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  • Upon first look...

    What do people think you are racially? Since Hawai'i is such a melting pot of ethnicity many of us have 2-7 or more we can call our own. All sorts of people here on da CONUS don't know exactly what I am. I'm sure that's the case for many locals. Most recently, when I went in to do my taxes, the lady asked if I was Italian. Then she went on to say something is different about my eyes and was wondering what I was mixed with. Heck, even back home people don't usually know exactly what I am but the majority of the questioning I get is here in Southern California.

    Since many of us are mixed I was pondering who else gets questioned like this?

    Please tell what you are racially and what's the common race people think you are.

    Do you get questioned more about it when on the CONUS?

    Do you find that even though you are mixed, people commonly don't think you are mixed and want to make you one specific race? Like it's too confusing to be more than one thing or something.

    And if you are full Asian of some sort (anything from Japanese to Indian, etc.), do you find that when on the CONUS people often think you are something completely different from what you are? I know of many Asian people who get mistaken for Mexican or Native American around these parts.

    Or are you a mixed person who looks 100% one thing and no one can tell you are mixed?

    It's just a curiosity of mine. K den, pau.
    I'm disgusted and repulsed, and I can't look away.

  • #2
    Re: Upon first look...

    I know this question doesn't really apply to me...but I will asnwer anyways...just because I am that bored today.....they usually think I am a martian!

    Alot people ask if I am Irish. Not one ounce of Irish in me.
    Since when is psycho a bad thing??
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    • #3
      Re: Upon first look...

      Originally posted by LeiKaina View Post
      Or are you a mixed person who looks 100% one thing and no one can tell you are mixed?
      I'm three quarters Japanese, and most folks understandably presume I'm just that. Only folks who pay attention to giant noses suspect there may be some Hawaiian somewhere. Get into the smaller percentages, and there's everything from Chinese to Norwegian thanks to my mom's side. An open-minded bunch they must've been!

      On the mainland, it's usually just the catch-all "Asian" bin. I get asked about things Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese. My father-in-law still periodically forgets that I'm not a math whiz or a kung-fu master! But I certainly don't take it as anything negative (except when it's clearly expressed that way), and rather a natural curiosity that I'm happy to talk about. I sure have my own giant bin of igorance when it comes to things "Western." So we learn from each other.

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      • #4
        Re: Upon first look...

        Originally posted by blueyecicle View Post
        I know this question doesn't really apply to me...but I will asnwer anyways...just because I am that bored today.....they usually think I am a martian!

        Alot people ask if I am Irish. Not one ounce of Irish in me.
        I love hearing from EVERYONE, that includes you!

        My kane, people often think he's European, as in not actually from America, straight from England.
        I'm disgusted and repulsed, and I can't look away.

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        • #5
          Re: Upon first look...

          Originally posted by pzarquon View Post
          My father-in-law still periodically forgets that I'm not a math whiz or a kung-fu master!
          My husband teases that all Chinese people know how to fly. He's watched too many Zhang Ziyi movies, yes. He also teases me that I'm not enough Chinese to know how to fly but my mother can probably fly and keeps it from me.
          I'm disgusted and repulsed, and I can't look away.

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          • #6
            Re: Upon first look...

            I rarely ask anyone or assume anyone is anything. But I have to say...I did ask my nail lady because she speaks so fast and I wanted to know what she was speaking...she is Vietnamese...but how do I ask without being rude?

            I just said...so what language is that??
            Than I said "So you are vietnamese? " She said NO I am from Arizona! than she laughed at me and said something to her husband in Vietnamese and they both laughed at me.

            I try not to be rude but I was plain curious...I felt like an ass after that.
            Since when is psycho a bad thing??
            Sharing withother survivors...
            www.supportandsurvive.org

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            • #7
              Since you welcomed responses from all...I'm pretty much a Euro-based white guy, ancestrally speaking, with a mix of English, Irish, Scots, German, & French, but with a little Blackfeet thrown in for seasoning.

              Being a "visible majority," I don't get asked about ancestry here on the CONUS, but in Hawai`i, I've been asked a couple times if I was Podagee. I took it as a compliment.

              The Alpha Female comes from Japanese & Okinawan families, five generations in Hawai`i now. Here, she gets the whole range of Asian assumptions from people - Chinese, Korean, whatever, and usually from people of that particular ethnicity, assuming she's what they are.

              Originally posted by LeiKaina View Post
              K den, pau.
              Not pau yet - what's YOUR answers?

              ETA: Never mind; I think I know the trio...Kanaka-Pake-Podagee, yeah? (See, I pay SOME attention.)

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              • #8
                Re: Upon first look...

                Mahalo Leo for reminding me! And yes you got what I am correct. I get all niele about everyone but then forget to answer about me.

                Well, since "Eurasian" (or hapa to some especially in So Cali, but THAT is another debate, lol) is becoming more common people are actually realizing I'm mixed, for the first time in my life. I've been surprised a lot this last year. But I do get some strange things, especially when I tan since I do tan very brown. I'm not always so fair.

