Ugh. I get this. Like I’m supposed to be sitting at my computer working with a giant, mindless grin on my face.
Apparently, if I’m not actively smiling, I look very sad.
The most common thing is “You’re pale!” or “Dang, you should get a tan” as though I hadn’t seen my skin before. The really great ones will walk up, comment, then shove their arms up against mine and giggle at how much darker they are. I don’t tan. I never have, and I don’t particularly want to.
When I wear my hair down I also get a lot of comments about how long it is. I’ve had random strangers walk up and, without even saying “hello” first, start touching it! Folks that actually talk to me first also say “Hey you’ve got some blonde hair there.” Thanks guy, I hadn’t realized. Yes, it’s natural.
Michael Bolten? 
From the ladies I get, “You’re so tall.” Why not, “Looks like you have a large penis stuffed in those jeans.”? Once people get to know me I am apparently uproariously funny, not that it translates to the Dope at all. :mad:
Mrs. Prefect gets the famous Marlon Brando line from Streetcar. Every. Fucking. Time. She’s very gracious, but if you know her as well as I do you can see the murderous desire via the slight flicker around her eyes.
I’m fairly stern looking if I don’t actively smile. I don’t bother with plastering a smile on my face without good reason most of the time.
If I’m meeting a person who grew up with Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, I’ll get a stupid “moose and squirrel” joke. :rolleyes:
Depending on the age of the respondent, I get questions about my ethnicity. Most of the time they’ll ask if I’m Russian (I am a little), but I’ll occasionally have someone saying that, “gee, you don’t look Hispanic.” (South Florida = Natasha is a popular name for Hispanic girls my age.) On rare occasions, people will ask if I’m Irish, Hawaiian or some Asian/Pacific ethnicity; I guess I look kind of “exotic.”
Same here, except it’s my last name that is very unusual and weird-sounding. And it lends itself to one main joke, which usually results in the deadpan “Gee, I’ve never heard that one before” response. (Seriously, though, how does anyone over the age of 7 even have the impulse to make fun of someone’s name??)
Mostly, though, it just gets mispronounced (by doctors, teachers, co-workers, etc.). It’s only 4 letters long and there’s just 1 consonant, yet you wouldn’t believe how many ways there are to mangle it. What will make me smile a little, though, is at the doctor’s office or in a class where someone has been calling out last names and when they get to mine they just use my first name. “Smith … Jones … McMillan … Jennifer…” Heh. 
I get age comments, too (I’m 35 and could pass for 10 years younger; most people think I’m in my late 20s), but only when it comes up – which isn’t very often.
Slight hijack: I drink Stella, but had no idea about its “wifebeater” nickname.
I get that too. My surname is six letters with two vowels. Of course, there’s either the Confident Mispronunciation or the “Er, Natasha?” reaction when calling out last names. Either way, I’ve gotten over it to the point where I can catch them at the pause and correct pronunciation and nobody seems to have been offended yet.
Grr! This bugs the hell out of me. Just because I have long hair does not mean you can start petting it like you would a dog. I consider my hair part of my body, just like an arm or a leg. You wouldn’t randomly grab someone’s arm and start stroking it, saying how smooth it is or how much you love it, would you? So why is it OK to do that with someone’s hair?
So, yeah, I get the “you have such pretty hair” a lot. That makes me happy; I love to hear a nice compliment about it. Just keep your hands off!
I think it’s odd how people think it’s appropriate to make a comment about someone’s thinness that they wouldn’t dream of saying to someone who’s overweight. At Christmas, someone said to my husband, “Don’t you ever feed her?” Would you say, “Wow, they feed you too much!” to someone who was overweight?
Also, overhead at my 20th High School reunion. “Look over there…the anorexic bitches are here.” Anorexia is a disease. Would you say, “Look at those cancer having bitches,” or whatever.
Also, I’m 39 and still get carded. I love it! I don’t get people who get pissed when they get carded. Shouldn’t you be flattered?!
My given name is Jill although friends all know me as Jali.
“My name’s Jack” gets REAL old. It’s true - the worst ones are the ones who think they’re really being original.
I kind of like that one
IMO, it’s nothing to get angry about as long as the person is polite about it. I’ve only gotten annoyed a couple of times (at a video game store, and a movie theater) because the people were rude, and acted like I was trying to scam them.
That’s me, alright. 5 foot 5 inches, brown hair, pasty white skin. Nothing outstanding.
Since I have been growing my hair out, sometimes I get a “Gee, your hair is messy.” It has enough curl to have “body” but not enough to do anything other than stick out of my head at odd angles.
Before I married, I had the same name as a Christian singer, and that would be pointed out to me every now and again. Now, I have the same last name as a white-trash TV talkshow host. At least people don’t make assumptions about my religion from it. 
“My God you’re handsome, your flies are undone, fancy a shag?”
in my dreams
When I smile, I have one dimple on my left cheek, about an inch below my eye. I only have the one, so people tend to comment on it. I thought it was pretty unique until I met my husband, who has a dimple in the same place on his left cheek. Weird, eh?
Nutty Baby is 13 months old and my husband is always looking for the dimple. I tell him he’s got to wait for the baby fat in her face to disappear.
I always get the “Carnage?” for my last name, which is very close. One particularly clueless fellow asked if I said my name was “Blade Carnage.” If there were one person with the guts to ask, there must be at least six or seven people who kept it to themselves and still laugh about that turd who calls himself “Blade Carnage”
I tell you, having a last name that doesn’t rhyme with anything except “Carnage” was a blast at summer camp.
Got that all my life. I can still remember my 1st grade music teacher telling me to smile…every…damn…week. I still feel the need to slap the happiness out of her.
Now I tell everyone I have a tatoo on my forehead that says “Nothing’s Wrong”. It’s saved me so much time cuz now I just have to point to it upon questioning.
I have light blue eyes and people seem to like to comment on that. If it’s a commpliment (which happens less and less as I get older) “wow, you have such pretty eyes” I thank them graciously but more often than not it’s something like “wow, you have really blue eyes” to which I always respond “yes, I do”.
Sometimes, when people find out I’m a singer, they ask me to “sing something” for them. Sure, I’ll just belt out an impromptu acapella performance like I’m your trained monkey or something. I usually politely decline.
raises hand Me, too. Except that it’s my husband’s name and I’ve only had to deal with it for three years so far. It doesn’t bother us, actually – it’s very unusual, beautiful (I think) and common only in a couple Louisiana parishes, so on the rare occasion we run into someone who can pronounce it, it’s a mini-thrill and we ask them how they knew.
The doctor’s office thing happens to me too …“Smith, Baker … Ellen.” They try the same thing with my husband, but his FIRST name is also unusual, and when he sees them standing there all flummoxed, he just gets up and starts walking over. 
“Wow, you’re so quiet.” Or (occasionally, from the burgeoning comedians) “jeez, don’t talk so much!”
The man who portrays notorious cyber-asshole Vinyl Turnip is rather shy and reticent in Meatspace. I plan to buck tradition by not becoming a serial killer, though. Honest.
Seconded ! Wow, i’m happy about that (sorry :smack: ), because I thought I was the only one…
Are you a man or a woman ? Seems to me it’s worst for women…because men, if they don’t smile, are sometimes called in France “beaux ténébreux” which means something like “beautiful somber”, but women, they always HAVE to smile…
There was a time some people asked me “Are you ok ?” … Well yes I am, thanx !!! And I would be better if you didn’t ask…