I am American of Irish/German decent. Irish being the majority. I do know of my Irish heritage and my family line and I do take pride in it I have learned of my forefathers ( and the Irish in general) struggles to blend into the American society.

We do the St Patrick's day thing although, I really have no idea what his claim to fame is. And Easter is big in my family.

But my ethnic roots takes a distant 2nd to what I am.. A American.

While I can understand all of the American dialects.. per region, I do at times find myself saying " what did you say" to some of the folks from the south. ( and they say the same to me) And I am most comfortable taking in my own (NYC) dialect with others from my area.

This is a great thread Mcobi! Very educational:)

I am from the island of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean , which is a few kilometres off the coast of South America, and more specifically Venezuela. Trinidadians are either referred to as Caribbean or West Indian people.
Our native tongue is English , but many of us speak a dialect version of standard English.

I am a descendant of African slaves, who were brought to Trinidad to labour in the sugar plantation during the days of slavery and who brought African culture with them as well. The rest of the citizens here, including East Indians, Syrians, and Chinese were brought here to labour under the apprenticeship system, to replace the African slaves after they were freed. Along with their labour, these ethnicities brought their food, clothing, music, religions and festivals to our soil, which is why our culture is so rich.

Our country created the steelpan, which to my knowledge is the only new instrument created in the 20th century, and our national music is soca and calypso music. We also have a national Carnival which is a 5 day party for the entire country filled with our music , costumes and our dance. We actually have about 7 holidays a year outside of Carnival, celebrating the festivals of all the ethnicities represented here.

We have been heavily influenced by Spain, France and Britain, who colonised us many years ago, and we have also been heavily influenced by American Education and culture via the mass media . There are Latinos and Caucasians here as well, and more and more Germans have been migrating to our sister island of Tobago .

I guess in many ways , we are like the melting pot that America embodies..Or maybe I should say a melting spoon cuz we are only a dot on the world map

It is incredible how many Americans have an Irish/ Celtic background.
Sometimes I wonder WHO discovered this country.. Hhhaaa.

Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Most Irish Americans are RomanCatholic. They came because of persecution. Only to be persecuted again. Most white slavery in the USA they were Irish Catholic immigrants.
Most coal miners are the same.
Most cops.. Were.. the same.
Why? Because those were occupations at the bottom.

FYI, people don't speak Gaelic. Instead, they have the Gaelic.
Those who have the Gaelic know what I am talking about.

Plus, one can have a Celtic background without being Irish.
Scotsmen are just as Celtic as Irishmen,
which is fitting because the first people to belt called "Scots"
were Celts who immigrated from Eire to Alba and then intermarried with the Picts.

I question that David,I speak Gaelic.When I translate into English I use the English language not the Irish idiom.