                These are common for me... "Are you..."

                (And people do ask these exact combinations)

                Italian

                Italian/Chinese

                Spanish/Asian (not saying what Asian they think I am)

                Cambodian and or Thai
                (I have no clue why people even think that or how it's even possible for people to think that. I've been asked if I was Cambodian by three different people in one week, and on many other occasions. It's confusing. I don't think I look like I could be related to Maddox Jolie-Pitt that much. lol).

                Cambodian/white

                Thai/white

                Native American and or Native American/white

                and very rarely Mexican.

                Not once, except in Hawai'i have I ever been asked if I was Portuguese. Go figure. And in Hawai'i people jus' know that one right off. Must be my shining intellect. And people on da CONUS would never think to ask me if I was Hawaiian, ever. Not that I ooze Polynesian beauty, by any means. I wish I looked like tutu.
                I'm disgusted and repulsed, and I can't look away.

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                • #9
                  Re: Upon first look...

                  What is CONUS?

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                  • #10
                    Re: Upon first look...

                    I'm German, Italian, Irish, and Japanese, but I look almost entirely Japanese. My sister (with the same parents) looks almost entirely Caucasian. Only people who've really looked at us realize we have the same eyes and nose, both features very hapa.

                    So yes. People usually assume I'm full-Japanese, and when they learn my last name, they assume I was adopted.

                    Another thing people get wrong is where I'm from. Of course I was born, bred, and buttered here in Hawaii Nei, but people always ask me if I'm from California. When I ask them what makes them think I'm not from here, they say it's something about the way I speak.

                    I get mistaken for gay a lot, too, and when I've asked people why they assumed that, they say it has something to do with the way I speak.
                    But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                    GrouchyTeacher.com

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                    • #11
                      Re: Upon first look...

                      Originally posted by i-hungry View Post
                      What is CONUS?
                      CONtinental United States - military term, and also less offensive to those who don't like to refer to the other 49 states as "the mainland."

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                      • #12
                        Re: Upon first look...

                        Originally posted by scrivener View Post
                        Another thing people get wrong is where I'm from. Of course I was born, bred, and buttered here in Hawaii Nei, but people always ask me if I'm from California. When I ask them what makes them think I'm not from here, they say it's something about the way I speak.

                        I get mistaken for gay a lot, too, and when I've asked people why they assumed that, they say it has something to do with the way I speak.
                        Well, neither are assumptions based on the way you look, but... I get mistaken for a katonk all the time, too. Either that or a Punahou grad, or a lawyer. Eep! Definitely due to my parents' strict rules on language and (sadly shunning) pidgin.

                        As for being gay, I'd take that as a compliment!

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                        • #13
                          I get the usual you look "Samoan".. "Tongan"..or "Hawaiian".. But it don't bother me because we are brothers that happened to settle on different islands. I just correct them.

                          Most of the time people think i'm Samoan. I don't know why..Maybe because of my brown muscular body.....maybe it's because I got Samoan tattoos. Maybe it's the big "Samoa" tattooed on my back that throws them off. Sheeesh..people always jump to conclusions.

                          LeiKaina- I see you post alot about people mistaking your ethnicity. You are of mixed ethnicity...people aren't going to know what you are. Some people don't know what I am and I look 100%. Don't dwell on what other people think you are....If you know who you are than that's all that matters. If you want to feel more connected to a particular ethnicity in you...then get involved in the culture.

                          "all or nothing"

                          Originally posted by scrivener View Post
                          I get mistaken for gay a lot, too, and when I've asked people why they assumed that, they say it has something to do with the way I speak.
                          Sexy soft spoken long haired respectful gentleman. You bad boy you.

                          When I was toddler everyone thought I was a girl because of my long hair. It scarred me for life.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Upon first look...

                            ^^ I feel connected to everything I am. I had influences growing up of a little bit of everything that makes up Hawai'i nei. I didn't grow up heavily anything (sadly) so I discover who I am more and more every day. Culture and ethnicity interest me greatly. I'm very intrigued by my husband's Irish culture and ancestry. Many in my 'ohana are Japanese and that interests me as well. I find culture beautiful.

                            But this question came up as I've been hearing my mixed friends groaning about being sooo tired of being asked what they are here on the CONUS. And then them asking me how different it really was in da 'aina (since we are a melting pot) and if people would know what they are there. But the woman doing my taxes asking me what I was reminded me about posting something on the topic. Nobody better to ask than the mixed people of HT.

                            My gripe on people mistaking my ethnicity is that they commonly think (here on the CONUS) that me being Hawaiian means I'm Samoan. And that there is no such thing as Native Hawaiians. Yes, I know we are all Polynesian brothers and sisters but I think Kanaka Maoli deserve to be recognized as a seperate people too, you know? It's my favorite complaint about the CONUS, yes indeed.
                            I'm disgusted and repulsed, and I can't look away.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Upon first look...

                              100% Japanese....on the mainland I'm Mexican and Inuit.
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