I don't get that kind of response though. Black people in America always seem to be so proud of being black, their heritage, etc. But the moment you ask them something actually significant, or meaningful, they find it offensive. I understand what you're saying, because even i wouldn't ask a black person from America what tribe they're from. I just don't understand why it's an offensive thing to ask. Do white people get offended if they're asked what their roots are? I get that a nationality isn't a tribe, but it kind of is. So if someone asks me if i'm half English/Scottish/German/whatever, do i get offended? Should i? Just doesn't make sense to me. "I'm proud to be black/indian, but don't ask me anything about it ever." nationality isn't a tribe but ethnic group is. Europe has several ethnic groups Slavic - most of eastern europe German - germany, france, england, italy Celtic - welsh, irish, scottish Greek Latin basque etc. middle east has several arab jewish persian armenian turkish kurdish etc. You forgot that most Scandinavians are also Germanic.And one large European group at least was left out, us Finno-Ugrians. Call me Slavic and I'll punch you. I'm pretty sure he wasn't intending to write a comprehensive list.Yep, hence his use of etc