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Old Posted Apr 26, 2017, 2:10 AM
drummer drummer is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Austin metro area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonesy55 View Post
I've seen a few maps of the US suggesting that German-Americans are the biggest single group in terms of heritage. But then those same maps have big parts of the South where the majority says they are simply 'American'. I guess a lot of those people have English/Scottish/Irish ancestors but they don't identify as such unlike say Americans of German or Scandinavian ancestry in the Mid West.
There is a lot of German ancestry in Central Texas (hence the existence of towns like Fredericksburg, New Braunfels, Bourne, Pflugerville, and many other smaller towns with German names and heritage). I watched a documentary a couple years back on a Texas dialect of German that was being studied by linguists and anthropologists. Many folks in the earlier part of the Baby Boomer generation grew up in these towns speaking a form of German in their homes and with family and friends while speaking English in school. In the documentary, they pointed to WWII and a lot of anti-German sentiment as a reason for not continuing to teach their children, etc. The language has all but stopped, but it's an interesting thing to consider. There was a significant German migration to Texas in the 1800s - especially to the Hill Country. A lot of "Texas" food (BBQ, etc.) and beer was heavily influenced by Germans.
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