What Is Some Of The Weirdest Assumptions People Make About Your Ethnic Group?

Could it be New York or those states up north? Maybe because I'm in Oklahoma that I can't imagine anyone asking a Native American those questions. At least people who live here. I can't say anything about visitors or people newly arrived from other states. I mean, our state is so entrenched in the Native American culture, that to ask someone their name expecting "Cloud Dancing" would be insane. Of course, even asking that in New York is still insane to me. I'm 1/8 Indian, a lot of German, some English, and a little bit of something else. So I don't know that I get stereotyped as an ethnic group. I have noticed people think since I'm on disability I must never have gone to school, must never have attended college, and must have never worked a real job in my life. That stuns me. To be stereoyped by my ethnic group would hurt way more than that.

I'm Haitian and whenever I tell someone that, the most popular question is "So you're from Africa?" Well, my roots are and while some of them are of European descent also. But I was born in Haiti. The Caribbean. Another thing some others ask me (others who have met another Haitian or have heard stories) it is "You Haitian girls are scary!" I was shocked and I asked him why and he said, "I heard that this woman got mad at her husband for cheating and she chopped off his --" Well, you get the idea. I was just standing there, staring at him!

you know what i hate.. i'm amerindian/irish..and the first question i get from smart a**es is usually "oh,you like to drink?" and they're usually drunk themselves when they ask it!rrrrrrrrrrrrrr..

I like this. It reminds me of the diversity class I just finished. I prefer not to look at things like race and ethnicity because those are the source of so much prejudice and discrimination. I haven't been on the receiving end of those kind of questions and I don't like making those kinds of comments. I won't say that I don't have any stereotypes that I think about, but when I realize that we are all in this together, I try to find out more about what a person's background is before I make any judgment on what to think about them. When I was younger, I was uncomfortable the first time there was a black girl in my class. But now, I don't think anything about having people of different races around me. When living in Alaska, there were so many natives around that I got used to that too. Living in China for two years I got used to being around Asians. I know this isn't exactly what you were talking about, but it is what came to mind when I was reading what you wrote. Thanks for bringing up the topic.

Hi pye, I think these people watch too many western movies. I for one is part Italian part English part French part Candian and part Burmies, some people think I'm Spanish,m lol! and when I get angry, people say oh! thats the Italian in me, but when I tell them I was born in Burma as my fathers's father when out there and thats how I came to be born when my fater meeet my mother whose father was an Italian who married my grandmother who was a nurse in Burma, theat just simply say where is that, hard explaining sometimes. Bright Blessings. Tamara

I think the internet made us more knowledgeable about places and culture. But then, when I first mentioned to an online acquaintance that I am from the Philippines, he asked where is the Philippines located. It's a bit frustrating when others don't even care to look at the globe or at a map and try to remember some of the things written in it. But that is not the worst thing actually. When I was in college, I introduced myself as an Igorot from the Cordillera region (the northern side of the Philippines) lots of my school mates began asking me unthinkable questions. The worst one is when someone requested that I show them my tail!? Well, the Igorots are known for their g-string (a loin cloth) which others thought are tails. Here is a post in my blog detailing other misconceptions about my ethnicity. http://ayaysalidummay.blogspot.com/2009/07/cordillera-and-igorot-misconceptions.html

I do not get a lot of those questions, but I am from many nationalities, including Native American. Many years ago I would get some Indian comments, if I braided my hair, or wore a certain dress my Aunt had made for my cousin, but she outgrew. It was not anything ethnic looking, by my estimation. In that particular era they could have just assumed I was a hippie.People never ask you if you are Irish, unless of course, you have red hair. I guess if I was blond, they might ask if I was Swedish, as that is a major ethnic group in this county. Both my original last name and my first married name were German, (unless the first married was Scottish, I have seen heraldry for both). That makes people locally ask if I am Mennonite, since that is another large population group around here. Some people just ask way too many questions.

Not fair Pye, you have so many to choose from. I don't know on this one. I heard once that "Americans" (yep, every dang one of 'em) think that there are kangaroos jumping around all over the place here and the odd koala thrown in. Now that was hearsay and I've since found out that a lot of people DO have this picture of Aussie life...kangaroos in the city streets. If they could see our traffic they would know we are as congested with cars and smog as the next place and the roos are either in the zoo or out bush.

Well, I am part Cherokee Indian, and I do have a large nose, and a horrific temper. These are both things that are associated with Native Americans. I also have Irish blood, but don't have red hair and freckles. Many expect this from those with Irish descent. They wonder how I could be Irish when I have dark hair and complexion. I try to explain it's the Cherokee nationality coming out, and I don't really understand all the gene dominance Biology.

