Someone guessing your ethnic makeup correctly!

[BeTheReds]

With all the hapa sites out there a common theme I've seen is bitching over people never getting the ethicity correct. For example:

So I walked into class and someone asked me if I was Chinese, but my reply was, Dammit, don't you know I am 1/4th Laotian 1/4 Indonesian Chinese 1/8 Russian 1/8 Irish and 1/4th Scots? You racist!

Yea it's annoying, but some people need to just deal with it.

Anyway in the rare occasion that someone were to guess correctly, it's verysurprising.

Yesterday I went to.. (ahem) a live dance performance, and the dancer, asked me if I was 1/2 Korean of all things.

I said yea. Totally astonished by her correct guess.

I can understand if someone knows your name or gets to know a little bit about you before guessing, but straight up guessing out of the blue and even thinking of Korean when I wasn't speaking Korean or wearing anything that inicated affinity towards Korea is something to marvel at.

[Ron]

So I walked into class and someone asked me if I was Chinese, but my reply was, Dammit, don't you know I am 1/4th Laotian, 1/4 Indonesian Chinese, 1/8 Russian, 1/8 Irish, and 1/4th Scots? You racist!

Ohh my god, that's what exactly happened to me and that's how I felt growing up in Minnesota. Sometimes I felt like I should have a t-shirt that said: "No, I'm not Chinese, keep guessing".

Mostly FOBs guessed the best that I'm hapa, I don't know why. Being a naturally tanned hapa is different, most people gotta realize.

Regarding ethnicities, people guess I'm half-Thai, here in Thailand. :wink:

[SynRG]

The only people that have ever guessed correctly that I was Eurasian were either Asian or other Eurasians. Every one else usually guesses whole or part Latino, or some variation of White that come out with dark hair.

NO ONE, has ever guessed as far as me being half-Viet.. but usually I'm pretty content if they can at least guess that I'm Eurasian. Since I'm not from Vietnam and I speak Chinese, not Vietnamese.. hell not even >I< would guess I was half Viet.

[Craig]

So, we know one of the votes for "yes" is Emperor Mike. Who is the other 'hapa' ?

[SunWuKong]

the question is, did they also guess correctly your non-Asian ethnicity(ies)?

[Ron]

Relating on this note, have you ever guessed a White person to be part Asian?

I once mistook this French chick as half-Korean.

[SynRG]

the question is, did they also guess correctly your non-Asian ethnicity(ies)?

Haha.. i'm sure the answer would be "no" accross the board.. esp for Americans.

If a stranger came up to me and was like "hey, you look half Vietnamese, quarter Irish and quarter German! Am I right?" I think i'd prolly freak out and kill him 'cuz he knows too much. :wink:

Relating on this note, have you ever guessed a White person to be part Asian?


Oh man, I did that once... I was like "are you Eurasian?" and he's like "what?" and I'm like "are you mixed?" and he's like "huh? No, I'm just white." "oh. um.. my bad."

As someone who gets pissed when people guess his ethnicity wrong I felt pretty stupid. My EA-dar was totally not working that day.

[Ron]

If someone ever came up and guessed my 6 different Asian and Non Asian identities right, I'd assume that they must be a stalker or something. Not even I, looking at myself, would guess correctly.

Relating to assuming that some White people are hapa, many of them throw me off. Back in Minnesota, most of the people that I thought were hapa were actually full Caucasian.

Luckily, it still didn't affect the way I treated them, meaning by their personality.

Generally, people would categorize what defines the physical features that full Caucasians may have any or all of the following:

Hair and eye color:
1. Brown Hair with any combination of Brown, Hazel, Blue, Grey, etc eyes.
2. Blond Hair with any combination of Blue, Brown, Hazel, Grey, etc eyes.
3. Any mixture or variation of the above hair and eye colors.

Nose:
1. Average to large.
2. Slightly to very thin/vertical in appearance.

Mouth:
1. Lips are average to below average in thickness.
2. There is an above average seperation between the top of the lips and the bottom of their nose.

Cheeks:
1. Vertical in appearance.
2. Slightly more flat than puffy.

Eyes:
1. Larger than average eyes
2. Placed more horizontally than average.

Hair Style and Ears:
1. Hair style doens't factor in, it isn't strictly tied to ethnicity.
2. I don't look at peoples ears.

Head shape:
1. Generally longer than average appearing.
2. More of an oval appearance than a sphere.

Height:
1. Generally taller than average.

I don't really take notice of anything else that much.

