# Least likely ethnic characterization **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412 "2014-08-13T03:09:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![orangeapples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@orangeapples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orangeapples)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/61 "2014-08-14T06:05:15Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > C. Thomas Walker as a black guy in “Soul Man”. > > I know, I know. He wasn’t really black in that movie. But he still managed to convince everyone that he was, obvious wig and all. > > I saw the movie as a kid. It was a total WTF experience for me. “The Neverending Story” seemed like a documentary compared to that movie. Nit-pick: it’s C. Thomas Howell, actually. > **[C. Thomas Howell | Actor, Producer, Director](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001367/?ref_=tt_cl_t1)** > > Known for: The Outsiders, The Hitcher, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/62 "2014-08-14T06:07:35Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Don’t forget Sean Connery as the only Russian who ever had a Welsh accent. Scottish, not Welsh. And just to pick nits, Captain Ramius was Lithuanian, not Russian. Sam Neill’s character, on the other hand, was indeed Russian. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/63 "2014-08-14T20:22:35Z")
The Costanza family on _ **Seinfeld** _ was not even a LITTLE bit convincing as Italians. Every actor who played a Costanza fit every imaginable Jewish stereotype! I will confirm that, here in Texas at least, it’s not at all uncommon to hear Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Pakistanis and Vietnamese who have noticeable drawls, and who use expressions like “y’all” without any self-consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/64 "2014-08-14T20:35:24Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I will confirm that, here in Texas at least, it’s not at all uncommon to hear Indians, Chinese, Koreans, Pakistanis and Vietnamese who have noticeable drawls, and who use expressions like “y’all” without any self-consciousness. Heh! Reminds me of when I was teaching English in Moscow. The language school where I worked had a branch in one of the suburbs where a certain teacher from Ireland had been assigned for years. When he finally decided to move on, the teacher who replaced him found that all of the students (teenagers) spoke English with a perfect Irish accent. Like little kids, whose brains soak languages up like sponges, immigrants who learn English through immersion end up speaking it with the accent they hear. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/65 "2014-08-14T20:40:38Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Heh! Reminds me of when I was teaching English in Moscow. The language school where I worked had a branch in one of the suburbs where a certain teacher from Ireland had been assigned for years. When he finally decided to move on, the teacher who replaced him found that all of the students (teenagers) spoke English with a perfect Irish accent. > > Like little kids, whose brains soak languages up like sponges, immigrants who learn English through immersion end up speaking it with the accent they hear. I’ll mention this anecdote again. I knew an Algerian girl who spoke French and English. Arabic was her first language. Then French, and then English. Her English was absolutely flawless and fluent–but with a definite French accent! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/66 "2014-08-14T20:51:56Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I’ll mention this anecdote again. I knew an Algerian girl who spoke French and English. Arabic was her first language. Then French, and then English. Her English was absolutely flawless and fluent–but with a definite French accent! Did she learn English through immersion? If she learned it in an Algerian school, it’s very possible her instructor taught it with a French accent, since Algeria was a French colony until about 50 years ago. Or her French accent might have been so deeply ingrained that she kept it regardless of where her instructor was from. But I’ll bet she did indeed learn it through formal instruction, and not immersion. I knew a Russian girl who shacked up with a Scot. After six months, she sounded like she’d just walked in off the streets of Edinburgh. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/67 "2014-08-14T20:58:17Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The Costanza family on _ **Seinfeld** _ was not even a LITTLE bit convincing as Italians. Every actor who played a Costanza fit every imaginable Jewish stereotype! Don’t even get me started on Donna Chang… ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/68 "2014-08-14T22:19:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Ricardo Montalban as Khan Noonian Singh, the only Sikh ever to speak with a Mexican accent: > > [http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K\_CBU6yw1rk/TudowQ6KPmI/AAAAAAAAA04/yg822kyNPwA/s1600/Ricardo+Montalban.jpg](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K_CBU6yw1rk/TudowQ6KPmI/AAAAAAAAA04/yg822kyNPwA/s1600/Ricardo+Montalban.jpg) And then a pasty white Englishman [![](http://i.pinimg.com/736x/d4/92/10/d49210ca0bf54e5eb7b3cf9bd8373352.jpg) ](http://i.pinimg.com/736x/d4/92/10/d49210ca0bf54e5eb7b3cf9bd8373352.