Lou and fellow Lincs This reminded me of a sad yet funny story in my family. My maternal grandfather’s real name is Michael Joseph Murphy, he was born in New York City, his parents were born in Ireland. All his life he was known as Joe Murphy. Why this was I couldn’t tell you. While doing my family history I tried to find his birth, marriage and death certificates. Couldn’t find them because I was looking for Joseph Murphy and not Michael Joseph Murphy. Curiosity got the better of me and I went to my dear Aunt to solve the mystery. I should have figured this one out and I’m sure most of you have already. She told me is name was Michael Joseph after both his grandfathers. So why Joe I asked: his mother didn’t want him called “Mick” as it was quite obvious they were from Ireland!!!! Makes perfect sense. His growing up in New York and how the Irish were treated here. I may have told this story already. Every time a student of mine asks me what I am (Irish, English, etc), I always answer: I am an American and proud of it. I am NOT a hyphenated anyone. I tell them that I am proud to be of Irish, English and German descent. This shuts them up and they begin to think of what I said. Trying to instill a lesson about prejudice. Always teaching. I, too, also look out for some “royalty” but know for sure, there isn’t any and won’t be and that’s okay. I’ve found so much about my family. I’ve also found information that either backs up or disproves family “legends”. Happy hunting everyone. Maureen On Feb 16, 2014, at 12:35 PM, Louis Mills <[email protected]> wrote: > On the issue of someone being "Irish": > > I noticed as a youth that my mother's family often referred to a couple of relatives as being "Irish". I never detected an accent when those people spoke, and over time I came to understand that this was a kind of "code talk" for their prejudice against them. I came to see that being "Irish" was like the lowest class of British Human - somewhat better than being Dutch or German and certainly far better than being French. > > Now, my family didn't consider themselves prejudiced, but you could tell by the words they used and the way they reacted to certain things. Sociologists tell us that it is normal for groups to consider themselves elite and to put down those outside the group. But it is embarrassing when that group is your family. On this list, we've even heard of this kind of "class warfare" against people from Yorkshire or places south of the midlands. > > I have yet to find any evidence of my family having any "Irish" lineage, other than the fact that a surname might sound Irish to someone. And, forgive me if I laugh at you when you tell me that you are "pure English". I almost laughed at my mother once when she said this. We may have Dutch kin and who knows who came over with the Romans - they weren't all Italians. And those Vikings didn't practice much birth control. > > So we are who we are, and if you find yourself descended from King Canute, Charlemagne or Louie the XIII's groom (Heck of a guy), don't be ashamed. Our language has taken in words from all over the planet. I suspect our bloodlines aren't any purer. > > Lou (list admin.) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message