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This letter is from Oct 21, 2007
DEAR ABBY: I am a 16-year-old girl who is extremely confused about my nationality. My maternal grandparents were born in Helsinki, Finland, and moved to the United States as teenagers. (Their parents were born in Finland as well.) I was always led to believe that this would make my mother a full-blooded Finn, even though she was born in the United States. Ever since I found this out, I have been studying the Finnish language and have become somewhat fluent.
Both my father's parents -- and my father as well -- were born in Manchester, England. His family moved here when dad was in his early teens. This, obviously, would make my father British.
I was born in the United States. This is where I start to get confused. Am I Finnish? Am I British? Am I half-and-half? Or am I American? If you can help me with this question, it would mean a lot to me. -- WONDERING IN RANGLEY, MAINE
DEAR WONDERING: Because you were born in the United States, your nationality is 100 percent American -- of Finnish and British extraction
I think Abby is 100% correct. In my opinion there is no such thing as a "Finnish-American" any "hyphenated-American"
A question for our friends outside the borders of the USA - how are such terms used ie "Korean-Canadians" "Mexican-South Africans" "African-Russian or (just fill in the blanks)
Salty
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The girl is obviously American.
That of course does not mean that she cannot celebrate her Finnish and British heritage.
In America we can celebrate our diversity without robbing ourselves of our Americanism.
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I'm with you on this one...celebrate your heritage, but do it as an American with no hyphen needed.