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/69 "2014-08-15T01:24:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Did she learn English through immersion? If she learned it in an Algerian school, it’s very possible her instructor taught it with a French accent, since Algeria was a French colony until about 50 years ago. . . . Never axed her, but this was my assumption, that her teacher’s first language was probably French, and was teaching English. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/70 "2014-08-15T05:37:43Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Why go all the way back to '56 when ‘Exodus’ is [right here with us](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZPMU9riKl4). You’re right, none of those guys are from Belfast! ---
**Author:** ![ItWasAGoodIdeaAtTheTime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e5b9ba/32.png) [@ItWasAGoodIdeaAtTheTime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ItWasAGoodIdeaAtTheTime)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/71 "2014-08-15T07:35:16Z")
My own feeble defense of ‘Khan’/ a certain set of pecs/ #2’s impeccable posture… has two prongs: 1)Surnames aren’t an infallible guide to a person’s cultural lineage. Adoptions, legal name changes, immigrants to who change their name to a more ‘local’ version of their name to avoid stigma, the many Scottish surnames in the Caribbean which are mostly to do with Slave and Plantation ownership, religious conversions, the fact that in the West (most) cultures hand down surnames via the father’s lineage. That might only be 1/200 or less of your ‘ethnic’ background (which is, itself, a hot potato to define…) 2)Not all Sikhs are turban wearing Punjabi’s. You can convert to Sikhism like this Italian-American taxi driver: > **[NYC's Italian Sikh female taxi driver](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-15236154)** > > Maria Provenzano Singh explains what life is like as a female Italian American Sikh taxi driver in New York. From Scotland (where I am),we’ve 2 media personalities and brothers, who are both Sikh- Hardeep Singh Kholi, a comedian and presenter, wears a Turban- at times with a kilt (and looks dapper with it). And Sanjeev Kohli, an actor and presenter, who doesn’t wear a Turban, and is perhaps best known playing bearded Muslim shopkeeper, Navid, in ‘Still Game’-a sitcom. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/72 "2014-08-15T07:42:39Z")
> [@ItWasAGoodIdeaAtTheTime](#): > > Not all Sikhs are turban wearing Punjabi’s. You can convert to Sikhism like this Italian-American taxi driver: > [Life as an Italian American Sikh female taxi driver in NYC - BBC News](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15236154) It was made pretty clear in _ **ST: TOS** _ that Khan was originally envisioned as coming from northern India, whose men “make the most magnificent warriors!” (Marla McGivers’ words, not mine.) [http://www.racebending.com/v4/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/startrek02.jpg](http://www.racebending.com/v4/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/startrek02.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412/73 "2014-08-15T15:31:56Z")
> [@ItWasAGoodIdeaAtTheTime](#): > > 1)Surnames aren’t an infallible guide to a person’s cultural lineage. A Japanese-American friend of mine once mentioned that he was kind of annoyed that the character named Mr. Kobayashi in _The Usual Suspects_ was played by Pete Postlethwaite. My friend is biracial himself and has a Japanese last name even though his mother is white, so he wouldn’t have been surprised by a multiracial actor having a Japanese name, but he felt Postlethwaite was obviously a white guy with zero Japanese ancestry. I agree that Postlethwaite didn’t look the least bit Japanese, but the end of the movie reveals that there’s a good reason for this white man to have a Japanese name. I’m going to spoiler box this reason because _The Usual Suspects_ is a movie with some major plot twists and it’s impossible to talk about the ending without giving some of them away, but I’ll try not to give away more than necessary. “Kobayashi” was a fake name invented by Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) to throw off the police. It’s shown that the Kint drew inspiration for some of the names and details in his story from objects in the room with him. For instance, there’s a mug marked “Kobayashi Chinaware”. The “Mr. Kobayashi” in his story was based on a real (in the movie) person also played by Postlethwaite, so during the flashback/story scenes he’s shown as Postlethwaite rather than an Asian actor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-likely-ethnic-characterization/695412.md?page=3)