# Have you ever been mistaken for another ethnicity or race? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 25, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550 "2018-07-25T14:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/41 "2018-07-26T01:14:46Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Only if you count “you can’t be Hispanic, you are white” Yep, that’s the one. [Reference](http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s26/jrdelirio/Various%20Locations/IMG_1947.jpg), as seen in the portrait thread last year. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/42 "2018-07-26T01:19:16Z")
Yep. I’ve been mistaken for Italian a couple times (I don’t see it at all but ok) AND I’ve actually been mistaken for being an _[RIGHT] [/RIGHT]Arab-American_ more than once as well. FTR, I am Irish/Norweigan/Amuricun, so my bloodlines are about as white as white can get. The Italian thing i can kinda understand, because im much more tan/olive skin than the rest of my family so someone thinking i look like an Italian wouldn’t seem bizarre to me. But the Arab thing, that’s a different kettle of fish. Like i said, i’m a mix of Irish and Norweigan. Yet I’ve been mistaken for being Middle Eastern!! Twice! I can still absolutely not explain this at all. It irritates me. It’s soo bizarrely unlike even a semblance of me I feel like I could have just as easily been told I look like the black, female rapper Nicki Minaj. I came to the conclusion that people just like to say shit, and whether they believe that shit is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/43 "2018-07-26T01:41:30Z")
No, and frankly I can’t see any normal situation where this would even come up. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/44 "2018-07-26T06:20:20Z")
Same. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/45 "2018-07-26T06:50:29Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > No, and frankly I can’t see any normal situation where this would even come up. > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Same. Staying up past 7:30 p.m. once in a while drastically increases the chances of finding yourself in a situation where it does come up. 🙂 j/k ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/46 "2018-07-26T07:42:08Z")
I have frequently been told I look French, or been mistaken for French, not just at home in the UK, but also in Italy, Spain and France. Even my mother thinks I look French. It just seems so… specific. (I am British, BTW, with no family records of anything other than English in my ancestry) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/47 "2018-07-26T08:18:52Z")
My _voice_ has been mistaken for Posh English, but otherwise, nah, I’m a dinkum Aussie with freckles. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/48 "2018-07-26T08:36:13Z")
While in Australia, a lot of people guessed I was South African, which was a little weird. I think that was more of an accent thing though; I picked up bits of the Aussie and Kiwi accents, but not quite consistently so people couldn’t place it. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/49 "2018-07-26T10:17:09Z")
Full blooded Pakistani. I tan pretty easily but am fairly light skinned. Dark brown air, brown eyes. Lets see. Arab of various stripes. Ditto Meds. Russian (!), Welsh (my name is similarly spelled to a Welsh name) and Jewish (Khan is not Kahn). The Russian was…weird. Everything else, I am at least within the range of phentotypes. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/50 "2018-07-26T10:42:56Z")
Jewish, Mexican, and African-American. I am a white guy. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/51 "2018-07-26T11:52:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > No, and frankly I can’t see any normal situation where this would even come up. I can only speak for myself, but it’s not like people come up to me randomly and say “Oh, you must be Jewish”. There’s an interaction where the person either assumes that I’m Jewish (and wouldn’t have had that particular conversation if they knew I wasn’t) or expresses surprise to discover I’m not. For example: 1. A Jewish coworker come up to me and says “We have to reschedule our training”. Me :Why? Coworker: We’re scheduled on the holiday Me: What holiday? Coworker (sounding surprised): Yom Kippur. Me: I’m not Jewish 2)Someone would try to recruit me to join the Jewish fraternal organization at my job 3)If I mentioned that my kid’s First Confirmation or Confirmation was coming up I’d frequently get “Oh, you’re Catholic?” ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/53 "2018-07-26T18:00:27Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Full blooded Pakistani. I tan pretty easily but am fairly light skinned. Dark brown air, brown eyes. > > Lets see. Arab of various stripes. Ditto Meds. Russian (!), Welsh (my name is similarly spelled to a Welsh name) and Jewish (Khan is not Kahn). > > The Russian was…weird. Everything else, I am at least within the range of phentotypes. There are a million different “Russian” phenotypes because the various incarnations of the Russian empire extended much farther to the east and south than many people realize, and people migrated and mixed a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/54 "2018-07-26T19:52:01Z")
No, but I’m sure if I claimed to be Jewish, no one would question it (especially if I dropped my drawers). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/55 "2018-07-26T22:33:04Z")
My last name is Magyar, only it’s not because it was spelled phonetically when we came to the U.S. And no one knows what the hell Magyar is, so people ask me if I’m (insert random Slavic/Eastern European ethnicity) or skip right to “Is that Jewish?” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/56 "2018-07-27T00:28:39Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > My _voice_ has been mistaken for Posh English, but otherwise, nah, I’m a dinkum Aussie with freckles. You aren’t from Victoria, are you? Many Americans confuse actors with that accent for a posh English accent - I know I was surprised to learn that Jesse Spenser was Australian myself. I can usually tell an Australian accent from a New Zealand one, but there’s something that sounds British about his voice to me. OTOH, I’m American, and have lived in the US all my life. I’ve been asked more than once if I’m Canadian, as have several other people who grew up nearby. I can only guess it’s because people who aren’t from here are only familiar with the Boston and _maybe_ folksy down Maine accents, and don’t know what to make of New Englanders who sound like neither of those accents. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/57 "2018-07-27T04:51:09Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I don’t know if it counts, but for some reason European street crap vendors and assholes hawking shit in tourist areas seem to consistently think my wife and I are German or Dutch. > > God knows why- I’d have thought tall, fat white people in jeans, speaking English and carrying camera bags and stuff screams “AMERICANS!” stereotypical German or Dutch was orange clothing, socks and sandals, and a camera. It could be the camera bags that are confusing them. I myself am frequently taken for Canadian, but that’s mostly Australians trying to be polite – they have the idea that asking Canadians if they are American could cause offense. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/58 "2018-07-27T06:00:01Z")
My middle daughter gets asked if she is native American. We don’t see it, she has a slightly darker complexion and darker eyes than my other 2, but otherwise a white woman. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/59 "2018-07-27T13:28:30Z")
I’m about as lily white as people can be without being albino, so people ask me if I’m Scandinavian. Nobody guesses Inuit, Russian, English and Irish. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/60 "2018-07-27T15:08:51Z")
> [@bump](#): > > God knows why- I’d have thought tall, fat white people in jeans, speaking English and carrying camera bags and stuff screams “AMERICANS!” I’m more used to hearing American accents from people in ill-fitting shorts than in jeans. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550/61 "2018-07-27T15:14:26Z")
Pretty much any time I’m not with people I know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-mistaken-for-another-ethnicity-or-race/818550.md?page=4)