# What incorrect assumptions do people make about you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 18, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570 "2010-04-18T22:55:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/101 "2010-04-24T01:03:18Z")
Several people online have accused me of being a Bush supporter and/or Republican, when in fact I have not ever been a registered Republican in my life, and the last Republican Presidential candidate who I voted for was Ronald Reagan. I have _occasionally_ voted for local Republican candidates for House, but only because I loathe Dennis Moore. Many people assume I’m a cast-iron bitch IRL. I hope that most folks I’ve met IRL on here would say the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Fastidiots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@Fastidiots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fastidiots)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/102 "2010-04-24T01:44:28Z")
When I changed schools at 15 kids thought I was gay for a couple months. Then at the end of high school I worked construction for a few years, grew a full beard, and got really stocky then suddenly I was a footballer. Now-a-days I’m told I smoke pot, mostly due to a woolly hat I wear, I think. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/103 "2010-04-24T03:02:07Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > [ol] > [li]That I like soccer (wrong country, for a start).[/li][/ol] Are you Welsh? ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/104 "2010-04-24T04:03:24Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Are you Welsh? Indeed! pdts ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/105 "2010-04-24T04:39:02Z")
That I’m a doctor (I’m a nurse when I’m not a medical librarian). I have noticed a definite Jekyll and Hyde effect I have on people: I’m either a Miss Priss or some kind of Wild Woman. I’m neither, and probably am more boring than either one. That I was into the Greek system (sororities etc) in college or that I was popular in HS. In college: that I had this great social life and always had a date. Truth is I almost never had a date or plans on a Saturday night unless I made them. That I never got drunk, high or had (pre-AIDS) “dangerous” sex. I guess I looked like a Goody Two Shoes back in the day… That I experimented with all manner of things in college (see Jekyll and Hyde theory). That I’m a soccer mom and so therefore want to uphold the conventional and the traditional whereas I’d be happy to see most of it engulfed in flames (depending on my mood and the issue at hand, of course). That I know more than I do about all sorts of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/106 "2010-04-24T06:24:40Z")
Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/107 "2010-04-24T06:26:46Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Indeed! > > pdts So you can probably anticipate the next question…what do they play in Wales? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/108 "2010-04-24T06:29:09Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > I’m British in the USA: > That I could care less about your study abroad in London or Scottish grandfather. > pdts (note to self) must…not…mention to **pdts** my year…eeaaaarrrgggnnnnnn NOOOoooo!! aaarrrgggg!!! (Powerful electric current engaged) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/109 "2010-04-24T06:42:38Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > So you can probably anticipate the next question…what do they play in Wales? Rugby Union, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/110 "2010-04-24T06:45:55Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Rugby Union, I believe. Interesting. I thought Rugby Union was scattered throughout the Isles against the larger general background of Association. ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/111 "2010-04-24T14:30:50Z")
Last night, a co-worker complained to me about how I apparently “mean mug” her every time she walks by. News to me. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/112 "2010-04-24T16:16:26Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > My husband is Italian. People always assume he’s [Jewish](http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Cm6Gg9wUK1MP1HMzKKBHRA?feat=directlink). > On preview: Holy shit, my husband is gorgeous. Yup. And so are you. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/113 "2010-04-24T16:17:41Z")
Christians always assume I’m Christian but I figured it’s just so common. I don’t do anything to make them think that. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/114 "2010-04-24T23:20:10Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Ok, that’s really funny because I do think of you as conservative. > You know it’s weird, I never got that treatment. I assume it’s probably because I’m not much of a flirt. > > ‘‘Hey baby.’’ > ‘‘Hey. Wanna talk about Nietzsche?’’ Well, implicit in your statement is the idea that I do flirt, which is why I am treated that way. I don’t flirt at all, ever, unless I’m on a date or something. I will say that now that I’m older, I’m treated that way less often. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/115 "2010-04-24T23:51:44Z")
> [@may\_be\_ignorant](#): > > Last night, a co-worker complained to me about how I apparently “mean mug” her every time she walks by. News to me. See? You did it again! Stop mean mugging in this thread! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/116 "2010-04-25T00:50:44Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > See? You did it again! Stop mean mugging in this thread! 😛 :mad: oops 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/117 "2010-04-25T18:09:15Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > I’m British in the USA: > That I could care less about your study abroad in London or Scottish grandfather. You’re studying (working?) abroad; I can’t imagine why anyone in the host country thinks their own offshore experiences might be of any interest, or why they might conversationally draw your attention to this point in common between you. > [@](#): > > That I am left-wing politically. I can understand why you get this one. Conventional political wisdom here is that everyone in Europe, the British Isles included, is far to the left of center here, but that’s certainly not always accurate. > [@](#): > > That I like soccer (wrong country, for a start). > That I care about 1776. Neither do we, between July 5 and July 3 the following year. > [@](#): > > That I want to get into an extended discussion about what you think America’s most pressing flaws are. Yes, why on earth would anyone with the opportunity to do so would fly thousands of miles to a foreign country, stay there for a year or more, and bother to take any interest in its history or current affairs? During my time abroad what we noticed was the eagerness of our hosts to talk about internal American issues. At first it often seemed they just wanted to reproach us personally our country’s faults, but usually they were genuinely interested. > [@](#): > > That I want to remain in America permanently. Well no wonder. ---
