I didn't have an issue with the punctuation, so I was intrigued by @mondaytuesday's assumption that this was a translation exercise lacking in punctuation, and so I took a moment to google the sentence. It turns out the punctuation is correct, but the original read ""Who I am now is a born-again ancestor bore". With 'ancestor' in the singular, 'ancestor bore' is a straightforward compound noun, meaning a person who bores others by talking obsessively about their ancestors.
It is from an article in the Financial Times by columnist ( and Oxford graduate ) Lucy Kellaway, talking about researching her family history. This is the whole last paragraph:
<em>And so who do I think I am?</em> * The<em> truth is that I’m not who I thought I was six months ago. I still maintain that who I am does not include impoverished shepherds or illegitimate deserting sailors and failed gold diggers. Time has washed them away. But it does include something less expected. Who I am now is a born-again ancestor bore.</em>
* This rhetorical question is a reference to the popular TV programme about family tree research 'Who Do You Think You Are?'
https://next.ft.com/content/a14d5c9e-1a8c-11e1-ae4e-00144feabdc0
I'm not sure, but this 'ancestors stuff', as you call it, could be to do with the mania for online genealogy research. The speaker has become obsessed with delving into his family's past to the extent that he/she now talks about nothing else.
The 'born-again' part is an image borrowed from religion. Just as 'born-again Christians' are filled with zeal and religious fervour when they discover religion, so are 'born-again ancestor bores' filled with passion and enthusiasm for their new obession. I know. I've been there.
Yes, context is everything.
<em>Ancestor bore</em> is not such a common lexical pairing that the meaning was / could have been said to be 100% clear without everything (that paragraph) that came before.
Good sleuthing, Su.Ki.
(a bore) = a boring person
If I add punctuation to clarify meaning (absent in your example) I end up with:
I am a born again, ancestors' bore. (born again (adj) e.g. born again Christian?)
OR
I am a born again ancestors' bore. ([born again ancestors'] bore) = some dead relative came back from the grave?
Who am I now = the person I am now
If this is a translation -- 'now' is ambiguous ... i.e. now (compared to what / when?)
1) Context would likely give some clues to meaning here.
2) Do you have the right punctuation?
3) Is this from a linguistics / translation exercise??
