# Weird mistaken identities **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2004, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080 "2004-11-10T21:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/21 "2004-11-11T14:02:19Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > A couple of weeks ago the city my company is in had its annual celebration. Our company had a booth, passing out mixed drinks. One of the owners (small company, three owners, 50+ employees) said to my boss the next day, “It was nice to see Sean out there, loosening up a bit.” > Boss said he just nodded and agreed. He was as confused as I was, because I’m one of the more out-going employees here. Are you mistaking sarcasm for something else? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/22 "2004-11-11T15:49:15Z")
When I lived in North Carolina, I was frequently mistaken for some mysterious Doppelganger named Minnie. Everywhere I went, someone would yell out “Hey, Minnie!” I always had this really deep-seated desire to check out my supposed double, and see how I stacked up. Never did meet her though. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/23 "2004-11-11T15:56:08Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > When I lived in North Carolina, I was frequently mistaken for some mysterious Doppelganger named Minnie. Everywhere I went, someone would yell out “Hey, Minnie!” I always had this really deep-seated desire to check out my supposed double, and see how I stacked up. Never did meet her though. Maybe the RL version of “Hi, Opal!” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/24 "2004-11-11T16:18:53Z")
I used to be mistaken for Prince Edward (Windsor) all the time; we don’t look so much alike nowadays though. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/25 "2004-11-11T17:33:43Z")
I was once mistaken for Quentin Tarantino in a hotel lounge. ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/26 "2004-11-11T22:33:14Z")
I get mistaken for onther nationalities quiet frequently. So far, I have been mistaken to be an Egyptian, Lebanese, Filipino, Japanese (this partucular guys totally nuts anyways), Nepali, Sri Lankan. I am now searching for myself. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/27 "2004-11-11T22:45:44Z")
I once lost a job becuase my supervisor thought I was a lesbian. Oddly, I was living with my boyfriend at the time. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/28 "2004-11-11T23:23:53Z")
The occasional time I buy something from the lunch line at school, the (rather elderly) lady at the register asks me if I’m a student or a teacher. (Teachers pay more, apparently). I’m a 17 year-old high school student. I’d need to be at least six or seven years older to be a teacher. Must be because I don’t dress like a slob :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/29 "2004-11-12T03:43:32Z")
When I visited Montreal, I stayed in a hostel with lots of Swiss and French people, where I was the only American. For some reason, when I tried to speak French to anyone, they became convinced I was GERMAN! One Swiss girl kept insisting I had a German accent when I spoke French. Considering I’m an American from the Deep South who doesn’t speak a word of German, this was decidedly confusing. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/30 "2004-11-12T06:39:04Z")
I’m extremely white (Jewish/Irish descent, and I’m so pale I glow). I’ve got light brown/dirty blonde hair. Brown eyes. However, on several occasions, I’ve had people assume I’m of Asian descent. One guy who I’d just met decided I was Asian, and had the guts to ask if I was adopted, since I have a very decidedly Irish last name. :wally ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/31 "2004-11-12T07:12:53Z")
Well, in their defense, **NinjaChick** , I saw a photo of you and your eyes look a little bit asian (my cousin has similar features) At my tutoring job people always mistake me for one of the Directors (managers). It probably has to do with the fact that I’m 7 years older than all the other employees, closer in age to the Directors (some of the Directors are younger than ME! :eek: ) and am the tallest employee there. I’d also like to think that the mistaken identity also comes from my confident swagger and the inflection of my voice (people think I’m a director when I answer the phone at work too 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/32 "2004-11-12T07:25:01Z")
Wow, TWO of these posts remind me of a happening on Andy Richter (the only Episode I ever saw): [spoiler]Andy and a bunch of other workers are made to take sensitivity training due to anti-Irish comments. They arrive at the training, and a man walks in with a briefcase, walks to the front of the classroom, and says: “Blacks are lazy. Irish are always drunk. Women are stupid.” Then the instructor walks in :D[/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/33 "2004-11-12T07:50:51Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > My brother is a year and six weeks older than I, and mom used to push us around in a double stroller (me lying in the back and my bro sitting up front). > > “Are they twins?” 😕 I get this a couple of times a week when I’m out with my sons.’ Who are almost exactly two years apart. 😕😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/34 "2004-11-12T08:00:34Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I’m extremely white (Jewish/Irish descent, and I’m so pale I glow). I’ve got light brown/dirty blonde hair. Brown eyes. > > However, on several occasions, I’ve had people assume I’m of Asian descent. One guy who I’d just met decided I was Asian, and had the guts to ask if I was adopted, since I have a very decidedly Irish last name. :wally I must be thinking of a different picture but I could have sworn you were Asian too. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/35 "2004-11-12T08:18:08Z")
