I’m Chilean and Spanish. But most people, if they ask about such things, ask if I am French, German…anything other than Latin American or Spanish…Usually, when I say I am “Chilean”, “Spanish” or “Hispanic” I often get a reaction ranging from “oh really?” to “yeah right!”. But if they know Spanish, they don’t doubt me at all…because I can tell them in my own language.
Last semester there was a girl in my class who was an exchange student. She had straight black hair, brown skin, dark - almond eyes, and high cheekbones. She spoke with a accent…quite beautiful. I started too wonder what exotic country she was from - well after a week I finally heard her speak in her native language to a friend. It was German.
As I later learned, she was from Frankfurt, and had a very German first and last name. Whether she was half Asian or half Indian, or adopted, or whatever I never asked. In any case, I would have never believed that she was a German by looking at her. So while I should know better because of my own experiences, I am not completely enlightened about such things either.
Has anyone else repeatedly had to explain to people that you are a ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc. because you don’t fit the image? And how many people out there really look like the stereotypical person from their group?
I’m pretty much a stereotype of a Finn: tall,blond with grey-blueish eyes.
Ethnically speaking, I do look very Russian, which I am.
However (and I’m exploiting the “etc.” part here):
I don’t look like a tech major.
In high school I had to explain repeatedly that I’m not a cheerleader.
I don’t look like I can count, let alone be good at math.
I don’t look my tax bracket (I’ve had Real Estate Agents think I’m lying about my salary, until I showed paycheck stubs, that is).
I don’t look (speak, rather) my SAT score.
I guess I look my ethnicity. I’m Welsh-Irish-Polish-German-Terrier. Wait, scratch the terrier part. My dog’s part terrier, not me.
So, whatever a Welsh-Irish-Polish-German guy would look like, that’d be me. Although, I have been asked if I was of Latin descent before. I don’t know if that is from my looks, or the fact I was speaking Spanish at the time.
I have the same problem you do. I’m from Peru. I’m also a computer geek wich tends to keep me out of the sun for long periods of time, wich has left me looking… well quite pale. If it wasn’t for my accent people wouldn’t believe me i was of hispanic origin, it doesn’t really bother me though.
I have extremely curly hair, which has led people to assume that I am either Jewish or have some percentage of African blood in me. The number of people who will flat-out ask this without even knowing my name never ceases to amuse me.
Here’s what I get:
Them: Where are you from?
Me: New York City… born and raised in Brooklyn actually.
Them: Really! You don’t sound like a New Yorker.
See, that’s one reason why television is great. When you’re aan impressionable kid you can learn how to speak proper English from Walter Cronkite, not the butcher on the corner.
…lesbian!"
I get that quite a few times.
“You don’t LOOK like a librarian!” is what I heard all night at RockNRodeo on my last birthday. Maybe it was the skintight, bounce-a-quarter-off-my-butt Wranglers, I dunno.
Hahhahaaa! Me too!
Wow! Me three! And I’m a guy.
Actually, I get the opposite. People think I’m from New York, or at least someplace on the East Coast. Nope, I’m from Kansas. The attitude I have is from the constant dodging of tornados and the frustration of having no running water or electricity.
When I was in high school we had a Belgian exchange student. My French class was really small and close, and one night we had dinner at the teachers house and the Belgian exchange student came. We got to discussing how people from different European countries looked different. She was saying how she could tell what country peoples decendents were from by looking at them. She was able to identify everyone in the classes ancestors based on their facial features… except me. She had no idea where my ancestors came from.
For the record, I am mostly Scottish, but I also have about 1/4 Ukranian.
For myself, scandanavian, but…blonde? Nope! Blue-eyed? Nope!
This thread brings to mind three female acquaintance. One, blonde and blue-eyed, maiden name Gomez. Another, my cousin’s wife, native Colombian - blonde and green eyed. The last, my long time partner and friend, maiden last name Veyna and paler skin than this Viking derivative.
I’m Jewish, but I have been mistaken for Italian and once, when my hair was straighter and I was tanner, Hispanic. My friend is half Jewish, half Chinese. He has heard:
Jewish
Italian
Hispanic
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
Black (this was when he had an afro mind you)
Quite a list.
Back when I was black-haired and quite tan, I was asked several times if I was Hispanic, or more often, Italian.
I’ve also been asked if I’m an exchange student. I talk differently when I speak in front of people (like in a play or a speech). Very enunciated, crisp speech. That’s when I usually get those comments. Of course, I get the “You’re Southern? NO WAY!” comments sometimes, too.
I’ve convinced people before that I’m Jewish or part Asian.
Actually, I am:
Very English, Irish, a little bit Scottish and Welsh, very German, very Dutch, a little French, very Native American.
I am about half Polish, one-fourth Irish, and one-fourth English and Scottish. I’ve been told repeatedly that I don’t look like any of the above.
Several people have asked if I’m Norwegian or Swedish, which I’m certainly not (and unless they think all blondes are Scandanavian, I can’t see where they get the idea at all).
My husband is a liberal Quaker. Occasionally this comes up in conversation, and we have been told, “funny…he doesn’t look like a Quaker”. Uhhhh…they don’t look like the guy on the oatmeal box. 
Me, I’m your typical cookie-cutter scandinavian. When I go home to Wisconsin, I see tons of women that look just like me. Blonde hair, blue eyes, et al.
I’m 1/2 Filipino, 1/2 American. I’ve never lived anywhere with a substantial Filipino population, so other than other Filipinos, people have a hard time “placing” my ethnicity. The responses would vary, according to alot of factors.
When I lived by the border, people assumed I was Mexican.
Back in high school and college, when I had my hair long (I’m of the male species, btw), people would automatically assume I was Native-American. I had people ask me what my name is, then say “No, what’s your real name? Like Flying Crow, or Charging Buffalo?” My high school want through a big hullabaloo about the mascot being the “Redskin”. People were always SO interested in my opinion. At some point, I would always add “I’m not Native-American, btw”, just to see if my opinion was still as important. Never was.
I used to wear alot of Hawaiian shirts. People thought I was Hawaiian.
My favorite was when I moved to the Bronx, which has very few Asians. I taught 6th graders: “Are you Chinese? Are you Vietnamese? Well, what are you?”
My friend Cathy, when she was much thinner, bore a striking resemblance to Meryl Streep – very fair skin, (long) blond hair, long thin nose. Once in a bar a guy was going on and on about her “beautiful Aryan hair and features.” Little did he know that her blond color comes from a bottle.
We didn’t touch the “Aryan” part of his ramblings . . .
She may have been Romany (a Gyspy). Or maybe not. Despite the images favored by WWII era propaganda, some Germans are dark. One of the women I work with is married to a German, and her husband looks more like Desi Arnaz than Oskar Werner.
As for me, on many occasions people (always non-Jews) have asked me if I’m Jewish. I have no idea why. I don’t think anything about my appearance is stereotypically Jewish. My best guess is that it’s because I don’t eat pork and am not completely ignorant of the basics of Jewish religious practices. And when I say “not completely ignorant” I mean just that – I am aware that Hanukkah is not the most important Jewish holiday, I know that observant families buy matza in bulk for Passover, that sort of thing. Nothing esoteric, but apparently some people are so amazed that I am privy to this not-so-secret knowledge that they think I must be Jewish.