Question to Scots about Scots Americans

Why is it that i have noticed that lots of native Scots do
not think that Americans of Scottish decent have a right
to claim their heritage?

I have had several people make jokes towards the fact
that my family immigrated from Skye, and insinuate
that I am just reaching for a culture not my own?

What about Scots in Canada? ie Nova Scotia?

And if Nova Scotia counts, the why doesnt the
Appalachian region of the US?

Just wanting to know.

 

Im welsh I dont speak it but my sister has a degree in welsh and I feel ok if people wish to claim welsh heritage in say the usa or south america .

my grandfather went to argentina and had a trading post on the amazon he came back but there are quite a number of welsh speakers still in argentina .

in fact during the last war my father was in a ship off the coast of argentina and a row boat pulled up in the fog ,and asked if there were any welsh aboad and there were three and they were invited to dinner by the local welsh society .

part of my family also went to america ,utah mainly during the wild west period, most stayed in the usa some came back.
if you look back in their family history they have generations and generations of people living in wales and only a couple of generations of people living in the usa.

so Id say to hell with the people in scotland who are against you feeling a connection with scotland or scotish heritage .

 

Thanks jonny. Its cool you responded. My mothers side is from Scotland, and that is what i feel most connected to ancestrally, but my fathers family is Welsh, with a few Scots in the mix for flavor =P

But i am really interested in my Welsh ancestry, actually was learning Cymraeg grammer to better read the old legends.

I am a student of Gaelidgh now, and hopefully one day will be fluent, then maybe
I will learn Welsh just to be fair.

Besides, had not the Scots come to this country, it would never have
been built. Scots have had so much early influence of the foundation
of this country, from the Revolution till today. And the influence in
the mountains are so much that Bluegrass is considered a Celtic
music, and our accent a Scots variety.

And as to who gets to be what, there are Chinese families here for 200 years now, and they are still considered Chinese by other native Chinese, and the government. So why is it that my family has been here about the same amount of time, but gets white-washed?

 

Sir William Arrol, (1839-1913), bridge builder
Alexander Bain, (1818-1903), fax machine
John Logie Baird, (1888-1946), television
Alexander Graham Bell, (1847-1922), telephone, National Geographic, Hydrofoil
Henry Bell, (1767-1830), ran Euope's first commercially successful steamboat
James Braid, (1795-1860), hypnosis
James Chalmers, (1782-1853), adhesive postage stamp
Sir Dugald Clerk, (1854-1932), two-stroke Clerk Cycle engine
Robert Davidson, first electric locomotive, 1837
James Dewar, (1842-1923), inventor of the Thermos flask and co-developer of cordite
William Dickson, (1860-1935), motion picture camera and the world's first film
John Boyd Dunlop, the modern rubber tyre
Sir Alexander Fleming, (1881-1955), isolated Penicillin from the fungus Penicillium notatum
James Harrison, (1816-1893), pioneer in mechanical refrigeration
James Bowman Lindsay, (1799-1862), inventor of the constant electric light bulb
Charles Macintosh, (1766-1843), patented waterproofing
Kirkpatrick MacMillan, (1813–1878) the bicycle
John McAdam modern road construction
Sir Robert McAlpine (Concrete Bob), (1847-1934), road builder
Patrick Miller, steamboat pioneer.
William Murdoch, (1754-1839), pioneer of gas lighting
James Nasmyth, (1808-1890), Steam Hammer
John Shepherd-Barron, inventor of the ATM
William Symington, (1764-1831), engineer, built the first practical steam boat
Thomas Telford, (1757-1834) architect, civil engineer, bridge designer
Robert William Thomson, (1822-1873)
James Watt, (1736-1819), engineer, significantly improved the steam engine
James Simpson, introduced chloroform into surgery

 

I don't think there's a problem with claiming your heritage. The problem maybe when you go overboard with it, even the scots aren't as scottish as some of the scots-americans if you see what i mean.
I have scottish roots but my passport says i'm welsh 'cos i was born here. Before my ancesters inhabited scotland we lived in normandy. Does that make me french? and that's just one side of my family. if i listed all the influences in my ancestry i'd come up with a huge list, including irish, english, scottish, french and possibly even some indian.

