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How ethnic do I look to people

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  • How ethnic do I look to people

    Happened to me just now. You know that slow, condescending people use on someone not familiar with the speaker's language? I just had a lady ask in that tone if I spoke English.

    Blond hair, blue eyes, whiter than sour cream and yet somehow I'm assumed to not speak English. Especially in a job where English proficiency is a must.
    To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

  • #2
    I'm Australian-born as they come and yet apparently I sound Canadian/American to some.

    Although I'm waiting for the day that I get a caucasian kid at work assuming that one of my kids cannot speak English and making fun of him (this kid is Chinese and while his English is pretty good, he has a tendency to mix up his words a bit ie "She doesn't speak good English" then again he's 5.)
    The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

    Now queen of USSR-Land...

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    • #3
      I once had a customer shout at me for not being English. He told me he couldn't understand a word I was saying, that I should learn English or go back to my own country. I told him I'm English. He called me a liar and walked off. Charming.

      The accent he thought was foreign? Black Country. For those that don't know, it's similar to a Birmingham accent but a LOT thicker. Thing is, I moved from there when I was nine and have lost most of that accent. Now, I actually do sound pretty much like I was born and bred where I am right now. So I have no idea why he presumed I was foreign.

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      • #4
        There even are places where English completely disappears.
        In America, they haven't used it for years!
        Last edited by Mr Hero; 09-24-2014, 03:03 PM. Reason: Formatting
        To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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        • #5
          I come from the South Wales valleys (innit, butt?)

          But because of my background (sixteen years doing customer services for people all around the UK, and hospital and community radio since I was a teenager), I've lost the valley twang. I've had people from around my town tell me I sound English (which technically is correct as I was born there, but have lived in Wales since I was 18 months old).

          I had to get a taxi back after a night out once and although there was just me, they turned up in a mini-bus along with the driver's friend. I'm guessing she'd had a couple of drinks (the friend not the driver), because she kept commenting on how posh I sounded and that she didn't think I was from (town).

          I sound posh when I've been drinking all night? That's a new one.

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          • #6
            Quoth Mr Hero View Post
            Happened to me just now. You know that slow, condescending people use on someone not familiar with the speaker's language? I just had a lady ask in that tone if I spoke English.

            "Yes I can, but I don't speak dipshit-ese."

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            • #7
              Quoth Mr Hero View Post
              There even are places where English completely
              disappears.
              In America, they haven't used it for years!
              Thank you, Prof. Higgins. :-)
              "All I've ever learned from love was how to shoot somebody who out-drew ya"

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              • #8
                Quoth An Haddock View Post
                "Yes I can, but I don't speak dipshit-ese."
                Is that a dialect of moron? I run into quite a few of those speakers.
                I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                Who is John Galt?
                -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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                • #9
                  Reply: Yes. Do you?

                  I've never had it asked of me, but it's happened to a manager. Not a serious question, but a "you aren't doing what I want, so I'll be a super condescending ass-hat!" way.
                  Replace anger management with stupidity management.

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Evannah View Post
                    So I have no idea why he presumed I was foreign.
                    Who has any idea of why sucky customers do anything?
                    "I don't have to be petty. The Universe does that for me."

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                    • #11
                      Another one I just thought of: I'm from South Australia. I now live in New South wales.

                      When I was living in SA, I had quite a number of people who'd moved from interstate tell me that I had an accent albeit a "South Aussie" one.

                      I have yet to have anyone in NSW tell me that I sound "different."
                      The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                      Now queen of USSR-Land...

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                      • #12
                        Apparently I look ethnic, but have never sounded so to anyone that I know of. I technically am, if you count the native Americans in my family. But I look western European. I'm pale with blue-green eyes and medium brown hair. It's never stopped people from asking if I was Mexican or Egyptian, among other things.
                        "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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                        • #13
                          I once had a table ask me if I was from Russia. Not if I was of Russian descent (which I partly am, but I can say that about a number of Eastern European countries), but if I was actually from Russia. I just kinda stared at them. It's important to note here that we had been talking for some time, so they had heard my accent, which I can best describe as a neutral American non-accent. This is a combination of my family having moved around a lot when I was young, and my training as a broadcasting major in college. These people were American as well, so I have no idea why they'd thought I was from Russia, since I basically sounded just like them--only not as stupid.

                          "The Customer Is Always Right...But The Bartender Decides Who Is
                          Still A Customer."

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                          • #14
                            Mr. Hero, maybe they thought you were Scandinavian? A lot of people assume everybody is blond up there....I dunno, that's all I got.

                            I've had people ask me if I was from Minnesota. I couldn't figure out why until I had some phone customers from that state and realize they sound just like we do in WNY...although god knows why.
                            When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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                            • #15
                              I wonder if you could get away with responding to then in clicks and whistles? Or with interpretive dance?

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