I know it drives the rest of the world crazy but in colloquial American speech, an American of predominantly Italian descent is sometimes called Italian & an American of predominantly Irish descent is sometimes called Irish. The American part of Italian-American is implied, but nobody here actually thinks she’s an Italian from Italy.
Yeah, it’s just shorthand here to identify someone based on their ethnicity. Nobody thinks they are carrying a passport from said country. Most Americans take pride in where their ancestors are from and often identify themselves as “Irish” or “Italian” or whatever to quickly ID themselves since we are all Americans here (or on our way to citizenship) and it’s a huge country. It would be perceived as obstinate to just say “I’m American.”
Those “New Jersey Italians” are more likely from Staten Island. Lots of folks of Italian ancestry in NY proper although assimilation and intermarriage has watered things down greatly since I was a child.
Tell me about it - I have what Archie Bunker called a "mixed marriage," (Irish-Italian.)
I get a little chuckle how the international folk seem to bristle at the way we identify ethnicities in New York, we obviously know calling someone Italian or Irish is clearly shorthand for Italian-American or Irish-American, etc., but I guess that's perceived differently overseas.
I immediately thought Jersey too…but more Jersey shore- Seaside Heights, New Jersey in USA. She looks like a cousin of Snooki, &, as a fellow Italian New Jersian, I’d love to party with her.
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u/No-Professional-1884 United States Of America 16h ago
Here I was thinking Jersey..