I would still think a white teenager wouldn’t be the first person one would ask that question, given the circumstances.
I was sitting in one of the dean’s offices with another graduate student, waiting for a job candidate to come out of an interview so we could take her to lunch. On the wall was a bunch of course catalogues going back to the 1960s.
Me: Wow. These catalogues go back to the 1960s.
Girl: And they are all out of order?
Me: Um…no. (deeply confused)
Girl: I’m sorry. I thought you said they were all out of order.
This happened when I was at the mall with my two best friends, who are both Chinese while I am Korean. We were standing in line to get tickets to watch a movie. The guy behind me, who was white, accidentally bumped into me.
Guy Behind Me: Sorry.
Me: It’s okay.
Guy Behind Me: Oh, my God! Are you three, like, Asian?
(Okay, first of all, what kind of teenage boy says, “like” in the middle of his sentences? And what’s so great about us being Asian? You’d think he’s never seen an Asian person before. His school must be predominately Caucasian people or somehting.)
Me and friends: :dubious: Er…yes.
Guy Behind Me: Turns to me So, like, do you get offended when people call you a chink?
Friends: Looks at me What’s a chink?
Me: Dude, if you’re gonna be racist, at least use the right terminology. And do you get offended when people call you a redneck? (I got that from Margaret Cho. Hehe.)
Guy Behind Me: What?
Me: Asian does not equal Chinese.
Guy Behind Me: HUH?? 
[Napoleon Dynamite]Idiot![/Napoleon Dynamite]
I’m not denying that, in some twist of the universe, I could have been responsible for him or even his mother. But that would have been a very long shot in any case, and certainly not the first thing anyone paying attention or sane would have assumed immediately.
When the power went out at my ex-boyfriend’s apartment (he lived on the 9th floor), the toilet would not refill when it was flushed. I assume that has to do with the water pumps being electric.
My little contribution:
Friend of mine was on some sort of penpal programme. He lives in the United Arab Emirates. Question received from penpal:
So, do you take a camel to school?
He replies with: hell yeah, we park them in a stable outside school.
Another friend is Palestinian Christian. Meets someone in the US who asks him if he was Muslim, replies no, Christian
Other guy: Wow, Christianity has reached that far!!!
Well, that’s bound to happen if we give lobsters everything they demand.
My SIL has no sense, especially when it comes to cooking. She once made a cake to serve to the rest of the fam and said cake was bone-dry. She explained, “Well, I know that some of us are on a diet, so I left out the oil.”
She doesn’t even hear the stupidity in her own voice.
Nope! So there’s two people who think this, at least … :eek:
I suppose it’s kind of understandable at a high school level though; my encounter was with a university-level student in a degree program. But again, to be fair, they were teaching themselves (the lecturer decided to go for a “seminar” format where all the students would research one type of separation or identification science and present a report to the remainder of the class). This year I’m teaching it so hopefully I won’t face that question again 
In my high school economics class a girl asked, “Do ATMs print money?” The scary thing – she was the class valedictorian.
I once asked someone to fetch a can of elbow grease.
I was working to hang a door, and saw that the hinges needed a bit of oil. I told my friend Andrea, “Hey, can you go the hardware store for something for me? I need a can of elbow grease. Thanks.” She went to the hardware store to get it. When she returned, she said:
“Well, I couldn’t get the elbow grease, but for some reason, the store owner was laughing at me.”
When I got my first job in Japan, I went round to my aunt’s house to tell her the good news. “Oh, well done”! she said brightly, “Will you be driving there?”
Yes, it should only take a couple of months, from England…
Mrs M and I were watching a drama about the life of Lord Nelson the other week. She waxed indignant when he was seen writing with his left hand: “They would have made him use his right hand in those days!”…
…to which I responded “Count the arms”.
I have to confess that I’m one of those stupid movie theater people. I was at the ticket counter buying two tickets for The Bourne Supremacy. At the end of the exchange, the clerk said, “Thank you and enjoy the show.”
“Thanks, you too,” I replied.
Pause …
“… or not. Ha.”
The clerk and the people behind me both started laughing. Thanks, retail, for teaching me to use automatic responses.
You are by no means unique in doing that - about every other customer does it. If it’s busy, I just ignore it, but if there’s not a big crowd, I’ll usually say, “No, probably not,” just to see their reaction.
A couple of Posters thave made good points about systems reliant on electricity. I stand corrected.
We are here to fight ignorance. I was familure with this ladies home and knew her to be on City water but, the point is valid and I hadn’t considered it. Having been on City-type systems all my life with only limited exposure to well systems I hadn’t considered this perspective.
Thanks. Good nit-pick.
I think I’ve told this story before, too, but here goes.
When I was working selling computer cables, a lady called up to order an 8 foot long cable. THen she asked me, “Do you think that will fit in my car?” A moment of silence, while I tried to parse what she was asking. “Um, yeah, they come folded up.”
And working at Subway, I don’t know how many people asked me how long a foot-long sub was.
I had an extremely morbidly obese cousin, who finally died from weight-related problems. As her casket was being lowered into the ground, her not-too-bright husband asked,
“How will she be able to eat down there?”
To which I replied, “If anyone can figure out how to eat down there, she will.”
Another one:
Coworker: “I don’t believe you’re an atheist; in fact, I can prove that you believe in God.”
Me: :rolleyes: “Ok, prove that I believe in God.”
Coworker: “Well, if you don’t believe in God . . . then who do you pray to?”
Possibly me.
When we were looking for daycare for our son before he came home (he is Korean) we talked to one of the women at the daycare who said “but he won’t speak English” to which I replied “do many six month old babies speak English?”
In college I was taking a religion class that was a review of the major religions. During the Judaism portion there was a discussion about circumcision and this one girl asked what it was. Ouch!
I’m a church organist. Awhile back there was a wedding where they wanted someone’s aunt to play the organ instead of me. I was assured she was well-trained. When she came by to practice I wasn’t there, but another organist happened to be there so she unlocked the organ and pulled up the roll-top. The guest organist said, “Where’s the melody?”
I arrived later on and the lady was in the lobby talking to someone. I was introduced as the organist and she put her finger on my shoulder and made a hissing sound like I was hot.