I know, based off the title, it sounds like this is going to be a very dramatic article. Well, I assure you, it's not. I believe that the most interesting thing about a people is the culture they come from. Not their race, their gender, or any of those other traits, but the underlying morals that shape a community into a diverse collection of voices, traditions, and routines.

Now, what am I? People say that they see the true presence of German within me. Someone once told me that you could tell what I was simply from the features of my face. That, because all of my features were smooth and rounded, that I was most definitely German. As compared to my dad's more edged and angular face, more representative of our British ancestry.

On the other hand, there are many traits that prove the Irish portion of me. I have VERY fair skin (I wrote about that once here), dark hair, freckles and most notably: my height. Now, I'm pretty average on the scale when it comes to height. But you can most definitely tell, among me and my cousins and sister, who got the literal short end of the stick.

Which one do I relate more to though? I definitely relate more to the German side. Hell, my last name is very German so I really did not have a choice in this one. I celebrate a lot of the holidays in Germanic ways. I speak German pretty well. (Well, I can read, interpret and write it well. If you ask me to speak with a native, I will ultimately fail.)

Why does this really matter? I feel as though people that I know who do not know their heritage are missing a piece of themselves. They don't know who they are or where they come from. They could be descendants of royalty and not even know it because they do not know their heritage.

So, what brought this up? Earlier today (January 28th) while I was at work, a woman with an extremely attractive accent began a small conversation. (If you don't remember, I work in retail. Read my small rant here.) I politely asked her where she was from, just to confirm my prediction, and we had a very long conversation about Germany. The food, the atmosphere, where we traveled to, our families over there, comparing America to Germany. You name it, we probably talked about it. I haven't had this much fun with a customer in a while and it felt good to have someone to relate to about this.

This small thing got me thinking about my heritage and how it affects what I do everyday. Mainly having to do with how it affects my surroundings.

Now, if you don't know, Cincinnati is a predominantly German area. A lot of the immigrants that settled here were German. There are a lot of cultural things around here that we have adapted from German culture. Goetta, Oktoberfest (we have the second largest in the world), brewing and many other things. (By the way, I thought it would be interesting to film a tour of a beer distillery for here. If you would like that, do let me know.)

The one thing that I found most interesting is a weird mannerism that Cincinnati-ans are most known for: "Please?". Now, most Americans, when confused, say things like "What was that?", "What?", or "Can you repeat that?". In Cincinnati, we ask "Please?". I always thought that it was weird because I had never heard anyone say it until I went away for college but it does make sense if you have studied the German language. In Germany, the natives ask "Wie bitte?" or "Bitte?" for short when they have misheard what you have said. When translated, it means "Please?" as in referring to "Can you please repeat what you have just said?".

I found these little tidbits of information to be really interesting and hope you all enjoyed it as well. I will see you next week with a new one! Stay safe and have an awesome week!