Any assumption is ridiculous. Some more than others. Like if you're black or hispanic you're a criminal or gang banger. All latin men are great in bed. NOT! lol All african americans are great dancers. Black men have huge members. Asian men have tiny members. Jewish people are cheap. Puerto Ricans have twenty people sharing a bedroom. THey have tons of people living in small areas. There are a million of them. These are the ones me and my husband could think of at the time. Mind you my husband is puerto rican and I can assure you we are the only ones who live in my house with our two daughters and pets. I have mixed childre that happen to be good dancers but I can assure you their dad sucked. lol dl

Can I be Dawn Night Owl? Well seriously, I guess I look kind of generically white and I have never ever gotten any questions like that. I did have somebody ask if my fraternal, boy/girl twins were 'real' twins....

Haha...This is a good discussion, I agree with you on everything you said about the Native Americans, I'm Native American also, I'm a full-blood of the Cherokee Tribe and I live in Oklahoma. I was just laughing about what all you said, some people think the whole state of Oklahoma is a reservation, I've had people ask me that. We do have a reservation here but not all of us Cherokee's live there, we're all spread out throughout the state, some are city dwellers too. People also think that we still live in Tee pees, I think thats funny too, I tell them no we live in regular houses like everybody else does. Thats funny about the lady pointing to your "Nez" I've never heard that one before, its true that Native American's do have distinctive looks, like the high cheekbones, but I never thought anything about our noses, I don't have a big nose either..ha. Now I can look at someone and tell they are a different tribe than I am, I don't know what tribe they are, but I can tell they aren't Cherokee, different tribes have different looks. As for Indian names, my maiden name is Blackbear, I had to change it when I got married, but I like that name, and if I could go back to it I would, but out of respect for my husband I took his name, the other day tho he said he was going to change his name to Blackbear, I just laughed he said he liked it, that it sounded cool. I think the funniest thing I've been asked tho out of all of them is if we still live in Teepees..lol. It doesn't offend me, I just laugh about it, some people can't help it, they've probably never been around Native American's much, hey what can you expect from a Yoneg?(Cherokee for white man)...haha.

OMG. Okay yeah, I was on the East Coast for a time in 87 and coming from rural middle America I was asked if we had indoor plumbing. As far as nationality, I'm 1/2 German and 1/2 Swedish - don't even want to tell you what they think about those as a combination. LOL!!!

I am a Proud Filipino, from the Philippines. Most of our ancient ancestors were from China,Malaysia and Vietnam. but some times we too are discriminated by our own Asian Neighbors. and some times Filipinos are discriminated through movies,comedy series, and even magazine columns that really caught some attention of the People. we work hard and strive hard for the family despite of my race being maltreated all the time. but i like what I am because we have the capacity to adopt every where.

There are only a couple stereotypes that I normally fall into. One is that I live in a pretty red-neck town and have a lot of red-neck friends. I don't really consider myself a red-neck though, but in a sense I am. The one thing that people find shocking about me is that I have a college education and am a CPA, when I'm surrounded by mostly "laborers". Those that know me professionally, as a CPA, are usually shocked when I mention my tattoos. It's funny because when I'm with that "crowd" they think I'm like them, and when I'm with my "redneck" crowd they think I'm like them too! Lastly, I get a lot of "grief" about my age. Just today it happened again. I of course love it! I normally look a few years younger than I am, I always won the "guess my age" games at the fair - as long as my kids didn't walk up with me! I've been mistaken as my oldest son's girlfriend before, and I think the last time I was carded was about 3 years ago - I've been legal for over 20 years! Well, today, a neighbor was talking to my husband - who looks a bit older than he is because of his gray hair. Somehow I came up in the conversation and the one woman was shocked to find that both of my children are older than my hubbys, and that mine are both in their 20's. She always thought he had robbed the cradle with me! He's only a year older than I am. I know that's not really what you were looking for, but since I'm pretty much a "heinz 57" there's not much to stereotype me with.

Hummm, I wonder what discussion you responded to??? I am Italian, and people promptly expect me to understand and speak fluent Italian. UHHH, it doesn't work that way. I had someone bring an Italian friend to me to translate for them...I listened and smiled and looked at the person and told them I don't have any idea what the f-ck they were saying! The look on the person's face was priceless,and even more so when I told them that none of my family belong to the mob either.

