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I've never looked into my cultural background, mostly because I don't care. I seem to recall my parents telling me I have a small amount of Native American blood in me. Other than that, I have no idea. I assume I'm a hodgepodge of European bloodlines.

But it doesn't matter to me where I'm from. I don't take pride in the fact that I'm from this country or that country, because I don't identify myself that way. I'm from America, and that's what I tell people. I don't say "I'm American", like it's part of who I am. It's not that important to me.

You say America is a melting pot. That's the common belief. I once heard a better description, though: America is a salad. "Melting pot" implies that everything put into it becomes one uniform mass. But that's not really how America is today. We are indeed a mix of different cultures, but we aren't uniform. All the cultures are still largely separate from each other. We have communities of blacks, communities of whites, communities of latinos, etc. In that, America is like a salad: a mix of different items that are still identifiable as separate things.

With that in mind, it's easy to see why people don't call themselves American. They may be from America, but America itself has so many subcultures that "American" doesn't really identify people well. That's why they use terms like African-American and Asian-American; it's a more accurate description of them.

Perhaps people who call themselves French or German even when they fit your definition of American do so because it's the strongest part of their heritage that they follow. It may constitute only a small part of their bloodline, but they participate in all the usual customs, eat all the usual foods, speak in the usual manner, etc., of that country. It may not be where they're from, but it's who they are.

I would agree with you there. It's silly when people who have no connection to a culture other than a distant relative suddenly become die-hard members of that culture when others insult it. Those people would bug me, too. It's like they're just looking for an excuse to be dramatic.

It sounds to me like you have issue not with people claiming a heritage, but claiming it when it's convenient for them and ignoring it otherwise. Is that right?

I don't say I'm American because....erm....I'm not American?

I'm second generation English. All of my grandparents and some of my uncles were born in Ireland, and about 80% of my family still live over there.

Let's see.....I'm American, I know that for a fact. I was born in Chula Vista, CA. Anyway, my birth parents are Swedish, so I have Swedish blood in me. But my adoptive parents are both Italian, so unless I have some of their blood put into me, I'm Swedish-American

I'm proud that my ancestors descend from France.
And yes, my grandparents lived there.
And yes, my mom moved back for a while.
I wasn't born in France, but my background is French.
If people are discussing the country they were born in, I say I'm American. If people are asking where I am descended from, I say France.
Honestly, I don't feel that proud of being American. But that's another debate...

i'm guessing i'm not what you had in mind when you wrote this topic...
i don't consider myself american because i was born and raised (and still live) in the netherlands to parents that are both dutch citizens, i have a dutch passport (thus am a dutch citizen myself), and have never even been outside of europe.

I was born in America so I could be considered an American, but I'm half Russian and a lot of other ethnicities. Truthfully I don't WANT to be considered an American. Most other countries see Americans as fat hotdog and hamburger lovers who don't excercise. I'm not part of that group at all.