You're not "one eighth Spanish" or "three fourteenths Egyptian," your nationality lies with wherever you've lived in the longest, amirite?

Well I think that people feel a connection to their ancestry, especially when it's exotic. My ancestry goes about 90 miles to Pembrokeshire and no-where else, so I don't share their vivid sense of being a global citizen...

Your nationality lies where you have grown up in my books, your citizenship where you have lived the longest, your ancestry where your parents etc are from.

Meh.
I prefer to differentiate between nationality and ethnicity.

There's a big difference between nationality and ethnicity.

Nationality, yes. Ethnicity, no.

This is common knowledge.

Nationality is belonging to your nation. What you said refers to ethnicity.

You either just stated a fact and passed it off as an opinion or you misunderstood the definitions between ethnicity and nationality, in which case you are factually wrong.

Either way, I don't see how this became the POTD.

This is like saying "forget your culture and history"
No.

It's always important to remember your ancestral place of origin, don't let it be blurred by an assimilation into society.

Well it looks like 90% of the comments all say the exact same thing. Good times!

I say I'm half Maltese, but only for the ladies.
Hasn't worked yet.

People grasp at straws with their ethnicity - "I'm a 1/24 Spanish!!! :D :D" - to try and seem special and exotic. Face it, if you're getting to the eighths and sixteenths, you're more the country you're in than what your great-grandparents were. You ain't foolin' no one. Bl

I pride on my Latvian heritage.

People tend to be more proud of their heritage than their nationality. Especially if you live in America.

Yeah, but they're not talking about their nationality. They're talking about their ethnicity...

I guess, if we're going to be technical about it, nationality means: "the status of belonging to a particular nation, whether by birth or naturalization: the nationality of an immigrant. (Dictionary.com)"

So, technically, your German mother and Canadian father could have birthed you in Egypt and flown you out the next day to live your next 20 years of life in Australia, and you could say your either Egyptian or Australian.

But that's irrelevant. What I'm trying to get across is your not Irish because your mom and dad are from there. Do you know the history of the country? Do you eat the food? Have ever even been there? Etc.

It just annoys me when people try to make themselves appear more exotic than they really are.

Well I'm 1/34 martian....gotta take pride in my space heritage.

If you had one drop of black blood in you back before segregation ended you were treated as a full black even if it was 1/18

soo0o0o0o racist america strikes again

Don't know how I feel about this. Both my parents are 100% Egyptian. They were born and grew up there, but I was born and grew up the United States. It doesn't mean I forgot about my heritage or where I'm from, I still eat Egyptian food, read, write and speak the language and visit every once in a while. All that plus a dual citizenship. I hate having to chose between the United States and my family's background. Nationality has always been a problem for me.

the "in" after "wherever you've lived" kinda bugs me :/

So... America has this whole segregation crap for however long and we still have racism because some people are "European-American/White" and others are "African-American/Black"... and you're saying we should just all call ourselves Americans? http://ctrlv.in/86589

When people say that they aren't talking about their nationality

I just really hate the people that sit there for 5 min and say I'm 1% this 20% that 18% this..like stfu

i think you can only be half something; if one of your parents are a different ethnicity than another. i hate it when people list off everything in their 'blood'.

I've lived in the US longer than anywhere else, but my nationality is Canadian.

I've never really understood that. Why is somebody born in a country, having done nothing to choose that country and have no connections by necessity with the country's cultures, values, and ideals more a part of that country than the person who gives up their old life to move to a new country because of an actual link with those values and ideals?

I'm half-welsh. Don't dis. >:O

You're more-or-less correct about the definition of nationality, but nationality and heritage aren't the same. One can be an American by nationality and be of partially Spanish/German/Moroccan/whatever heritage.

I was born in England, where I have always lived except for that week I went to Ireland and that other week I went to France, I pretty much consider myself a Brittish citizen.
Since we're sharing.

True, your nationality may be where you've lived the longest, but your HERITAGE is where you're ancestors are from and their nationalities combined, if that's how you want to look at it.

I don't like it when people say "I'm Italian" or "I'm Spanish". I think you should say what you are based on what says on your birth certificate. I say "I'm Brazilian" because I was born in brazil, and Lived there for 11 years. When I'm 23, I'll still say I'm Brazilian though: not just because I've lived in America for 12 years, does it mean I'm suddenly an American. I do have dual citizenship, but still consider myself as a Brazilian.
Now, if someone says "my family is 1/2 Italian and 1/2 Irish," then (in my opinion) it's okay.

I think nationality and heritage are two different things. I was born in Hawaii, but I'm not at all Hawaiian. And I've moved so many times, if I said I am only blank, I would be wrong.

My friend is half Irish and an Irish citizen, but shelives in the U.S. and has only ever visited Ireland for a few weeks or a mnth at a time. She's still Irish.

so if ive lived in nigera for most of my life am i considered to be nigerian?

My friend has a dad who is Scottish, and she lived there until she was three, before she moved (with he english mother) to England, where she still lives now.
But she still classes herself as more Scottish than English, and if Scotland were to become independant, she would get a Scottish passport. Even though she is the 'more' English?!
Makes no sense to me. Half of my family come from Canada, but both my parents a were raised in England, so I am English :)

I've lived in South Africa all my life but my entire family, including parents are from Holland. My passport is Dutch and states my nationality as being Dutch. I kinda consider myself half/half.

I'm half French, I've lived in America my whole life, I was born here. But I still consider myself half French. If you understand and know about your heritage then you can count yourself as that.

My family has lived in Canada for the last +100 years but I moved to Saudi Arabia when I was 11 and have lived there the longest...does that make me Saudi Arabian? I don't think so. I don't speak the language, I'm not muslim, I'm a 5ft10 caucasian blonde. I'm still Canadian.

incorrect. nationality lies where you were born, whatever your ethnic background or country of residence may be.

I'm an active participant in many Lithuanian events in Canada because my mother was born and raised there.
Are you saying I am not Lithuanian in the least, and can't take pride in my heritage?

Thanks. You made my day -.-

It's annoying when people are like "oooh, I'm from sooo many places omg lol" and they're just a mix of a bunch of European races. It's like, bitch, I'm only from one place and I'm more exotic than you.

This website just keeps getting worse and worse...