I’m not tall, but I do get called “sir” quite frequently. I used to think it’s because I wear mannish shirts, but a while ago I realized the clue people were picking up on was stuff (pens, receipts, what not) in the breast pocket of my shirt. Apparently only men do that. I started looking around at work, and I have yet to see another woman with random crap in her shirt pocket.
I occasionally pantomime eating and/or biting the phones of family members and friends, but while the phones are inserted into my gaping maw, they don’t actually touch any part of the inside of it, nor are they swallowed.
They make women’s shirts with breast pockets?
This happens to me a lot as well—I am overweight, so I guess that dosent square with most peoples idea of a veggie-hoon, and I also am of an ethnicity not noted for vegetarians, so that seemingly throws them off.
I do eat dairy (love pizza and Mexican food) and dont typically eat at veggie specific places-----I can go to just about anyplace and find something I will be happy to order, so that also keeps friends (none of whom are vegetarian) from focusing on my “weirdo” eating habits.
In the overall scheme of things, it dosent come up much, and when at a friends place for a dinner or party, if there is nothing I can eat, I can always stop on the way home for a fatty veggie chile verde burrito (with extra cheese)…
Plastics… To edible petroleum products count as vegetarian?
I usually get fireworks and weed wacker also at the same time. It usually prevents these kind of misunderstandings…
What does a vegetarian look like? I’ve been vegetarian all my life, and I’ve never been told that I look like one. My family’s been veggie for, oh, generations, and I look fairly generically Indian (from India, that is) so it would be a reasonable assumption, but every time I tell people I’m vegetarian they look surprised. Clearly I’m missing the pink earlobe, or something else that marks us out. I want to wear my badge with honour, dammit!
Yes. Carnivores eat meat. However, your omnivore card is just fine.
I think people are mostly use to identifying vegetarians by sound, not by looks. There are always the particularly annoyingly militant vegans, who endlessly harangue anyone who’ll listen about murdering innocent lives to make their burgers and raping cows to get their ice cream. :rolleyes: So when you’ve never been a giant asshole, they’re shocked to hear you’re a vegetarian.
Damn you, I already started thawing a fish for my dinner.
On preview:
So what does that say about us omnivores who are mistaken for vegetarians?
Yes. If you look for long sleeved, collared shirts that look like men’s suit shirts you’ll see them. I think it’s just supposed to be a vestigial pocket, like the ones you see on men’s pajama tops.
Oh, timely question - an environmentalist. It might be just denial on my part, though 
I’m sure some of my coworkers think I’m a (ovo-lacto) vegetarian because I almost never eat anything that includes meat at work. I’m avoiding bread by bringing yogurt, fruits and veggies for lunch though, and the meat is just an innocent bystander of that.
I have to say, I feel for that woman in the horrid Cheerios commercial.
I’m eating a salad – "Oh, are you on a diet? Tell me about your diet! What’s your goal? How much have you lost? Are you on Weight Watchers? Do you want to be diet buddies? You can call me and I can call you! You’re always eating salads! You must be soooooo healthy! Ooooh, I caught you eating a sandwich! Are you allowed to have bread on your diet? Those carbs’ll getcha! I never see you at Weight Watchers! Do you go to Curves? We could go to C / / / / /
:: Sigmagirl jumps off 10th floor of her building ::
That’s weird that someone would ask if you’re a vegetarian for eating a salad. Everyone knows that all people eating salads are on diets. 
Seriously, people ask me if I’m dieting constantly because when I bring my lunch, I usually bring several servings of fruits and vegetables - one for my morning snack, one to go with my “main” lunch dish and another for an afternoon snack. I’m not dieting. I’m just eating food that makes me more energetic. Oh, and not eating for long periods of time makes me want to hurl, so I try not to eat too much at once.
I’ve been asked about whether or not I was vegetarian on several occasions, the most memorable of which occurred when I was about to take an enormous bite of medium-rare filet mignon.
I think Nava’s comment about people being shortsighted and shortbrained is spot on.
And it also looks like Sigmagirl beat me to the punch. Is there room on that ledge for one more?
I don’t mean to be rude, but it happens a lot at work (I’m a waiter) and it tends to be with men that look like butch lesbians! Youthful-ish face, maybe a tad overweight, and baggy tops.
But it could be the height…
No comment. 
Actually, it’s probably that they’ve seen you eating things that a vegetarian might eat and just missed the meat you did eat. … Probably. Or you could just be a dirty, dirty hippie.
Huh. None of the dress shirts I have have pockets. Of course, they’re also mostly those “feminine” dress shirts (where the buttons don’t go all the way to the collar, presumably so that when all else fails you can flash some cleavage to get what you want).
I’ve been mistaken for a lesbian.
Of course, I was arguing in favor of gay rights at the time. Then I had to explain to the person that I wasn’t offended by her assumption - as I don’t think being a lesbian is a bad thing - but I did prefer the facts be known.
I had to explain to a niece that she wasn’t a vegetarian. She thought shrimp weren’t animals. She wouldn’t say if she thought they were plants or fungus or archaea, but she sure didn’t believe they were animals.
No. No. No. In fact, I am probably more boring-looking than anyone else who worked with me. No tattoos or piercings, no hair dye, always seen in my work uniform–I’m quite confused.
And on a not entirely unrelated tangent, I thought of another question I get a lot when I’m shopping in all my boring glory, not wearing chinos, a polo shirt, or an apron:
“Do you work here?”
Me too. Though unlike you, I do have long hair, and have been told that I “twirl my hair” a lot.
I’ve been mistaken for Jewish on several occasions.
My father has been mistaken for Mexican several times. The funny thing is that it’s usually been Mexicans that do this. He’ll be in a store in Texas and a Mexican will approach him and ask him a question in Spanish, a language my father knows about three words in.
TofuMate
I have 2 packettes, they are Breakfast Scramble; onions rice flour, salt, maltodextrin, garlic powder, red peppers, autolyzed yeast extract, soybean oil, spices, tumeric, soy sauce, citric acid, tsp, malic acid, cocoa, molassas powder, paprika
the other is eggless salad: maltodextrin, rice flour, salt, onion powder, spices, garlic powder, carrots, fructose, soybean oil, tumeric, citric acid, celery, malic acid, lemon oil - you need to add your own mayo/faux mayo