[flagged]
Douche bag culture is highly-competitive across the world. Is this one really NA specific? I'd bet it's common among ICE employees, but they don't represent NA as a whole.
‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
91–100 of 210 posts
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#92[flagged]
There are five million Irish in Ireland and something like 75 million “Irish” in the US. And Chicago has more Polish that Warsaw, but that’s actual expats and their kids. Not great great great grandchildren of Margaret and John who came over in 1845.
> There are five million Irish in Ireland and something like 75 million “Irish” in the US.
Reminds me of this sketch. [0]
> And Chicago has more Polish that Warsaw, but that’s actual expats and their kids.
This is one of those persistent myths. While Chicago has many Poles and people of Polish ancestry living there, it has never exceeded the population of Warsaw. And New York has more Poles than Chicago.
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
I work in the US with white dudes who literally think their heritage is "Viking" and make it a big part of their identity - I appreciate your point but I also understand why someone might pick that title.
People believe in all kinds of fanciful nonsense to try to feel "special". In the US in particular, people will draw on some distant real or imagined ancestry to try to establish some kind of feeling of ethnic identity. Part of the reason may be the feeling of vacuousness of American identity from an ethnic point of view, as well as the dissolving religious identity which historically functioned as a substitute for e…
I highly recommend reading Ethnic Options by Mary C. Waters. It's a fascinating work of sociology that defines this exact phenomenon and explains its origins.
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#94[flagged]
Much like pirates and gangsters, Vikings are cool if you consider them from an aesthetic as opposed to moralistic perspective. Everyone has evil ancestors, but some of them were cool.
It's one thing to find a culture fascinating, but this "aesthetic" is generally a construct of the imagination cobbled out of stereotypes.
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
I grew up in Minnesota and have literally never heard anyone ever say this about me or any other person of Scandinavian origin.
You've never heard of your NFL football team?
Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Las Vegas Raiders?
Do you think the LA Rams have that name to claim ancestry?
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#96[flagged]
> rather than Scandinavian Strange, being in North America, I've yet to meet anyone identify themself as having viking blood, but we refer to Scandinavians as being of viking ancestry all the time.
Ugh, consider yourself lucky then. Can easily meet a new one each week if your social circle isn't too selective. Usually someones cousin that tags along. At least they can't survive long without the rest of the tribe, so they don't become regulars.
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
The even firster part "vi" means "we" though.
And vi was an outgrowth of ex, which was an improved version of ed, which in my experience, roughly translates to ‘ugh’.
Argghhh! When all ye got is a 300 Baud connection and a ASR-33, then ye be thanking your lucky stars for ed! And pray that the ribbon ain't worn out, and that the paper tape don't jam!
A pox o' chads on your house, ya mewlin' landlubber!
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
The title is indeed odd. The new (to me, at least) idea here is that the different regions of Scandinavia didn't mix as much, "on the job" or genetically, as I thought they would have. They each carved out their own territories and mixed with the local population, but not with each other to a significant degree. It's surprising to find that more genetic material was making it's way back to parts of Scandinavia from t…
A historian I respect - don't want to name him in case I accidentally misrepresent his ideas - has speculated that the Norse didn't mix with the Sami because having a separate tribe of hunters (no major reindeer farming back then) was useful to them. Almost like a caste. If people live side by side for 1000s of years, I think that's fair to speculate - there has to be a reason they didn't just assimilate into each ot…
I don't give much credence to the theory though, having grown up in a part of Sweden where every village have their own "language"(we call them mål, which is like halfway between dialect and language, they're not officially recognised as minority languages, but they're more than just dialects: villages as little as 30km apart can't understand eachother at all, and one of them, Älvdalsmål, is notoriously more similar to Icelandic than it is too Swedish)
These are Swedish communities, as opposed to Sami ones, they've been integrated into the wider Swedish society since their founding, yet these languages are still alive today(though some are critically endangered)
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#99[flagged]
1. People yearn for identity labels. It's a core part of human existance.
2. "White" and "American" are problematic identity labels. People therefore often reach back toward European ancestry (real or supposed), for identity labels that are less controversial.
3. The average person isn't aware (or concerned) that "Viking" isn't strictly an ethnicity. Because it's nevertheless a commonly used identity label.
Not everything has to be an opportunity to spot Nazis hiding behind every tree, or showcase your pedant chops. People wear shamrock jewelry or put an Italian flag bumper sticker on their car because it's fun and feels good, simple as that. Only a small number of legit white supremacists, and a legion of absolutely insufferable Internet progressives, think about this all that deeply.
Re: ‘Viking’ was a job, not a matter of heredity: ancient DNA study (2020)
#100Well said.