Relating to the above, I get really confused when a full Caucasian doesn't possess as least 90% of these features. Especially the hair color confuses me. The moment a White person has black hair, I'm thinking "Hapa?". Not that it's a bad thing, it's just confusing. Some of us have a really bad hapa radar. It all goes back to the conclusion, probably many Asians may have the characteristics I list above, even maybe as their ethincity traits. We're all human anyway.

On a side note, here my perfect candidates for White people I'd never ever mistake to be hapa:
1. John Kerry, I'm voting for him
2. Donald Trump

Can you get any more Caucasian than those two? I could've assumed that Dennis Kucinich (sp?) may be hapa, even though he's not. See, that's how bad my radar is.

Can anyone provide me better features to look for when spotting for hapas?

That's my rant for the day.

[BeTheReds]

Can anyone provide me better features to look for when spotting for hapas?

That's my rant for the day.


Asian sounding last names on guys who look white...

Asian sounding first names on guys or girls who look white...

[BeTheReds]

please lets not delve into eugenics.

love,
prof. frink


Haha

[Shogun Empress]

No one ever gets it right.

[kimpossible]

Oddly enough this happened to me once. I was getting a cup of coffee during my break and after the barista takes my order he snaps back "You're a quarter Japanese. You're not half otherwise you'd look a little different." I was floored because I usually get 'kinda Chinese or something' or 'meti/ French and Indian' so I was a bit freaked out and asked him how the hell he knew that. He replied that he was from Hawaii and learned to differentiate there. Go figure.

[kimpossible]

Ratio ain't right. Have to be a white guy.

[rice cracker]

Sellout!

[rice cracker]

Hey, climb off the ledge, frinkle, no need to get defensive. Sellin' out is just the way you operate.

[rice cracker]

Inside that virginal facade lies the heart and soul of a hoochi. *tears up* That's my little girl!

[Seamus]

!!!! I can't believe you just said "cooter."

[Kuchana]

Inside that virginal facade lies the heart and soul of a hoochi. *tears up* That's my little girl!

rice! your avatar scares the crap out of me! :frown:

[kimpossible]

!!!! I can't believe you just said "cooter."

would you prefer hoo-hoo? perhaps hatchet wound? perhaps a greasy hillbilly mechanic from Hazzard County?

[Mr.Lum]

everyone thinks Im puerto rican.

[yoMAMA]

Oddly enough this happened to me once. I was getting a cup of coffee during my break and after the barista takes my order he snaps back "You're a quarter Japanese. You're not half otherwise you'd look a little different." I was floored because I usually get 'kinda Chinese or something' or 'meti/ French and Indian' so I was a bit freaked out and asked him how the hell he knew that. He replied that he was from Hawaii and learned to differentiate there. Go figure.

people in hawaii are so mixed..........

we had a govenor in the 80s that was chinese/japanese/fillipino/portuguess/native polynesian/and some other goodies......... :biggrin:

[Seamus]

would you prefer hoo-hoo? perhaps hatchet wound? perhaps a greasy hillbilly mechanic from Hazzard County?

Mine virginal ears! I don't even know what a vagina is!

[BeTheReds]

people in hawaii are so mixed..........

we had a govenor in the 80s that was chinese/japanese/fillipino/portuguess/native polynesian/and some other goodies......... :biggrin:
So what?

[holybull101]

Does this really matter? Can you differentiate between people from Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Belgium?

[rice cracker]

Does this really matter? Can you differentiate between people from Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Belgium?

It's a hapa thang.

[Mr.Lum]

Does this really matter? Can you differentiate between people from Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France, and Belgium?

yes. different accents.

[holybull101]

So you can hear their accents just by looking at them?

[rice cracker]

holybull, what point are you trying to prove? Perhaps instead of asking round about questions away from the original topic, you could instead clarify what it is you'd really like to know. Your original post on this subject implies you have an issue with what is being discussed and how the discussion is going, so why don't you pinpoint that?

[Mr.Lum]

So you can hear their accents just by looking at them?

well, usually people will talk to you before they guess your ethnicity. however, you often tell by their clothes in regaurds to who you mentioned above.

[Emperor_Mike]

No, no one ever guesses anything other than Chinese or Filipino. But at least they have two out of five. Meh. It doesn't matter anyway. No big deal.

[jimbo]

People always ask if I'm korean or anything but Chinese, As theres over a billion of us chinese in the world aren't they going to assume that I'm going to be from the country with the most natives?

[LaiSteve66]

Never, Never! People have guessed "Eurasian" but never half-Viet specifically.

[Belladonna]

Someone thought I was Asian Indian once. Other than that, NO ONE tries to guess my ethnicity. They're all too confused.

