Re: CHAT: geographical nomenclature [was Re: Language of Tetril]

Thomas R. Wier scripsit:

> Relatedly, on the US Census returns, I've always wondered what
> motivated people to put "American" for their ancestry. (Certainly
> some people just don't know;  but isn't there a "don't know"
> box?)
Why not?  My friend Gordon, who was born in California, can trace
his ancestry as far back as Kansas City.  If your traceable ancestors
all lived in the U.S., surely that is simply the correct reply.
I write "Irish and German", but surely my Irish ancestors, being as
how Ireland is an island, must have come from somewhere (and I don't
mean out of the bogs, Padraic!)

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
Please leave your values        |       Check your assumptions.  In fact,
   at the front desk.           |          check your assumptions at the door.
     --sign in Paris hotel      |            --Miles Vorkosigan

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