Besides when I was sleeping on a rock and a cop called me ‘buddy’, and the few people who were certain I was a lesbian, I haven’t been mistaken much, at all.
Once I was mistaken for my Mom (It was a friend of the family whom I hadn’t seen in ages and I was sitting down and knitting… I guess there may be a similarity but I am much taller then her…)
I was once thought to be my Dad’s husband as well as the mother of my brother (This was one guy who assumed this… also I was 13)
I have been assumed to be my brothers mother with my Mom as his Grandma. (Must be her silver hair…)
And many times I’m mistaken for being in my 20’s (I’m just 17… 18 soon! Yah! Legal drinking!)
In my college years and for a few beyond that I wore my hair in a pretty short buzz cut, and so was often taken for a man (once at the DMV, despite my big dangly earrings) or a lesbian. One night I was standing on the porch at a house party with my long-blond-haired friend Cathy when some drunks drove by and yelled “F*ck her, I did!”
But the best case was several years ago when I was walking hand in hand with my hubby out to our car in the Kmart parking lot. I still had my buzz cut and big dangly earrings, and was carrying a big-ass purse. He had his long Jesus hair and full beard. He’s a little shorter than me and we were both wearing T-shirts and jeans. Suddenly this old guy comes walking up alongside us from behind, and as he does so, he says, “Must be a mother and son!” Just then he came around enough to see our faces, jumped a little bit, and scurried off in another direction. To this day we don’t know which one of us he thought was which.
Also, my friend Chris once got a traffic ticket thrown out because the cop had put her down as male on the citation.
I get mistaken for employees of stores I shop in. It’s fun. Nobody has argued with me yet, but I’m waiting.
I have been mistaken for my sister on several occasions. There is a three year age difference, but we look a lot alike. We are about the same height, same build, same hair color, etc. I have even been mistaken for my sister by my own mother!
In my younger years, when I was much skinnier, I had a few people tell me that I vaguely resemble Madonna. I’m not sure whether that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult.
I’ve been mistaken for my father multiple times. The resemblance is quite striking.
I’ve been mistaken for British. I think it’s because I have this unamerican tendency to speak in complete sentences.
Here at work, I’ve just been mistaken for someone else who has the same last name, and a first name that starts with the same first letter. (“S”, in case you were curious.)
My roommate is an incredibly handsome gay man who looks and acts completely straight. (Think Will & Grace)
Everywhere we go people think we’re a couple. When we were apartment hunting and trying to fit into a budget, almost every real estate agent asked us “Are you sure you need two bedrooms?”
I have a Swedish name so people always assume I’m Scandinavian. Elke was a popular name in 1975.
On a side note, whenever I go out to eat with someone I always pick the wine and usually pay the tab. It pisses me off when waitstaff hand the check to the guy I’m with or assume he wants to taste the wine. That’s mistaken identity I don’t appreciate.