# Website that shows how wrong guessing race is. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287 "2007-03-17T01:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/21 "2007-03-17T05:44:27Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] 9 out of 6? WOW, you’re GOOD! I got 31% myself. [/QUOTE] Not that good, 9 out of 16. ---
**Author:** ![conurepete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@conurepete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conurepete)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/22 "2007-03-17T06:31:25Z")
Wow, I got 43%, which I find shockingly high. I find guessing race to be WAY too hard for me, I usually wait for people to self-identify. I would never have guessed part Australian aborigine in my co-worker, she looks like a generic variety white person. Plus people seem to get offended if you guess wrong. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/23 "2007-03-17T06:42:30Z")
The one I recall was the [Sorting People](http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_01-sort.htm) module of the really comprehensive PBS series [Race - The Power of an Illusion](http://www.pbs.org/race/000_General/000_00-Home.htm). ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/24 "2007-03-17T07:29:52Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] [This](http://racerelations.about.com/library/bl_racequiz.htm)? [/QUOTE] I hope not. How can they make people guess Latino, white & North American? Or North American vs. Asian, when there are very closely related groups living just across the Bering Straight from each other? That’s a pop culture quiz more than a race quiz. I’m surprised they didn’t add Keanu Reeves in there. ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/25 "2007-03-17T08:50:56Z")
Meh, I’m a bit disappointed. I got 37 percent, because I was always guessing for the mixed race. I’d like to see a test and guess which country they were from. Everybody knows that race is just a construct and these examples are meant as a way to prove it. I was hoping for something slightly more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/26 "2007-03-17T09:27:49Z")
I notice how _everybody_ in that list is considered mixed. And damn Linda Carter was (and to some degree still is) hot. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/27 "2007-03-17T09:59:35Z")
[QUOTE=Rucksinator] There’s no way that #7 doesn’t have any non-African in her. [/QUOTE] A triple negative? I’m too tired to work this one out. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/28 "2007-03-17T10:12:16Z")
I got half right, but I got bored about halfway through and checked “e” for everything. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/29 "2007-03-17T10:37:28Z")
Easily the dumbest “test” I’ve seen in a while. Appears to have been put together by a nitwit trying to teach a lesson that it’s hard to tell “races” apart. We just can’t seem to decide as a society if we want to identify genetic populations and give them special dispensations–affirmative action, e.g.–or recognize the family of man as a family and judge people by the content of their character. What most of us term “race” applies to specific phenotypical characteristics, and I rather suspect in a test of folks drawn up at random, the results would be a little more consistent, unless the test makes the same ridiculous confusion here among categories for country of origin, genetic population, and ethnicity. If the point of this exercise is to show that it’s difficult to tell who is from a particular ethnicity or race, then woe to the individuals who want to argue for special treatment based on ethnicity and race. If it’s true we can’t really distinguish race most of the time, then it follows that no group is disadvantaged on the basis of society’s reaction to their race/ethnic background alone–the “test” just showed you can’t tell the difference. The ethnic/race-conscious crowd cannot have it both ways. You can’t teach sensitivity and the need for diversity in the first class, the case for affirmative action in the second, and the fact that most people can’t tell the difference without being told in the third. Give up already (I’m not preaching to any posters here, but to creators of thes “helpful” tests…) on focusing on race, ethnicity and/or background, would ya? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/30 "2007-03-17T11:04:16Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Go back to your basement, **Bosda**. Grownups are talking. [/QUOTE] **Q.E.D.**. Perhaps you forgot you were in General Questions. Not appropriate in here. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/31 "2007-03-17T11:11:16Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] [This](http://racerelations.about.com/library/bl_racequiz.htm)? [/QUOTE] Oh. Races. I wasn’t thinking in those terms, I was think of “who crosses the finish line first” type of races. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/32 "2007-03-17T11:11:37Z")
I got an abysmal score on All Look Same. It’s annoying, because when I’m in East Asia, I can pretty much pinpoint someone’s nationality with very high accuracy. Note that these are gross generalities and only trends, but they usually pay off. Japanese tend to have more acquiline noses and quite pale skin and a pronounced “almond” eyelid that swoops to the edges, and curved legs due to sitting on the floor all the time. Koreans have round, flatter faces. Northern Chinese are usually tall and have quite defined features; southern Chinese are often quite short and have wide noses, wide faces and slightly darker skin. Now I’m wondering if I guess a lot based on style and demeanour too. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/33 "2007-03-17T11:14:24Z")
12% because I don’t even look to see where people are from so I have no idea where they are from. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/34 "2007-03-17T11:33:46Z")
I got two right. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/35 "2007-03-17T11:37:05Z")
I wish I’d known about that site when I was being made fun of for not always being able to tell who’s black and who’s white. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/36 "2007-03-17T11:49:47Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Rapper [Chino XL](http://imdb.com/name/nm0944598/). [/QUOTE] One of my favorite rappers. Most famous for being dissed by Tupac. Had a guest appearance on Reno: 911! Indentifies as Puerto Rican. Ethnically diverse to the point that it’s not really fair to include him on a test like this. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/37 "2007-03-17T12:01:53Z")
I got 10/16, but I knew Zack del La Rocha beforehand, otherwise I might have gotten it wrong. I don’t think the test is so stupid. I find it really difficult to tell native american aspects, but otherwise I think the “races” have discernable features. [QUOTE=Rucksinator] 2.) There’s no way that #7 doesn’t have any non-African in her. [/QUOTE] This is true. But otoh, it might not be that much, and the test cannot take that into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/38 "2007-03-17T12:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=mr. jp] This is true. But otoh, it might not be that much, and the test cannot take that into consideration. [/QUOTE] She’s an octohottie! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/39 "2007-03-17T12:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] I wish I’d known about that site when I was being made fun of for not always being able to tell who’s black and who’s white. [/QUOTE] Sasha Baron-Cohen - he of Borat - when playing “Ali G”, who’s meant to be an English South Asian “nigga” wannabe (are you with me so far?), famously asked, when prevented from doing something, “is it coz I is black?” to his victims/interviewees, and not one of them picked up on the fact he is actually a white English Jew. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287/40 "2007-03-17T12:23:53Z")
I’m too lazy and tired to click on the link, so I’m guessing I will get 42% right tomorrow. Oh, and **G.E.D** , I didn’t forget about your prize. Jussoyouno! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-that-shows-how-wrong-guessing-race-is/396287.md?page=3)