Nationalities

I was talking to my kid brother Isaac yesterday, and I don't remember what we the conversation was about, but I said something about vegans, and he said, "what country do vegans come from again?"

That was good fun, but it got me thinking about the relationships between the name of the country and the name of the people from that country. I was trying to figure out what the country would be called if the people who came from said country were called "vegans," and I though, since Americans come from America, maybe Vegans would come from Vega.

That doesn't always work though. The English come from England, the Irish come from Ireland, the Scottish come from Scotland, but people from Greenland aren't called "Greenish." That would be embarrassing. Come to think of it, I have no idea what people from Greenland are called. Excuse me for a bit and I will Google it.

Thank you. According to Wikipedia, Greenish people are actually Eskimos. I had no idea Eskimos came from Greenland. I always thought they came from Alaska or the North Pole or something. I wonder why they're called Eskimos. Maybe the word "Eskimo" means "Green-ish" in the Eskimo language. Next time I see an Eskimo, I'll ask him. Although there probably aren't any Eskimos in Southern California. But I haven't checked. I shouldn't make hasty generalizations about Southern California like that. It's rude to just assume that all Southern Californians aren't Eskimos. Next time I go people-watching at Wall-Mart, I'll look for one.

In my family, we've got Mexican, German, and Irish blood. My dad's half Mexican and half German, and my mom's almost all Irish, but she's got a teeny bit of French/English I think somewhere. I'm not sure how much, but it's not enough for me to say that I'm French. Apparently Mexicans and Irish and German mix together a lot. That's what my folks say. I don't know why, because Ireland is way across the Atlantic Ocean and Mexico's across the Atlantic Ocean going the other way, relative to Ireland if that makes any sense at all, which it doesn't, so you can just ignore that sentence if you want.  But I guess they both like travelling to America, and the right Mexican happens to find the right Irishman, and they fall in love and get married and make Mexican-Irish hybrids.

One time my dad told me that when the parents look very different from one another, then they usually produce good-looking offspring. My dad's dark-ish from being half-Mexican and my mom's fair, so I'm one of the best-looking people in the world. That's not a brag, it's a scientific fact.

Anyhoo, can't blog all the ruddy night.

Slante! (that's an Irish toast. meaning a salute, not hot crusty bread)

Elizabeth

P.S. I was looking at Irish names on the web the other day, and the Irish form of Elizabeth is Ellis, pronounced Ei-leesh. I also found out that Gilligan is a real name. It's an Irish boy's name that means "lad." If you get a chance, look up your name in Irish and/or different languages. It's neat stuff.