 

Some of the lowland Scots were Norman, but no it wouldnt make you french it would make Norse, since the Normans were Viking settlers.

As to the scots-americans being more scots than scots, you also have to consider
what has happened in the two places. Since the Scots left and came here to Appalachia, the English have kept the Scottish culture is Scotland down, while
here is wasnt oppressed. Appalachia is the Highlands just as they were 200 years ago.

Offshoots of culture and language change slower than the original, ie Scots Gaelidgh and Irish Gaelic, the scots variety is more Gaelic than Gaelic, because Irish has had more english influence, and has evolved into a different language now.

Its the same with culture. Scotland has had more influence from England than Appalachia has, and even the Highlands of Scotland, in their isolation, have even
suffered most from English culture.

American is a political idenity, not so much genetics or decent.

I know a native Scot woman who moved here a long time ago, and
is more "southern" than we. She has taken our southern cutlure and
ran with it, even starting an officially recognized "clan" called McBubba,
for southern scots who dont know much about their roots.

But, it is sad though, today more Scots-Americans care about the freedom of
Scotland than the present natives do.

 

Reminds me of a joke.

What is a kilt? Something that Scots wear in America, and Americans wear in Scotland.

True huh?

 

ha! i agree with that. Afterall i'd never consider myself welsh and while i'm at home i'm pretty much against anything patriotic. but when i'm anywhere else i end up speaking welsh and supporting the welsh!

As to the rest i can't say you have me convinced. All cultures evolve, it doesn't stop them being any less worthy of it's original title (in this case scottish) in fact maybe we can argue that it is more so due to those influences and changes. Afterall arn't the scottish proud of showing so much resilliance in the face of the forces trying to oppress them.

 

Glad you liked the joke.

I wasnt saying any was less worthy, that is opposite of
what I stand for actually, I was trying to explain how
the two equally Scottish cultures have evolved seperatly,
and why the appear so different.

Honestly, if i were in Scotland, i wouldnt wear my kilt,
wouldnt have to, but here you have to show who you
are and where you come from, or else you will just
be another american.

 

Lol nice thread, best i point out im 100% scottish but unfortulantly live in england, but my roots are firmly 100% scottish,

I think the problem is that a lot of americans go ott, and unfortulantly a lot of americans are claiming land , as they have learnt that there family rightly owns it but thers no living relative in the uk, so a lot of scotland is being owned by americans and others now :$

Sorry thers my 2p worth

 

I'm Scottish but live in Holland and 100% Scottish and hope to get
home for a few weeks next year sometime ;-)

 

Look at it this way Heron, a lot of Indians are more "sahib" than the chavs running around that are the actual Brits now.

 

Sorry bumb arse here, what did you just say Iron Goth ?????

 

what are borders man? free yourself!

 

wise words chris man if only everyone would think that way .

 

I'd like to add an ancestor of mine.

Lew Wallace Civil War General (Union) and author of the book Ben-Hur.

 

It's shite being scottish. People hate the english, but they're just wankers, we were COLONIZED by wankers. -Rent in "trainspotting"

 

Its not shite being scots, its a bonus as peeps let you off when you say your scots

 

im all for a world without boarders criss .....its just that when one tries to go somewhere , its illegal.....fuck the police i say , but they are armed and in my way ....so im trapped.....yea my paternal granny was from nova scotia and even spoke galic .....even though ive been told its pretty . i have no plans to go anywhere thats cold .....yall kin keep scotland ....and the real reason the scotts resent americans could just be that 99% of em[amerikans not britts ] are insufferable assholes . believe me im trapped in this shithole of a fucking country .

 

I agree with one of makros comments and its not the one about the cold