Well... funny you ask this because I once again encountered someone who brought it up TODAY. I am your run of the mill ..... what I consider a mutt. The reason I say this? My nationality is from somewhere else but in EVERY OTHER WAY, I am basically an AMERICAN MUTT. I have always lived here. I have no odd traditions. NOTHING. I have a normal name. I speak NOTHING but english. I would think this would be OBVIOUS to everybody, even strangers, especially someone who starts talking to me! I happen to be of asian descent and I cannot BELIEVE some of the stupid assumptions people have! I also get pretty irritated that people will ask me 'is your daughter the same' or 'where's she from'. Hmmm. She's MY daughter, what the heck do you think? And do you really think that is respectful or necessary to approach a stranger with a question like that?! I think a lot of the questions and assumptions are stereotypical. People assume that I'm actually FROM somewhere else! I'm not. Neither is she! It makes sense if someone doesn't speak english at all or has a heavy accent, neither of those apply to me. Why wouldn't you assume I know nothing about another place and then NOT ask me? I don't hold 500 degrees and I don't own a grocery store and I don't live with my parents or grandparents either. I'm not good at math. I don't even like math. I'm a techie but that's not a nationality related thing. I haven't noticed people shocked that I have a normal name, but many people are downright surprised that I 1. know nothing about another culture 2. don't seem to have an interest or care. When people have the nerve to ask, shouldn't it be obvious? It seems to matter more to STRANGERS than it EVER has to me! It would never occur to me that I look 'exotic' or that if I were someone else and I saw ME walking around with my daughter that I should approach me and ask me 'where are you from?'. I can't believe anybody would assume I had lived elsewhere, I cannot think of anything I do, say, or insinuate that would make someone think that. As far as making any assumptions about you, I wouldn't. I don't ask anybody where they're from unless they speak no english, have a very heavy accent, or share all about their former country because they are proud of it. I don't think it's proper to just ask strangers things like that unless there's a reason to believe there might be a language or cultural barrier and you need to communicate with them. I've seen a photo of you before I think and I wouldn't even think to ask you about your heritage or being native american. I think it's neat because you seem to know a lot about it, but I also know you have researched some of it because... well you're interested. In every way that matters to me though, you are just like me. I wish that everybody else could see it that way too. Honestly, anybody I meet or see around me where I live or where I work or play or interact, I just figure they're all just people. Where I live everybody *unless they are illegal* are Americans, and that's it. I don't go deeper than that. I have no desire to find other illogical ways to separate people even more than we do already. Places like this some people group up according to culture because they may be learning or practicing english - like the discussions under the heading of 'philippines'. Anyway, I regret to say that all the questions and assumptions are offensive to me because people don't think before they opened their mouths. I have said before, if you wouldn't ask JUST ANYBODY the question, then it shouldn't be asked at all.

I suppose it is like getting asked whether I am a great cook because I am Italian, which I am not! I have been asked why my hair is not black and how can I possibly be so fair skinned. In guess people do make assumptions about my roots and compare me to the stereotype. I come from the North of Italy not too far from the border and in the North the population tends to be taller and fairer although not always of course; my father is over six foot tall and had blond hair and blue eyes whereas my mother did not and I’m only 5 feet 2 inches! In the South of Italy people tend to be of shorter stature with much darker features and complexions and tend to look Arabic because I believe they invaded that part of the country many moons ago hence the difference between the North and South. I don’t know about now but there used to be quite a division between the two extremities with the culture, food etc being different too. No, I don't make my own sausages or tomato sauce! (LOL)

Pye- I still remember when I was in the third grade and gave a report on my native roots, when a group of girls said "Can you braid hair"? I replied that no I could not and they said I was making up that I had Native American roots because all "Indians" could braid hair! I still remember how hurt I was over those comments. My thoughts now are that I hope this young ladies grew up and learned a bit more about the world around them. In my older ages I've not gotten too many comments about my ethnic group other then surprise. I've had people who have sworn I was Japanese! I've nothing against the Japanese, but I'm like do I really look Asian? And apparently to some I do. Now, more of the "crude" questions come when people find out I'm Pagan. When dating I'd have men ask me if they slept with me would I turn them into a zombie. I've had people ask me if I sacrifice babies. And regarding my Native roots, working in the medicine world I've actually had someone request me to do a rain dance! So, all in all I've heard some weird and crude questions, and now I just shrug it off. Namaste-Anora

I'm just Dutch, plain Dutch. Migrants and foreigners think we are greedy. Speak crappy English ( which is actually very true as to accent but less as to writing), are all farmers ( nop, not true..., no fresh milk from the cow for you), they say we all wear wooden shoes ( nop... it's just to attract tourists... i am sorry for you guys), I also hear people talking about us having windmills on every street corner... which is untrue as well... there are only a few hundred left... if not less... furthermore, they say we never cook for more persons than necessary ( true, we don't expect visitors hopping in... in fact you might even end up with an empty plate... lollzzzz), we lack hospitality ( true..., I dont even know my neighbours) I could go on and on and even talk about what we think of migrants... which seems to be getting more negative as time passes by... but let's just keep it brief...