Re: Conlang fluency survey

> [mailto:CONLANG@listserv.brown.edu] On Behalf Of Joseph Fatula
> Completely off topic...
>
> But when I was reading this post, the above answer was
something of a
> suprise to me (being from the US).  The idea that someone
ancestors,
> back three generations, would be almost entirely from the
country you
> live in now, seems so odd to me.  If you go back to the
> great-grandparent level, my ancestors spoke five different
> languages and
> lived in three different countries, and all of them ended up
> in the US
> after their countries fell apart, or tried killing them off.
True, but on my paternal grandfather's side of the family, they
trace back to earlier English settlers in America during the
17th century so the English language does carry back pretty far
for some of us, though I know there are also some Germans in the
mix.  I'd only have to go back to my other grandparents to find
the Spanish speaking ancestors.  Yes, like most Americans, I'm a
mutt, a mix of all those explorers, conquerors and pioneers that
came over a few hundred years ago.  None of those Ellis
Islanders in my ancestry.