I'm Chinese-Fil-Portugese.

:|

[kitkatbee]

People start with Chinese then they go down a very long list before they give up.

[Sunflare]

Man, I wished I got involved in this thread earlier. Pardon my dry tasteless humor guys as I tell you of two *REALLY* f**ked up experiences I had where ppl screwed up my identity.

First bad experience:

Just last night, while I was running down the steps in the subway station to catch the train home this black lady comes up and knocks me off balance shoving me cause 'I was in her way.'

I was like my usual self (:smile:) saying "WTF is your problem b*tch?" (Usual NYC lingo) She was like "You're in my f*cking way you Maricon, Come Mierda! Yeah you f*cking Spic !!" (Really horrible Spanish even by my standards)

At first I did'nt say nothing.

Then she had the nerve to say " Do you speak f*cking English?"

Oh boy. S**ts just hit the fan. "Yeah I speak English you f-cking b-tch" Then I called her a 'hoochie mama' which was wrong I know, that was f**ked up, but I was mad as f*ck at the time.

Rice Cracker, please don't get out out the belt, extension cord or whatever and beat my ass for that f**kup. Begging you mom. Please don't get me grounded or stop my allowance. I was out of character at the time. Sorry mom. I'm not perfect. Don't handcuff me to the radiator and start f**king me up for it. Please. I'm sorry. (Bad inside joke, never mind.)

Anyway, this stuff happens to me all the time. Usually if a person comes up to me speaking in Spanish by accident, I kindly tell them that I am Blasian, part Chinese and don't know how to speak Spanish. I don't usually beef over it. They apologize, I accept and we continue discussion for whatever reason. I made alot of friends who are Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, etc, because of innocent mistakes like that. So it's like a blessing in disguise.

Part II. Based on a true story, last semester in college. . . . .

There was a time I got into an arguement in college with this Asian lady. This woman must have been on drugs or something because she went on a rampage as soon as my half-black ass walked through that door, chemistry textbook, notes and scientific calculator in hand freaking out for this test. Let me explain:

She was a tutor in my school. I was just looking for her help in studying for a f**king chemistry test. Not looking for trouble, just some education. The lady starts making fun of my beaded jade bracelet on my right hand calling it a 'green thing' and calling me an asiaphile. Seriously. When she was married to an asiaphile WM loser himself. WTF? I asked her if she was high or something.

(I knew she was married to a WM when she was showing me pics of her kid, who was an Eurasian. Which was cool, the little baby was real cute. But why? You was just f**king dissing me because I'm wearing that 'green thing' and I dont exactly look Asian. The f**k?)

No she wasnt Chinese. But she is definitely a Pacific Asian lady adopted by white parents. She said it herself, bragging about it like I give a ----. (Nothing personal to any adoptees, just saying. . .) I'm not getting into her nationality either, I dont want to get massacred with hate mails in my mailbox, inbox on my email account, or death threats on my phone by people of Chinese, Korean or Japanese descent. I aint' giving any clues. I got enough beef on this forum as it is.

Anyway, then she gives me this wild look and asks me if "I'm Cambodian or some f**ked up hapa from Nepal." Like I'm some inbred black hapa war baby from the f--king Vietnam War. STFU. My f Chinese father was still in diapers when that war took place, what are you talking about? I wasnt eve born yet. :rolleyes:

I took that sh-t straight to the dean and got that stupid dumbf**k hoe fired. The psychopath then got kicked out of the Nursing program. That sh-t made my day. Yay!

When I told my friends they were laughing like crazy. Yeah, cause that woman was crazy, for real, freaking psycho.

But usually, people usually out of a honest mistake think I'm Spanish, Hawaiian, or Filipino. I'm cool with that. I just tell them I'm mixed ABC. It's all good. Smooth sailing and sunshine and sh*t.

I got more stories but I'm not here to write a novel on ethnicity identification screwup experiences from a Hapa perspective so I'll shut my big ass mouth now. Thank you.

[eurasiacan285]

Relating on this note, have you ever guessed a White person to be part Asian?

You mean accurately? Just once I think, otherwise I've "guessed" it but turned out to be wrong (wishful thinking?).

[eurasiacan285]

All of it? No, never, just parts (it's a little tricky because I'm half-Chinese half-German but born and raised in the U.S. [so biracial but tricultural]).

the question is, did they also guess correctly your non-Asian ethnicity(ies)?

Only once arguably, but in that case I think the person thought I was *only* that ethnicity (an old woman in France thought I was German).