Quote:
Originally Posted by Docere
German is the largest ancestry group in Chicago and they're really just a stream of "nonethnic white American." For all the puffery about Irish American "uniqueness" overall they probably have more in common with WASPs and people of German ancestry
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my maternal side is all northside german.
my paternal side is all southside irish.
the truth is that both sides have been in chicago for so many freaking generations now that these ethnic labels are just that, labels. they don't have much real meaning in my life.
when people ask me about my ancestry i always say
"50% german, 50% irish, and 100% chicagoan".
my wife's roots are all chicago italian (with bona fide mafia shit in there too!), and her family definitely more closely identifies with their "italian-ness" than any of my "german" or "irish" relatives do with our alleged european ancestries.
so yeah, "german" and "irish" in chicago is most often synonymous with "mainstream white amercian" these days.
"italian" is getting there too. my own kids will certainly not identify with being "italian" the same way that their maternal grandparents do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Docere
The heavily Polish neighborhoods and close-in suburbs are made up of more recent immigrants - not the "Bill Swerski superfans" types (who probably live in far-flung suburbia nowadays).
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no, there are still PLENTY of super-fan types out in the cop and firemen bungalow belt areas on the NW and SW sides. when you get into more blue-collar/tradesmen lines of work you'll still see a lot of that. a good friend of mine works for the gas company and several times i've hung out with him and some of his coworkers drinking after work, and my god, the accents are pure raw chicago gold! i kinda wish i had one. i mean, i can fake it, but a fake is a fake.