What makes a Scot?

[highlander_Daz]

no ones yet fully answered the question , some say if your born here your a Scot, Not true, your not even Legally British, for example children of failed asylum seekers, or foriegn nationals without leave to stay or expired visas who have children here get a Scottish Birth certificate simply for stastical purposes, but are not Legally British Citizens, and are certainly not Scots, if you ask the guy down the road in the chip shop if hes a Scot he'll tell you "no I was Born in Scotland but Im Chinese."

Tony Blair, for excample was born in Edinburgh but insists he is English, Sandy Lyle and Bruce Rioch were born in England but are Scots.

is it the Accent? Gordon Ramsay is a Scot born in Scotland to Scots patents but has a southern English accent Id love to hear what he would say if someone claimed he wasnae a Scot.
Many people in the North of Scotland and the islands as well as many Scots aristos have non stereotypical Scots accents that sound English to casual listners,

is it your parents?? if so then what criteria are we using to say that they were Scots.

is it becasue you live here, Alex Salmond says everyone living here is a Scot or a "new" Scot. Ive many English and Irish friends that would be scandalised to be branded as Scots just becasue they live here ,as well as the guy in the chippy.

Is it elligibility to play for the national team, you can play for Scotland if one of your Grandparents was born here

http://official.sportnetwork.net/main/s347/st91354.htm

hers a list of Scottish rugby players, theres one guy from Leeds, sydney australia, Huddersfield, Torquay, North Queensland, Brisbane, St Helens and many others including a guy of Polish descent are they not Scots? they are representing Scotland at Rugby

heres the criteria if you want to represent Scotland at Lacrosse

Current Lacrosse Scotland eligibility requirements

1. Born in Scotland
2. One or both parents born in Scotland
3. Have lived in Scotland for 1 year immediately prior to the match
4. Have lived in Scotland for any 5 consecutive years
5. Have acquired Scottish nationality by naturalisation or marriage

Scottish nationality????

more food for thought

[rickmac15]

Go to our sponsor Scotland On TV and search David R Ross. He has a pice on being scottish I have forgotten its name but you will find it.

Rick

[Graham]

very interesting topic...esp. for we who wear kilts.
I was in a pub in Melbourne recently, a Scot, an Australian and an irishman sat at a table. They saw me walk in kilted and the scot commended me for wearing the kilt. But when I opened my mouth he cried out "you're ENGLISH".
My reply was the if the Scots won't wear the kilt the English have to show them how it's done. (tongue in cheek).

I too love the word "celtic", it's broad - sure, but this whole question verges on the much discussed topic of "entitlement".
We don't have to be Scottish to wear the kilt, and when Scots accuse me of being a 'pretend scot' as happened recently, I wonder - one would think that a scot would be pleased that a non-scot is so thrilled about Scottish culture that he would wear the kilt.

When i wear the kilt I am identifying with my love of Scotland.
But seriously, Highlander Daz raises some good points.

I love the basis of the thinking of New World Celts...we are celts in the New World (USA, Canada, NZ and OZ).

We need to explain ourselves to no man.

[Howard Clark]

I'm an american who prefers to wear a kilt whenever possible, for a multitude of reasons.

I don't like the hyphenated thing much either. It gets in the way all too often.

[pipesndrumsnun]

I think the inborn longing for the homeland is what made Irish Americans and Scottish Americans seem sometimes a bit "over the top" in their celebration of and attachment to any trace of the old country...so, while we make St. Patrick's Day a real distortion of what it would be in Ireland, or while we will wear the kilt or the claddagh, and the people in the homeland do so much less frequently, we do it with love and pride, for our ancestors and for the struggles they encountered "over here", we remember and celebrate!

[graham_s]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with an Airman in Saudi.
He was "Irish-American" and yet his nearest relative from Ireland was his great-great-grandfather.
It's always amused me.

[bjproc]

I think the inborn longing for the homeland is what made Irish Americans and Scottish Americans seem sometimes a bit "over the top" in their celebration of and attachment to any trace of the old country

yes, how can anybody born & brought up in, say, the USA be longing to be back in the homeland when they've never been there.

[Abax]

When trying to decide what social group you belong to, I suppose you can choose definitions based on:

- law
- custom
- language (probably a significant sub-group of custom)
- ethnicity
- genealogy
- geography
- self-definition

There are probably other valid categories.

I wonder why some people struggle to connect with something so remote from themselves. Sometimes it strikes me as disingenuous. And why is it that popular affinities always seemed to be shunned first (sometimes even hatefully or violently), then loved? Is it some form of over-compensation for the injury? At one time, Native American Indians were despised in my country, but I remember a time in my youth when suddenly everyone had some Indian blood in them.

I'm an Alaskan (kilted).

Abax

[seanboy]

People who were born in Scotland are Scots. IF your parents move to a different country & you were born in that country then you become a native of that country with Scottish ancestors. The only exception is, if your parent move tempory to another country(ie to work), & have full intensions to move back to Scotland then you are a Scot.

My younger brother was born in the middle east and moved to back to scotland when he was one years old. he is no less a scot than myself. He does not speak arabic, is not eligable for an uae passport. He has never known any arabs or their culture. He knows and only knows scots culture and its people.

I dont think being born in scotland makes you a scot. I do believe that being brought up in scotland certainly does.

I have a father whom is irish, born in ireland but more importantly he wasbrought up in ireland. So I am proud of my irish heritage and I understand that mindset new worlders have. Though I would never call myself irish or an irishman as I have never even been to ireland (which I should do soon).

I have met irish boys and girls at parties and got to know them and realizied how little of native irish culture I knew about.

I do not believe culture can be experianced through books and websites it is something you can only truely experiance by living in it and I am sure beloitpiper can appreciate this having lived in ireland for a substantial stay.

[seanboy]

yes, how can anybody born & brought up in, say, the USA be longing to be back in the homeland when they've never been there.

I have a longing to go and visit barbados, and I have no heritage from there.