Americans have an unsual way of identifying themselves ethnically. Throughout much of the country people, especially the South, people genetically descended from Northwest Europeans simply refer to their ethnicity as "Americans" with no further qualification. All other people in America generally hyphenate a particular race, ethnicity or religion to give distiction follow by "-American". How every American choses to identify himself on the U.S. Census is in iteself a very interesting and much studied topic.
If you ask a 'non-ethic' white in the tire shop or barber shop what his race or heritage is, he will tell you he is "White"
"White Americans" through much of the country, and particularly the South, use the term "White" in several ways that can easily be misunderstood.
Although "White" can be substituted for Caucausian, many Whites use the term as an ethnic distinction. For example, it may refer exclusively to native born American Whites who are generally descended from the British Islands with minor inputs from Germans, France, etc.
White can also mean a Northern European type people to the exclusion of what are sometimes called "ethnics' or "ethnic whites" (in other words, people from another European culture, religion or culture)
American "Whites" generally seem to identify somewhat with their assumed to be native culture (like being Irish, German or Scottish) but strangely almost never identify with England. That is bizarre given the genealogical data white suggests that American Whites and a component of all other ethnicities (such as Cherokees or Blacks) have very substantial amounts of English ancestry.
its true what you say and it's a shame really because from what I have read and understand, the English settlers/population that came to the Southern U.S. generally had distinct cultural/regional origins from within England that came to be the dominating influence that contributed to the culture/accents etc... of the American South more than any other groups that settled here.
I especially like the book titled "Bound Away: Virginia and the westward movement" by David Hackett Fisher that tells a great deal specifically about the English settlers of the American South and their impact on it's history and culture.
one reason many American Southerners say they're "American" is because most are greatly mixed with ancestry throughout the British Isles, So ethnic labels like "Irish" or "English", taken separately, only account for part of their ancestry. Maybe a "British-American" ethnic label would fit better, but after the American Revolution, few people wanted to call themselves British in America. After that they started to say they were "American". Another factor is that many people/families who call themselves simply "Irish" or "German" in America came here in the mid-19th century, whereas most Southerners have roots that go back much further and so dont readily identify with any specific European group in a detailed way.
Plus in my experience, White ethnicity has never been important or emphasized in the South to the degree it has been in other parts of America. It was always a person's race that mattered most. The culture of the South came from a blending of various groups, mainly from British Isles (as well as west Africa and Native America) that were greatly mixed on a cultural level.
and because many White Southerners have roots in early colonial America, alot of them simply dont know enough about their own family history to readily identify with any specific European group.
and you're right about the term "White" in America. Someone who might come here from Spain or Portugal may not be seen as White but rather as "Mexican" or hispanic. Americans really are ignorant when it comes to other cultures.
I think it's because early American history was dominated by people of NW European ancestry, and so that is why in America "White" is mainly seen as being of NW European background. I have a friend who is Arab-American. She was born here so she has an American accent. Everyone thinks she is "White" and doesnt even think she is Arab. But her parents, both immigrants from the middle east, are seen as Arabs and not as White by most people they come across.
and her parents dress like westerners, so you cant tell they are Muslim by how they dress either.
she looks just like her father who is Palestinian, yet she is seen as "White" by most people she comes across while both of her parents are seen as "non-White" . It's the dumbest thing, but it's completely true.
Just do the great 23andme, Family Tree is for haplogroups and West Europeans 
