Oh, I think Stepmother's parents spoke French a great deal -- when Step-grandfather was still alive he would drop into it whenever he didn't want the children to understand. It was a very loping, nasal variant of the (France-oriented) French I'd heard up to that point.

But yes, their children (now in late 40s, early 50s) were specifically not taught French at the dinner table, not taught it in school, etc.

I think it used to be used relatively openly to mark social class and exclusion, and vestiges of that remained into my childhood, where I told and heard French jokes of the sort that are called Polack jokes elsewhere in New England.

There's a lot of unemployment among the Somali immigrants. It's not pretty.

I believe Frank is what they call in Maine, "French," which means his fairly recent ancestors probably immigrated there from Quebec, probably to work in the mills. It's definitely an ethnic culture in Maine, but not widely known outside of the state/region.

bing bing bing bing We have a winner.

On another note, I was fascinated by a recent New Yorker article about the 5000 Somali immigrants to Lewiston, ME (where I used to live.)

Home of the Franco-American Festival (or at least the biggest one in the state). Also, I was stunned to find out from my mom of all people, the birth place of Patrick Dempsey, who still has a house in the next town over from my home town.

Do they have to have been Francophones for the designation to stick? And can the person now not be a Francophone and still be called French?

I'm scratching my head. I'm not sure if someone from a Francophone family in Quebec but who no longer speaks the language gets called something different, like Anglo.

Well, I don't know a lick of Quebecois, but I remember visiting relatives with my parents where everyone would be talking in French. Granted, these relatives were my parents age, so significantly older. The ethnic jokes most told in Maine tended to be "Frenchmen" jokes (basically the equivalent of any Polish, Italian or Irish joke) even when I was growing up, but it has probably diminished considerably given the influx of people "from away".

Interstingly enough, Maine had a very large chapter of the Klu Klux Klan (I think it was the largest north of the Mason-Dixon at one point), and it was due to the French immigrants, and not blacks (who are few and far between in Maine, though, as flea notes, that population has increaded dramatically in the last few years). One of those facts you don't find in the "Maine - The Way Life Should Be" tour guides.

I'm not sure if someone from a Francophone family in Quebec but who no longer speaks the language gets called something different, like Anglo.

But Americans (especially?) seem to cling to their "genetic" heritage even after they lost most of the cultural trappings, including language. Italian-Americans vs. Italians etc. The latter will often find the idea that the former is also "Italian" ludicrous.

There's a lot of unemployment among the Somali immigrants. It's not pretty.

I believe that. I don't know what the economy in Lewiston is based on, if anything.

There's a big LLBean call center, I believe.

The latter will often find the idea that the former is also "Italian" ludicrous.

Maybe so, but Italian-Americans do have a lot of things culturally in common with each other, if not their land of origin. So it's still a useful designation.

German-American less so, since we're the default demo. We're even more generic than WASPs.

But Americans (especially?) seem to cling to their "genetic" heritage even after they lost most of the cultural trappings, including language

The reason I wonder about Canada is because of the often fierce lines drawn between the two categories in Quebec. Can you be such a "traitor" to your lineage to lose right to the name?

German-American less so, since we're the default demo.

Huh? I thought it was Anglo-Americans that were default. Did you gain default through numbers, or sheer force of cultural influence?

Did you gain default through numbers, or sheer force of cultural influence?

Numbers - not cultural influence.

German-American Irish American women are now "average". I am average. Well, aside from the Indians, the brain damage, and newbies thinking I'm black and/or from Baltimore... apart from all that, I'm average. I do not think it means what I think it means.