How come? I'm an "[insert-country-here]-born American," though, I rarely say that out loud or otherwise.

Ayn Rand was a Russian-born American. Mila Kunis is a Ukranian-born American. Natalie Portman is an Israeli-born American. Elon Musk is a South African-born American, and so are his siblings. Sofia Vergara is a Colombian-born American, so is Wilmer Valderrama "Fez" from That '70s show. Justin Bieber is a Canadian-born American. The Sprouse twins are Italian-born Americans. Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-born American.

The same way that say, Boris Johnson (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) is an American-born British, except that outside the US people don't pay as much attention to this silly thing.

What's your point?

Because people are interested in what exceptional people a country produced, not which ones it merely imported from elsewhere.

More importantly he did his famous thing BEFORE he came to America.

Whereas I feel it’s fair to call Musk and American as he did much of his famous things AFTER emigrating.

As usual, the truth lies in nuance. What counts as _produed_ by a country? Being born in it? Getting primary education in said country? Getting secondary education in said country? College?

Is Ayn Rand an exceptional person produced by the Soviet Union just because she was born there or produced by America because she was able to write what she wanted once she moved here (she wouldn't have made it in the USSR, that's for sure)?

Is Peter Thiel an exceptional person produced by Germany just because he was born there or produced by America because he got all his education here?

Perhaps this is nonsensical to me because I have a peculiar background. My father is Spanish while his dad was Russian and his mother was Italian. My mom is Colombian while his father was a first generation Colombian whose family had migrated to Colombia from Syria and her mother was a tzabar (born on a kibbutz) who migrated to Argentina (and eventually became a citizen).

Where was me and my family exceptionalism _produced_? It's hard to say. the truth lies in nuance.

I think if you spend most of your childhood and adolescence in a country, and especially if your parents are from that country, then that would qualify. So Boris Johnson definitely British.

Of course, by those terms some people simply will not be the product of any nation, in this sense in which we commonly use the word. I take it you’re Jewish? Sometimes a nation can be a people, rather then a place.

I believe there are more international or cosmopolitan children in the decades from 1960 to now than in previous generations, but of course difficult to find data on that because Google is no longer any good.

on edit: realizing that I might have left myself open for someone to complain about my laziness and how I thought people ever managed to do any research before google, I will just note that difficulty is relative and for me it would be difficult because it is not the kind of thing my day to day life is geared towards - ergo, it is not my job to find this kind of data and thus I am unable to make the requisite investment of time to prove my conjecture without the use of a quality search engine such as was available to the general public about a decade ago.

It's sad I had to explain myself at this length, but I have had experiences that suggests it is prudent to do so.

A nation is always a people. Sometimes—not always—they have a place.

It's not particularly interesting where people were born, or where they died, but it is interesting where they were educated. To me, at least.

Just read the stories, what is the point of statements like this