**Author:** ![put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/put_down_the_sabre)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/118 "2010-04-25T18:42:43Z")
Calm down, why the overreaction? The first thing to realise is that I’m a bit of a curmudgeon. Thus **I** am not interested in talking about such things, even though other people like me may be. So people who meet me falsely assume things about me. Isn’t that the topic of the thread? I didn’t say that I blame them for making these assumptions or anything like that. > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > You’re studying (working?) abroad; I can’t imagine why anyone in the host country thinks their own offshore experiences might be of any interest, or why they might conversationally draw your attention to this point in common between you. Nice straw man, there. I too can easily imagine why they think this. All I was saying is that they are wrong. More specifically, I guess the point is that I just don’t think that ‘offshore experiences’ are all that interesting. Especially when you talk about ‘study abroad’ like the Americans do it, I think stuff white people like [has it right](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/22/72-study-abroad/): > [@](#): > > If you need to make up your own study abroad experience, they all pretty much work the same way. You arrived in Australia not knowing anybody, you went out to the bar the first night and made a lot of friends, you had a short relationship with someone from a foreign country, you didn’t learn anything, and you acquired a taste for something (local food, beer, fruit). This latter point is important because you will need to be able to tell everyone how it is unavailable in your current country. Almost all the anecdotes I hear about study abroad in the UK or whatever are broadly of this form. The problem is not so much that they want to talk about it, it’s that they want to start droning on and on about it as soon as we meet or they hear my accent. Sometimes people who’ve been to the uk will ‘subtly’ show this off by using colloquial names for train stations, or pointedly calling pounds ‘quid’ (that one is really jarring). It’s funny, but American friends in Japan got very upset when Japanese people did this to them. But here in the US, I can’t voice this complaint without sounding like a miserable misanthrope to people, as you show in your reply. These conversations inevitably are shallow and uninteresting. Maybe not for the other person (I might be the only new foreigner they meet all week), but for me. Having the same conversation 3 times a day, especially when it consists of a monologue from another person, it not fun. > [@](#): > > Yes, why on earth would anyone with the opportunity to do so would fly thousands of miles to a foreign country, stay there for a year or more, and bother to take any interest in its history or current affairs? Giant straw man there. I am very interested in US politics and current affairs, much more so than almost (not quite) all of my American friends. The assumption people make is that I _immediately_ upon meeting them, want to start criticising America or hear them drone on about how much they prefer country x. The point is that such conversations are dangerous ground–people get offended–and frankly, unless you know the person well, are also usually boring and shallow. pdts ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/119 "2010-04-25T20:07:18Z")
> [@put\_down\_the\_sabre](#): > > Calm down, why the overreaction? > > The first thing to realise is that I’m a bit of a curmudgeon. Thus **I** am not interested in talking about such things, even though other people like me may be. So people who meet me falsely assume things about me. Isn’t that the topic of the thread? I didn’t say that I blame them for making these assumptions or anything like that. > > Nice straw man, there. I too can easily imagine why they think this. All I was saying is that they are wrong. > > More specifically, I guess the point is that I just don’t think that ‘offshore experiences’ are all that interesting. Especially when you talk about ‘study abroad’ like the Americans do it, I think stuff white people like [has it right](http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/22/72-study-abroad/): > > Almost all the anecdotes I hear about study abroad in the UK or whatever are broadly of this form. I wonder if this is more typical when the foreign country you go to speaks the same language? It sounds as if the American participants in these programs whom you have met have been mostly rather bovine hedonists who took the opportunity as nothing more than a year long party. When I recall the people I was with, I find the _What White People Like_ take on this inaccurate as well as offensive. > [@](#): > > The problem is not so much that they want to talk about it, it’s that they want to start droning on and on about it as soon as we meet or they hear my accent. Sometimes people who’ve been to the uk will ‘subtly’ show this off by using colloquial names for train stations, or pointedly calling pounds ‘quid’ (that one is really jarring). If I met you in Wales and you talked about how many “bucks” or “big ones” or “smackers” something cost you I wouldn’t think anything of it. If an American clumsily throws BrE expressions and local colloquialisms at you, as if the two of you are in a bad comedy sketch, I could understand the offense involved. But if you’re talking about people who have lived there, and naturally adopted the use of these names, or of colloquialisms specifically related to contexts such as university bureaucracy or the local community, then why does the American have to revert to formal nomenclature so as not to offend you? Believe me, if you say you have to fly into L-A-X instead of “Los Angeles” it wouldn’t bother me in the least. But I guess it’s just different strokes, I don’t expect you to change your mind. > [@](#): > > (snip) > > These conversations inevitably are shallow and uninteresting. Maybe not for the other person (I might be the only new foreigner they meet all week), but for me. Having the same conversation 3 times a day, especially when it consists of a monologue from another person, it not fun. But isn’t this problem due more to the fact that the other person simply has poor social skills, or they’re a self-centered bore, or something of that nature? Whenever you bring this up it sounds as if all we who’ve been overseas in this capacity have the mark of Cain on us and are to be avoided. > [@](#): > > The point is that such conversations are dangerous ground–people get offended Very evidently! Again, I have no problem understanding how people get offended, when the other person is deliberately trying to get a rise out of you. It would be like me always wanting to bring up the Nazis when talking to Germans. But wow! I didn’t realize what think ice we skate on just by talking about someone’s country, as in “yes, spent some time there, it was really nice or fun interesting.” ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570/120 "2010-04-25T20:17:03Z")
People tend to assume that I’m a clean-cut, sweet, Catholic girl-next-door. While I am Catholic (only came back to the church a few years ago), they have no idea that I used to be a sex-crazed, goth, drug-using bisexual (okay, still bisexual, but not so much on the other stuff). Sometimes they hear stories (I’m rather reserved in general company, but my sister, husband, etc. hear stories) and they’re a bit surprised. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-incorrect-assumptions-do-people-make-about-you/536570.md?page=7)