Nationality is where you were born, not where your (grand)parents were born

I find it annoying when people describe themselves as Irish or Italian or African, when they weren't born there, when they've never even set foot in that country their entire lives. It's their parents who were born there, or in some cases it wasn't even their parents, it was their grandparents or great grandparents who were born there.

If they grew up in that country or if they've been living there for years, then I could understand. But they haven't even been there! But even then I think your nationality is still where you were born. For example I've been living in Ireland since I was 3, but I was born in England, so therefore I'm English.

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68% Normal
Based on 22 votes (15 yes)
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Comments ( 31 )
  • CozmoWank

    Your nationality has nothing to do with your place of birth. It refers to the country where you are a citizen.

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    • Pumpurrnickel

      Not really. Some dictionaries share that definition and some don't. Many have altered definitions, so it turns out nationality isn't that easy to define. Here are two I found that contradict your comment:

      https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.collinsdictionary.com/us/amp/english/nationality

      https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nationality

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      • CozmoWank

        I can show you some Internet sites that share videos of alien autopsy's. And others that define trilbies as fedoras.

        I'm going by the legal definition.

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        • Pumpurrnickel

          I'm confused on how those examples relate to the different definitions of nationality, but okay. The legal definition isn't the one correct definition. Words, their definitions, and their number of definitions can evolve. Several official and trustworthy dictionaries define it differently, making your initial comment incorrect.

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          • CozmoWank

            Take it up in the courts.

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            • Pumpurrnickel

              The courts can use whatever definition they want. It still doesn't magically delete all the definitions outside the court. Since many words aren't in legal dictionaries, does that mean those words are nonexistent and everyone using those words are speaking nonsense?

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    • nikkiclaire

      Thank you for that. I don't know what people get out of constantly trying to change the definition of words.

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  • xxLucifer

    A lot of people use nationality, ethnicity, and national identity interchangeably in everyday conversation.

    When you say that people "describes themselves as..." it seems more like those people you are referring to are talking about their ethnicity anyway. Thus making you seem stupid. I describe myself as Puerto Rican when talking to people I meet in real life. I've never been to Puerto Rico, but my great grandmother who was born their raised me.

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  • IINfucker

    Test

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    • nikkiclaire

      Congrats you aren't shadow banned.

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  • 309uf2o38yf

    My great-grandparents were irish citizens. I'm an american citizen.

    My ethnicity is irish and my nationality is american. I'm an irish-american. I don't care if me saying that pisses anyone off, because it's true.

    My husband is african, but he holds multiple citizenships; he has many nationalities. He has only ONE ethnicity. Even within his country, there are many tribes and he belongs only to a single tribe.

    Even living here in america, he is still a member of his tribe. That won't change just because of his citizenship. He refers to himself by his ethnicity, not by his nationality.

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  • Meowypowers

    Somebody is a mixed American and is bitter about it. Someone is jealous of culture. Italian Americans are annoying af, I'll give you that. I am a mix of Scottish, Italian, German, Jewish, Native American, blah blah blah. I don't give a shit tbh, l'm just me!

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  • Yes, exactly. There seems to be a mix up between nationality and familial origin. It's funny, because I wouldn't even be allowed into the country my parent was born.

    As far as the laws are concerned, I'm an American citizen, and a foreigner anywhere else. Gotta get a visa.

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  • charli.m

    This irritates me, too.

    I was born in Australia, from several generations back Irish, English, Scottish. I am Australian, not any of those. My heritage traces back there, for sure. My I've never been to any of those places and their culture does not have any influence over my life.

    Heritage can be of note, for sure, but you're not Irish unless you were born in Ireland.

    Though to be fair, I think your personal situation could be argued either way. Or if someone was born in one country, then moved to another in the first few months, I'd probably consider them to be from the country they were raised in. It's somewhat of a grey area with babies/first generation.

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  • Zetta_2000

    You are definitely right.

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  • JustinAnderson

    It is based upon where You were born . Thank you

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  • kelili

    It's called identity and people have different identities which they reveal depending on where they are, with whom they are and the social gathering they're in. It doesn't mean that a black american calling himself african is rejecting his americanness (is that even a word? lol). No, he can identify to both. Like for instance an american in USA will not call himself american but will when he is outside of his country and when he meets people with the same ancestry they'll identify to that common identity.

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  • MrsEdGein

    Born, raised, and still living in Australia.

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  • curious-bunny

    Eh I got a little bit of everything in me that's white. And i was born in America, use that as you will

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  • Boojum

    If you think it's always that simple, perhaps you'll help my daughter figure out what she is, since she has US, UK, and Dutch passports.

    I'm American by birth and grew up there, but I'm a naturalised UK citizen, I lived in Scotland for longer than any place else, and my world-view is British. My wife was born and grew up in The Netherlands, her father was Dutch, but her mother was born in Austria and still considers herself Austrian (and my wife really doesn't have a high opinion of the Dutch in general). Our daughter was born in The Netherlands, but our family home was at the time was in Italy, and she lived there until she was seven, going to school with Italian kids from the age of three, and speaking Italian during the day. A few years ago, we moved to Wales, and we intend that this will be our home from now on.

    We've left it to our daughter to decide what label she wants to wear. So far, she's sure she's not Italian or Welsh, and lately she's started to call herself American. That seems bizarre to me, but I haven't asked her about it. I suspect it's just ten year-old logic.

    She's spent a total of maybe three months of her life in The Netherlands, but by your definition, my daughter is Dutch because that's where she was born. Does that really make any more sense than her calling herself American?

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  • RoseIsabella

    I understand what you are saying, but I think people are trying to represent their ethnicity, and they mistakenly say nationality which is annoying. There are worse things though.

    I hate when someone says to me that I have no Southern accent as if it's some kind of compliment, I don't take that sort of comment as a compliment. Someone recently made a comment about me being like an honorary Northerner, and I suppose it was a compliment, but I don't really feel anything other than annoyed. I might have felt different if I hadn't gone to college in Louisiana, because I have a genuine affection for Southern culture, and I'm not ashamed of being born in, or raised in the South.

    And another thing, I hate when people talk about Hispanics as if it's a matter of being a different race, Hispanic is a ethnicity, and not a race. Technically a Hispanic person can be White, Black, Native American, or even Asian, and or any combination thereof.

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  • IceRed

    My parents were born in china, moved to canada where I was born

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