My brother, been in Prison multiple times.
Why are American's always insisting that they are Irish, Italian, whatever, when they were are third+ generation Americans and have never been to these countries or can even point them out on a map? No one else in the world does this and its stupid!
This is a really interesting question and one that I've been asked several times, as I've spent time abroad. Without going into great detail, I think the biggest reason is that simply saying "American" is an extremely vague term. What does "American" mean, anyway? I'm a white, middle class guy and I'm "American", but so is Spanish-speaking Jose cooking your burgers at Ruby Tuesday, and Sanjay Guthrup who runs the corner Quick E Mart is also "American".
On the contrary, most other nationalities also include well-established (maybe even stereotypical, whether right or not) ethnic and cultural aspects in them. For example, if someone says "I'm Russian", you immediately assume he speaks Russian, is almost certainly white, and probably Orthodox-Christian. Saying "I'm American" doesn't provide you with any of that information, because I could be black, white, Asian, etc., any religion, and speak almost any language. Therefore, I think most Americans find it useful to be more specific as to what
kindof American we are. If I say "I'm Italian-American", then now you know I'm almost certainly white, Catholic, and have a large family.
Question: How much do you hate it when you open holiday envelopes/cards and sprinkles and other stupid shit fall out all over the place?