AITAH for telling an american woman she wasn’t german?

A German woman staying at a hostel recounted an awkward encounter with an American woman who claimed to be “German.” When the American woman mispronounced “Porsche” and insisted her version was correct, the German woman politely corrected her. The American doubled down, claiming her heritage made her equally German, even though she admitted her connection was through distant ancestors and she didn’t speak the language.

Tensions rose, and the American accused her of being “elitist” and later made even harsher claims to others. Was the German woman out of line for correcting her and challenging her claim? Read the story below.

‘ AITAH for telling an american woman she wasn’t german?’

I’m a german woman, as in, born and raised in Germany. I was traveling in another country and staying at a hostel, so there were people from a lot of countries. There was one woman from the US and we were all just talking about random stuff. We touched the topic of cars and someone mentioned that they were planning on buying a Porsche.

The american woman tried to correct the guy saying “you know, that’s wrong, it’s actually pronounced <completely wrong way to pronounce it>. I just chuckled and said “no…he actually said it right”. She just snapped and said “no no no, I’m GERMAN ok? I know how it’s pronounced”.

I switched to german (I have a very natural New York accent, so maybe she hadn’t noticed I was german) and told her “you know that’s not how it’s pronounced…” She couldn’t reply and said “what?”. I repeated in english, and I said “I thought you said you were german…”.

She said “I’m german but I don’t speak the language”. I asked if she was actually german or if her great great great grandparents were german and she said it was the latter, so I told her “I don’t think that counts as german, sorry, and he pronounced Porsche correctly”.

She snapped and said I was being an elitist and that she was as german as I am. I didn’t want to take things further so I just said OK and interacted with other people. Later on I heard from another guy that she was telling others I was an a**hole for “correcting her” and that I was “a damn nazi trying to determine who’s german or not”. Why did she react so heavily? Was it actually so offensive to tell her she was wrong?

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

Forsaken_Dog822 −  Absolutely NTA. She was embarrassed to have been corrected, some people can’t stand it (even if they are the first correcting the others) 😂 Little edit: thank you for the super cute (and first) awards 😍 * I’m melting *

StahrofPforzheim83 −  NTA. There is a difference in being German and having German lineage. I was born in Pforzheim and migrated to the US. I completely understand where you are coming from.

BlackEyedRat −  NTA Claiming to be German and yet casually accusing someone of Nazism is actually hilarious. Like could not be more disconnected from actual social norms in Germany. You were 100% correct, she’s not German, she never will be German. Only Americans do this and it is bizarre. I am Scottish so I see it constantly and it is no less annoying…

Tigress92 −  NTA – You had the misfortune of dealing with a l**atic.

FranciscoDAnconia85 −  When you call someone a Nazi, you have lost the argument. NTA

Playful-Gear-4750 −  NTA. You corrected her in a calm way, and her overreaction seems more about her own insecurities than what you said. Claiming distant heritage doesn’t make someone an expert, and you pointing that out clearly struck a nerve. Her response was over the top, and it’s not your fault she couldn’t handle being wrong.

No-Watercress-5054 −  America is a weird place when it comes to ethnicity. Whether someone’s parents or great-great-great-grandparents emigrated from another country, they will always be told they “aren’t *really* Irish/Mexican/whatever.”

Meanwhile, a Chinese American whose family have been in the US since the railroads were first being constructed will always be asked “Where are you *really* from?” And then there’s decedents of slaves who have had all ties to whatever African nations their ancestors were from ripped from them. Non Indigenous people can’t seem to make up their minds if other non-Indigenous spawned here out of the blue or if family history actually spans continents.

Jerseygirl2468 −  NTA it’s not unusual for many Americans to say “I’m Irish/German/Korean/whatever” referring to their ancestry rather than their citizenship. But it is stupid for someone to think they are the authority on something they know little about, double down, and get offended when exposed to be wrong. I don’t know so many people are incapable of just say “oops, I was wrong.”

seriousname65 −  So how DO Germans pronounce Porsche?

Res1dentScr1be −  Americans seem to have the innate ability to call themselves anything other than American like it’s the absolute truth. There are apparently more Irish people in America than there are in Ireland and many have never set foot there. By their own logic, large portions of the American population could just be considered British.

Was it wrong for the German woman to correct the American and challenge her claim of being “German”? Should heritage alone define cultural identity, or was it fair to assert that being born and raised in Germany carries more weight? Share your thoughts below!