Wrong direction, I am out of here.
Hope I could help anyhow.
Missing my point completely.
Hope I could help anyhow.
Missing my point completely.
German influence on American English
I don't understand why they don't wanna admit it. Do hate Germany or what?
I don't know where all this talk of English being a Germanic language pertains to the topic. Surely all varieties of English would be affected by that, not just the American one.
And yeah, 17% is hardly a "vast majority" of Americans. Most of those are not purebreds, either, just reporting the major ethnicity they identify with. They might also have five other ethnicities floating around in their woodpile that they either don't know about or consider less significant. I would think that would make the case for any major German influence pretty negligible.
And yeah, 17% is hardly a "vast majority" of Americans. Most of those are not purebreds, either, just reporting the major ethnicity they identify with. They might also have five other ethnicities floating around in their woodpile that they either don't know about or consider less significant. I would think that would make the case for any major German influence pretty negligible.
The majority of Americans --in multiple samplings of several surveys, for what that's worth-- most often claim a mixture of Scots-Irish and German blood, with sometimes a small admixture of American Indian blood.
In spite of past conflicts between us the English (in particular, let's omit the Celts here) have had strong ties with the Germanics ever since the dawning of the age of the English Language, as we all know. We can recognise many similarities in our respective modern day languages.
Adolf Hitler recognised this, not that that is any really acceptable commendation, as he was often quoted as saying during his time as the Nazi German Fueher: "I respect and admire the English people - they are not our natural enemies...we are all but the same!" Then he went on to bomb us out of existence and attempt to storm our island defences. You really can't always take people at face value can you? The poor bloke thought he was another Napolean.
I won't mention the British Royal family here......excep[t to say they made sure they changed their family name during WW1.
Pretty much as this country is and always has been, the USA is a nation of mongrels.
Take comfort in this because in the world of dogs the mongrel is often the most intelligent, the most faithful of canine pets in a human environment, and what's more they tend to have a longer lifespan than thoroughbreds and are less susceptible to many of the maladies which afflict dogs...in other words they are more hardy.
Americans do seem to be more obsessed with their ancestral origins than practically any other nationalities. I'm a Viking (discounting the height thing, something went wrong there a wee bit along the line but no matter) but I don't go around proclaiming this all that much, but as a nation we do go back in time just a wee bit longer in time than do the Americans, give or take a fair number of centuries or so.....some of our ancestors wore nothing but woad in spite of our climate...should have been quite pleasant in the kind of weather we've been having here lately.....
Adolf Hitler recognised this, not that that is any really acceptable commendation, as he was often quoted as saying during his time as the Nazi German Fueher: "I respect and admire the English people - they are not our natural enemies...we are all but the same!" Then he went on to bomb us out of existence and attempt to storm our island defences. You really can't always take people at face value can you? The poor bloke thought he was another Napolean.
I won't mention the British Royal family here......excep[t to say they made sure they changed their family name during WW1.
Pretty much as this country is and always has been, the USA is a nation of mongrels.
Take comfort in this because in the world of dogs the mongrel is often the most intelligent, the most faithful of canine pets in a human environment, and what's more they tend to have a longer lifespan than thoroughbreds and are less susceptible to many of the maladies which afflict dogs...in other words they are more hardy.
Americans do seem to be more obsessed with their ancestral origins than practically any other nationalities. I'm a Viking (discounting the height thing, something went wrong there a wee bit along the line but no matter) but I don't go around proclaiming this all that much, but as a nation we do go back in time just a wee bit longer in time than do the Americans, give or take a fair number of centuries or so.....some of our ancestors wore nothing but woad in spite of our climate...should have been quite pleasant in the kind of weather we've been having here lately.....
Getting back to Big Bubba's original observation upon which he was inviting us to comment, and speaking very, very broadly and generally, the distribution of American accents along with their origins and major influences (in descending order of impact) for about the past two centuries may be noted as follows :
NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY : The Netherlands, Germany, Austria-Hungary
PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO : Germany, Austria-Hungary, the British Isles
NEW ENGLAND : East Anglia and the West Country of England, Ireland
THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC COAST : The British Isles, the Netherlands
THE SOUTH : Ulster, Scotland, the West Country of England, West Africa
EAST TEXAS : Ulster, Scotland, Germany, Bohemia-Moravia
THE MIDDLE WEST : Germany, Ireland, Austria-Hungary
MICHIGAN : The Netherlands, Finland, Norway, France via Quebec
WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA : Sweden, Norway, Germany, France via Quebec
THE SOUTHWEST, WEST TEXAS, CENTRAL TEXAS : Germany, Bohemia-Moravia, the British Isles
IDAHO : Ulster, Germany, Norway
THE WEST COAST, NEVADA : Germany, Sweden, Norway
ALASKA : Norway, Sweden
Obviously this rundown constitutes a very broad guide, quite generalised and debatable, very arguable indeed as well as subject to adjustments, variables and exceptions.
