I had many Italian-American friends in high school. The demographics of the small town insured it, if you wanted friends. Most - not all -  were third generation, grandsons of immigrants.

When I dropped by large family backyard cookouts of these friends, I'd be introduced to about two dozen "cousins" ranging in age from infant to near-geezer. But among these cousins would usually befour or  five or six very pretty but bored  teenage girls,  delighted to meet someone outside the  family, even a rather ordinary-looking guy like myself.