# Can YOU Tell Asians Apart? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299 "2003-06-25T14:44:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/21 "2003-06-25T16:17:01Z")
Did not take the test, but I can usually guess. Mannerisms are often different. The easiest for me are Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Filipino. ---
**Author:** ![chattywine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@chattywine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chattywine)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/22 "2003-06-25T16:34:51Z")
‘Inversely Amazing’ 3/18 I feel so putzlike now. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/23 "2003-06-25T16:42:56Z")
This Filipino is embarassed that he only got 5. But then again, I’ve been mistaken for a local in the various Southeast Asian I’ve visited, and mistaken for a foreigner in the Philippines. ---
**Author:** ![Sinungaling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Sinungaling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinungaling)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/24 "2003-06-25T17:00:11Z")
Really? What sort of foreigner? Kano? (Tagalog slang for American, for those who don’t know) ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/25 "2003-06-25T17:02:04Z")
1. The first one I thought to myself “aha! Vietnamese”, but that wasn’t one of the options. I thought a couple looked Singaporean too. Ah wells. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/26 "2003-06-25T17:07:11Z")
Crap, my post should read “…various Southeast Asian **countries** I’ve visited…” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sinungaling \* > \*\*Really? What sort of foreigner? Kano? (Tagalog slang for American, for those who don’t know) \*\* Instik, Hapon [Chinese, Japanese], anything but Filipino. ---
**Author:** ![Sinungaling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Sinungaling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinungaling)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/27 "2003-06-25T17:52:26Z")
That’s **Intsik** , as in “Intsik beho.” Heh, amazing how un-PC the Philippines is. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/28 "2003-06-25T18:54:47Z")
:smack: My fingers are just not cooperating today. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/29 "2003-06-25T19:02:56Z")
Eww! I made **Astrogirl** take it first (while I tried to memorize the answers afterwards so’s I could amaze her). Scores: **Astrogirl** (Korean woman): 4 **Astroboy12** (American guy with Asian-girl fetish): 4 Pathetic! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ruiniform](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de053/32.png) [@Ruiniform](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruiniform)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/30 "2003-06-25T19:26:30Z")
I scored a 6 (I think I guessed Korean too often because I know more Koreans), but I highly doubt I’d do any better (or even worse) guessing between, say, Welsh, Scottish, and British people. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Frank\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_2)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/31 "2003-06-25T19:43:53Z")
**chattywine** , I’m right with you. 3 of 18. My experience with Asians is limited to my lunch trips to the Japanese resturaunt run by Koreans. ---
**Author:** ![vivian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@vivian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/32 "2003-06-25T19:52:59Z")
I got a 14/18. I don’t know if living in Canada has anything to do with it, but for the most part, I can tell the difference between Chinese, Philippino, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. Same thing with their languages. Very different for the most part. But then again, I pride myself on being able to identify people’s backgrounds by their names, features etc. And that’s only because people always misidentify me… ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/33 "2003-06-25T19:57:21Z")
One year living in China and vacations in Korea, Thailand, Laos, Japan, Macao, and Hong Kong apparently have done me no good. 6/18 ---
**Author:** ![\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/7cd45c/32.png) [@\_Deep\_F\_ied](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Deep_F_ied)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/34 "2003-06-25T19:59:11Z")
I am “hopeless”. 5 out of 18…Damn. I thought I would ace it…oh well. Did anybody else find some of those faces familiar? I think I have partied with a few of those dudes…then again apparently they all look the same to me… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/35 "2003-06-25T20:03:47Z")
What’s an Asian? Seriously. Were all those people really Asian? I should have assumed everyone was Chinese. There are over a billion of them. Yes, I did very poorly. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/36 "2003-06-25T20:06:39Z")
I got a 7/18, but I got every single Japanese one correct. Not really suprising. ---
**Author:** ![Sinungaling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Sinungaling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinungaling)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/37 "2003-06-25T20:06:46Z")
Dammit, peeps, it’s spelled with an “F”! Filipino! Yeah, that always bugs me. It used to be you could tell who was Japanese by the dyed hair, but you can’t anymore. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/38 "2003-06-25T20:24:11Z")
10/18. Hmm, I thought I would have scored better given how long I lived in that area. ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/39 "2003-06-25T22:09:10Z")
I got a 6. Ugh, that sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299/40 "2003-06-25T22:43:14Z")
1. Eh, I beat the average. I thought the Japanese had big round eyes, no thumbs, and mouths that changed size when they talked. What? Next you’ll tell me Canadians’ heads don’t flap when they talk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-tell-asians-apart/184299.md?page=3)