I'm not Scottish

[Mr. bone]

I'm a dandelion.

So that was you I saw in my yard yesterday afternoon!!

[davedove]

So that was you I saw in my yard yesterday afternoon!!

Yeah, he and his whole clan showed up in my yard one day.

[freddie]

Although I was born south of the border my parents were Scottish and I think I'm correct when I say I can claim Scottish nationality because of this. After all I think like a Scotsman, act like a Scotsman and dress like a Scotsman!

[O'Callaghan]

When people ask me if I'm Scottish, I always answer "No, I'm Canadian". Where I live it would be taken that I was born in Scotland if I answered yes, and I don't want to mislead anybody. Sometimes I expand on the answer with "and both my granddads were born in Scotland".

Based on what I already wrote, you would be Scottish anyway, but there is one other rule I forgot - you can't be a citizen of two commonwealth countries, i.e. you aren't supposed to be both British and Canadian. Apologies also to McMurdo, I forgot that rule. This only works because both countries have such a rule, so the US rule against dual nationality only works with countries that also have such a rule, and the US is not in the commonwealth. Nor is Ireland, even though most former UK possessions are.

I'm not actually a lawyer, so I can forget these details without being sued for malpractice, LOL!

[Bugbear]

So that was you I saw in my yard yesterday afternoon!!

Yeah, he and his whole clan showed up in my yard one day.

Aye, we're a pesky lot.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Persons seeking US citizenship are required to make a formal renunciation of their former citizenship; the position regarding US citizens taking up foreign citizenship is slightly different. The position seems to be that, if traveling abroad on other than a US passport, the individual is deemed to have elected different citizenship, and is therefor of no concern to the US government. If a US citizen acquires foreign citizenship by residence abroad, in so far as he still is required to pays his taxes in the US, he is still regarded as a US citizen regardless of the status accorded him in the host country. Should a US citizen, a bona fide non-resident of the United States, take up foreign nationality he must formally resign his US citizenship or he will continue to be regarded as a US citizen. However, even having resigned his citizenship, he will still be subject to US tax laws for a period of five years after the date of the resignation of citizenship.

One other caveat is that even though the person claiming dual nationality may be wearing a kilt, that is no guarantee that the moderators won't flag this thread for getting waaay off topic.

[Colin]

One other caveat is that even though the person claiming dual nationality may be wearing a kilt, that is no guarantee that the moderators won't flag this thread for getting waaay off topic.

Excellent point. I am sure more than one of us is watching the thread too. This topic seems to come up fairly regularly.

[CDNSushi]

With that in mind, back to responding to the OP -- I really don't care what anyone calls themselves. As long as I know who I am and where I'm going, it's no hair off my back if someone calls themselves a Scot or a purple half-Mexican flying people-eater. Whatever rocks yer boat.

I used to shake my head at the people who would insist on telling others that they were 5/16ths Irish and 1/3 Cherokee and 29/76ths Mongolian and 9/16ths Sri Lankan. It sounded like they were contractors talking about building a house. But after some time to reflect (old age is coming, I know) I got to the point that it really stopped bothering me anymore.

Everyone wants to fit-in and identify with a group. Everyone wants to have a history to be proud of and a lineage to trace and a family tree to look up (that is -- until they manage to find some of the rotten branches. Then the family tree gets hidden in a hurry). So I say, have fun -- tell people you're Scottish if you like. What is it to me if it's true or not? Being right (and correcting people who you see as being wrong) is highly overrated.

An acquaintance taught me something a few years ago when I asked him where he was from.

"Where are you from?"

"Me? Where am I from?"

"Yeah."

"I don' know where YOU'RE from -- but I came from my momma!"

"Lol! No, seriously. I mean -- where were you born?"

"In a hospital."

"Right. Okay. I'll play then. Where was the hospital?"

"Near the post office."

In other words -- does it really matter?

[beloitpiper]

I used to shake my head at the people who would insist on telling others that they were 5/16ths Irish and 1/3 Cherokee and 29/76ths Mongolian and 9/16ths Sri Lankan. It sounded like they were contractors talking about building a house. But after some time to reflect (old age is coming, I know) I got to the point that it really stopped bothering me anymore.

You know, I don't care if you're 100% or 1% Irish, as long as you respect your heritage and celebrate it with dignity and honor, then you're good in my book....but I'll save that rant for March 17th.

[Carolina Kiltman]

This is a point which I tend to find puzzling and amusing. I frequently get asked what part of Scotland I'm from, or my family is from. Folks see a large, ruddy faced, bearded guy kilted and playing the pipes, and make the automatic assumption. I explain that my father was an avid genealogist, and that the earliest Young (family name) he found he believed came from the Kincardineshire region of Scotland, but he was unable to get firm proof. However, we do have the record that shows he was married in Phila. PA in 1742, so by my estimation, that makes me an American.
Just the other day I was speaking about "hyphenated Americans" to three of my grandkids. I sit (stand and sometimes run) at the head of a decidedly interracial family. I'm of European stock and my wife is Japanese. Our youngest daughter married a black man. I picked up her three youngest kids from school to have dinner with us. On the way home the conversation turned to ?/Americans. I explained to the kids that their grandmother is a Japanese/American because she was born in Japan, and became an American citizen, but in my opinion, anyone born in this country is simply an American. We all have different ancestry, but we're Americans.
My granddaughter seemed a bit disappointed that she was just a "plain American", but her brothers seemed to take to the idea better.

My sentiments exactly! Our family reunions look like a meeting of the United Nations also. I think the sooner we lose the ___ / American bit the better off we will be as a nation.

Yes my Mother was Scottish/American, born in Tobermory, Mull. I have a daughter-in-law who is Korean/American, but all my children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, are all, like me, "American" (BTW, the earliest on my Father's side is a marriage recorded in 1688/89) .