At 33, I was still getting carded at bars. At 42, while managing a business, I was asked out of the blue by an employee who was getting acquainted with me, “So, you’re a college student?” After an incredulous pause (I was dressed in a business suit, and I have graying temples), I said that I was a college student _twenty years ago_. I thought that was an anomaly until a few weeks later, two different people, former co-workers at different jobs, both referred to me as a “young man” in letters of recommendation that each wrote for me. Yes, somewhere in my attic there is a portrait turning very old and ugly . . . :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/36 "2004-11-12T09:41:53Z")
When I was a young (but very tall) lad of 14 with as much facial hair as a peach I was sitting on the bus when it happened. This 40 something guy who was a little tipsy sat down next to me and started talking to me. I was some budy of his from way back when they were in Vietnam together. We laughed about how we loved Jack Daniels and reminisced about the old times then he had to get off and we said goodbye. Certainly he’d have needed a lot of help from a certain liquid to mistake me for some Vietnam vet. Very strange. **TellMeI’mNotCrazy** , I have a twin out there too. It’s most annoying. Although not enough to hunt him down yet. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/37 "2004-11-12T10:51:47Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > I’m extremely white (Jewish/Irish descent, and I’m so pale I glow). I’ve got light brown/dirty blonde hair. Brown eyes. > > However, on several occasions, I’ve had people assume I’m of Asian descent. One guy who I’d just met decided I was Asian, and had the guts to ask if I was adopted, since I have a very decidedly Irish last name. :wally It isn’t O’Hara, by any chance? I ask because Ohara is a Japanese family name. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/38 "2004-11-12T11:24:10Z")
At work as an orderly patients frequently mistake me for a nursing student. Which is good, I guess, because when I’m not at work that’s what I am! ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/39 "2004-11-12T11:35:33Z")
A coworker once said that he’d always thought I was non-religious—“didn’t give a damn” about religion is how he put it. Funny, I never would say anything anti-religious, since I am a regular church-goer. True, I am not at all preachy, I try to be open-minded (not sniff in judgment of others’ beliefs or lack of beliefs) and am generally laid-back, but I’m certainly not apathetic about religion. I am often mistaken for being someone much younger. I was once with a group of coworkers who were all less than 10 years older than me. They all seemed to unanimously assume that I was _much_ younger than them. I didn’t bother to correct them—it’s none of their business how old I am! ---
**Author:** ![Zhora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a5b964/32.png) [@Zhora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zhora)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080/40 "2004-11-12T16:41:26Z")
Not so much mistaken identity, but mistaken something . . . Iliana was telling Liz and me about what she did on Valentine’s Day. “We were walking around and saw a horse-drawn carriage with two girls in it and so I said, ‘I think that is a really nice way for two friends to spend the afternoon’. My honey said that they were probably a lesbian couple. I am not so sure, they did not look like lesbians.” I asked her what lesbians were supposed to look like. Iliana replied, “You know. They always wear pants and have short hair.” There was a brief pause as I stared at her in disbelief. Liz must have thought I took it personally because she jumped in to say, noting I frequently wore pants and had really short hair, “She is not referring to you!” * * * As to mistaken identity, 8 years ago a girl came up to me convinced I was John Michael’s girlfriend. I explained I was not her and that I do not know John Michael. This happened a few more times and after a while I think she realized I was not John Michael’s girlfriend. After not seeing her for a few years, we ran into each other last month. We had both forgotten each other’s name and reintroduced ourselves. She was so excited; “It has been ages since I have seen you! So nice to see an old face.” I asked her what she had been up to and replied, “Making porn.” We chatted about her new career and as I was saying good-bye to her, she blurted out, “Now I remember you! You are John Michael’s girlfriend!” With a sigh I explained, “No, no I am not. I am the girl you always mistake for John Michael’s girlfriend.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-mistaken-identities/274080.md?page=3)