Never the less, I do believe that, more than some others, it is a direct response to the curiosity of Big Bubba's original post.
NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY : The Netherlands, Germany, Austria-Hungary
PENNSYLVANIA, OHIO : Germany, Austria-Hungary, the British Isles
NEW ENGLAND : East Anglia and the West Country of England, Ireland
THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC COAST : The British Isles, the Netherlands
THE SOUTH : Ulster, Scotland, the West Country of England, West Africa
EAST TEXAS : Ulster, Scotland, Germany, Bohemia-Moravia
THE MIDDLE WEST : Germany, Ireland, Austria-Hungary
MICHIGAN : The Netherlands, Finland, Norway, France via Quebec
WISCONSIN, MINNESOTA : Sweden, Norway, Germany, France via Quebec
THE SOUTHWEST, WEST TEXAS, CENTRAL TEXAS : Germany, Bohemia-Moravia, the British Isles
IDAHO : Ulster, Germany, Norway
THE WEST COAST, NEVADA : Germany, Sweden, Norway
ALASKA : Norway, Sweden
Obviously this rundown constitutes a very broad guide, quite generalised and debatable, very arguable indeed as well as subject to adjustments, variables and exceptions.
Never the less, I do believe that, more than some others, it is a direct response to the curiosity of Big Bubba's original post.
<<Besides, we are more than just the Saxons, we are also Jutes and Angels which are NOT part of the Deutsch nation today!>>
How do you know? Do you only belief what you've read? There is still a German region called Angeln.
You are very obsessed with the idea of being somehow - even if it's a wee bit - Germanic. Poor devil, get some self-confidence!
<<I'm a Viking>>
Alright! And I'm a pirate...
How do you know? Do you only belief what you've read? There is still a German region called Angeln.
You are very obsessed with the idea of being somehow - even if it's a wee bit - Germanic. Poor devil, get some self-confidence!
<<I'm a Viking>>
Alright! And I'm a pirate...
Interesting you mention a 'dry tone'. Germans aren't known to be the most flamboyant people.
English accents do tend to have characteristic tones, but American has it's own rather monotonous but very distinctive tone. RP also is rather toneless.
English accents do tend to have characteristic tones, but American has it's own rather monotonous but very distinctive tone. RP also is rather toneless.
Better add a few more, I suppose, before folk begin the grumbling :
DELAWARE, MARYLAND : The British Isles
MONTANA, WYOMING (NORTH ROCKY MOUNTAINS) : Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden
THE DAKOTAS, THE NORTH GREAT PLAINS : Sweden, Norway, Germany
IOWA : Germany, Bohemia
LOUISIANA : France via Canada (Acadian expulsions), Ulster, Scotland, France per se, Germany
DELAWARE, MARYLAND : The British Isles
MONTANA, WYOMING (NORTH ROCKY MOUNTAINS) : Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden
THE DAKOTAS, THE NORTH GREAT PLAINS : Sweden, Norway, Germany
IOWA : Germany, Bohemia
LOUISIANA : France via Canada (Acadian expulsions), Ulster, Scotland, France per se, Germany
Neither the F-you message from "Uriel" nor the Xqz-me message from "Quintus" was real. It was a tired two-part hoax which you can ignore.
As ever, we await genuine replies from the grown-ups.
~Quintus~
As ever, we await genuine replies from the grown-ups.
~Quintus~
<< "the vast majority of Americans are of German ancestry" means that more than 50% are of German ancestry; "vast" strongly implies a figure like 70% or something closer to 100%. This is clearly not the case.
I followed the links and now understand you meant "largest self-reported ancestral group" (17%) which sounds more reasonable. >>
I've noticed when looking at the US census figures from 1990 and 2000 that the number of Americans claiming German ancestry took a huge drop from 57 million (23%) to 42 million (17%). Why would that be?
I followed the links and now understand you meant "largest self-reported ancestral group" (17%) which sounds more reasonable. >>
I've noticed when looking at the US census figures from 1990 and 2000 that the number of Americans claiming German ancestry took a huge drop from 57 million (23%) to 42 million (17%). Why would that be?