Why is every Latino in the South (USA)

[le roi]

also relevant:

[cholo57]

Originally Posted by rosa surf

Funny how this was brought up, I was having a conversation with Brazilian friends this weekend and they were talking about how diverse Brazil is. They kept using the word turkos to refer to Middle Eastern people who arrived to Brazil. These are young 30 something guys, so I think it is a common term even among young people.

Interesting.
I was assuming that with all of the information tools available nowadays, people could tell nationalities apart a little/way better.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Originally Posted by le roi

also relevant:

The Northeast as usual, always stands out from the rest of the country.

[RudyOD]

I'm from California, so here people (in general) definitely assume that if you speak Spanish, have brown hair and eyes, look slightly Native American, you must be Mexican. Though Californian's are also, over all, more knowledgeable of the nuances within the Latino community since we do have people from everywhere. The main problem seems to be for black and mulatto Latinos/Hispanics from the East Coast as their look is rarely ever associated with Latinos in the West and Southwest. This is a major issue for Latinos from back east that are trying to break into Hollywood/acting. Even when they speak Spanish very well, they never get to portray Latinas. In Hollywood Latinas look like Sofia Vergara and Selma Hayek, not like Rosario Dawson or Zoe Saldana (though I'm glad she was casted for Colombiana.) A lot of Mexicans and Central Americans assume that if you are black and speak Spanish, you must be Cuban -this is due to Celia Cruz's impact.

For the most part, within the Hispanic/Latin community, we tend to distinguish people by their accent...maybe somewhat their look, but mostly their accent. So if you're a non-Spanish speaker, than I can definitely see how you would assume that someone that speaks Spanish is probably Mexican, if Mexicans are the Spanish speakers you most run into.

The whole 'chino' thing seems to be pretty unanimous throughout Latin America, even though for Mexico, Filipinos were their most common Asian contact, historically. My family that lives in L.A. usually assumes that if they look East Asian, they are Korean.

As for me, people usually assume that I am Middle Eastern/Arab, then South American, then 'white', then Mexican. This even from other Latinos. I don't care, I just think it's funny. To be fair, my Spanish sounds funny (no, not like a gringo's either) as growing up my Latino friends where from a variety of countries and took a little from each one of their accents, plus I also have a bit of a lisp. When I was in Mexico city, they usually assumed I was Spanish - even one woman who was from the same town as me (I was born in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico.)

Personally, unless someone has a thick accent in English, I usually just assume they are American. If someone really wants me to know their heritage/ancestry/background/wtv, they will eventually tell you. Otherwise, I really don't care. The only time I ever pry is when a white/Caucasian American starts digging around my ancestry, and then why ask them theirs they say "I'm just white" or "I'm just American". I end up usually rolling my eyes, and then ask them if they are more Scottish, English, Irish, French, Dutch etc. I find that the Irish and Italians are the ones that have most successfully held on to their culture (maybe cause it wasn't until the 20th century that they were accepted into the mainstream), whereas white Americans of German and Anglo backgrounds have let go of it.