Cultural Appropriation?

[jthk]

Jonathon.... While you are American by citizenship, you are by your own account Irish by heritage. You are not an Irish citizen, but you do seem to have embraced Irish culture. It is important not to confuse citizenship, heritage and culture.

Liam,

Exactly. Even though I have thought on those distinctions and have conducted basic research in that field, I still wouldn't use the adjective to describe myself as Irish. Some colleagues in the Irish language community in Ireland have referred to me, essentially, as being "Gaelic" but I'll leave it to them to make that call as I'll continue to simply refer to myself as an American because, as far as I'm concerned, it's the most accurate without any confusion. It's interesting to me to find other Americans with Irish background repeatedly referring to themselves as "Irish" yet they have never been to the island nor could they identify, say, the President or Prime Minister (Taoiseach). Further, the claim of "I'm 2/3 Irish" etc. ... which 2/3 of you? The upper torso and arms? In my worldview, it's a very strange thing to claim -- in my mind, you are Irish or you're not.

Rambles.
Jonathan