane litte box you can call them Great Danes. Come on think about what you are saying.

Where did this 'suppressing British traditions' come from?

I'll pose you the other question then. What about my friend, who has Pakistani grandparents, but both he and his parents were born, brought up and still live in Rotherham. He speaks English with a broad Rotherham accent, and other than not drinking when we go to the pub, does exactly the same things as I do. He not surprisingly regards himself as English, why shouldn't he be so?

 

[Paul J]

Problem is Rickshaw Phil is to many MP's still have their noses in the trough and don't really give a dam about the constintuents that voted them in.

 

[Paul J]

Where did this 'suppressing British traditions' come from?

I'll pose you the other question then. What about my friend, who has Pakistani grandparents, but both he and his parents were born, brought up and still live in Rotherham. He speaks English with a broad Rotherham accent, and other than not drinking when we go to the pub, does exactly the same things as I do. He not surprisingly regards himself as English, why shouldn't he be so?

Living in Rotherham you can answer this one yourself, needs no input from me.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Problem is Rickshaw Phil is to many MP's still have their noses in the trough and don't really give a dam about the constintuents that voted them in.

I think you're right and it certainly doesn't help matters. We're lucky here at the moment as our local MP does seem to care but we've had some real stinkers in the past. (I don't intend to mention names.)

 

[martint235]

So what you are saying Britain should be diluted to fit in with them ie Halal meat, Indian, Chinese traditions being celebrated, while British ones are surpressed. If I was to move to America and have a child they will never be an American only an American Citizen. If being Portugese or Indian or what ever country you are from and you class yourself as being British why mention them at all.

Come on what you are saying is if a bulldog has pups with a dalmation and they are born in a Great Dane litte box you can call them Great Danes. Come on think about what you are saying.

Oh come on. Define British or English for that matter. There is nothing left of the original inhabitants of these isles. The most well known successors (the Celts) have been pushed into the periphery. The very name English is a corruption of the name of a Germanic tribe, the Angles. Of course given time Halal meat will become common place in the English diet. As for Indian food, the most commonly purchased meal in the UK is Chicken Tikka Marsala although to be fair this isn't strictly an Indian meal as it was designed specifically for British taste buds as an idea of what Indian food is all about.

These isles have always housed the mongrels of the world and it will never change.

 

[Paul J]

Of course given time Halal meat will become common place in the English diet.

These isles have always housed the mongrels of the world and it will never change

Why should it be accepted? Next you will be saying Sharia law should replace our judicial system. Both of which are sneaking in the back door due to our British culture being watered down for the masses.

I am not a mongrel of the world, only Britain and parts of Western Europe. For which I am proud to say I am British

 

[martint235]

Why should it be accepted? Next you will be saying Sharia law should replace our judicial system. Both of which are sneaking in the back door due to our British culture being watered down for the masses.

I am not a mongrel of the world, only Britain and parts of Western Europe. For which I am proud to say I am British

You do talk utter c**p, still debating with an idiot is passing an otherwise boring Saturday morning. Where did I say that Sharia law should replace our judicial system. If people want to practice Sharia law in this country they have the freedom to do under the supreme precedence of the existing legal system ie wherever a conflict occurs between what Sharia law says should happen and what our legal system says is permissible, our legal system wins. It was ever thus. If it is felt Sharia law has something to offer this country then it will be assimilated into the legal system in the usual way.

As for being British, you can't even define what it is. Go back through your ancestors, pick the one who can say "I belong here. This is where I came from. My people have always owned this land" and share it with us.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Cultural/national identity: you are what you feel to be, imo.
I the op says "I'm English" why says "no, you're not" because of your ancestors or whatever.
I am half Italian, half German, so I always thought. Later in life I discovered that I actually have no Italian blood in me! I have now lived in Scotland more years than Italy and Germany both.
For many years I had a Greek Cypriot partner, assimilated his culture, a lot of people ended up thinking I was from Cyprus!
Whichever country I find myself in, they always say I'm too "Italian, German, Scottish" for some reason or other
Does not bother me, not even the "what part of Poland are you from?" or the "bet you make a good lasagna" (I do! but I like moussaka better!) not even the drunken " you took our jobs" (why haven't got any colleagues then?) or better "united nations, serve me first"
There is stupid people in any country, they have not kept up with the increasing inter cultural changes worldwide, my parents had it really bad in the '60s because they married outside their country of origin, that led to one of them always being unhappy when living in the other's country.
I think here in the uk more than racism there is a feeling of annoyance of other cultures customs, but sometimes the "other cultures" are a bit at it, like when I was working in asda at the fish counter a young Asian lad asked if the fish was "Halal". Even his mother laughed at this, told me there is no such thing.
Some of my English friends here in Glasgow tell me they feel discriminated, but others say it's nonsense, never happened to them.
But, as BOAB asks, why was the op told to efoff for speaking Portoguese?

A question on the by: why are all the official government forms in pakistani, urdu, polish, swahili what not, but never Italian, German, French, Spanish?

 

[martint235]

[QUOTE 1798615, member: 1314"]I'm pure bred, Martin, pure bred! Punjabi Sikh! I never had any white, black, (non-Sikh) asian girlfriends ever. Because they're not "pure". And when I lived in Scotland I refused to make any friends with Scots. Because they're not english. I like people in Belfast, though. Everytime I've been there, they've been spot on. As for the French...

...only joking! I agree with that quote, Martin. Especially for us Londoners.[/quote]
User, I'm also a pure bred. I'm pure Lancastrian, both my parents were born in this county. I've never had a girlfriend from outside the boundaries of the County Palantine of Lancashire. Well except the Irish one, the Austrian one, actually the Irish two (although not at the same time ) and of course the Southerner (who is actually French by ancestry) I'm currently with.