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Africans are the most genetically diverse of all races,esp sub saharan Africa,and its been proven. You have the Ethiopians,Bushmen,the south africans with slanted eyes similiar to Asians,the tall Bantus,so really African people aren't so easy to classify.
For some reason though,I can almost without fail spot a northern white from a southern white physically.
Just as if I can tell someone with Italian descent from someone with Irish descent,and that's in Nj alone. When I was in North Carolina I could almost without fail tell who was from Nj. And I was only down there less than a year.
When I was working in the nursing home I had the hardest time telling the seniors apart,because idk,the all seemed to have grey hair. For some other reason,I have the hardest time with people who wear glasses. Imo,people who wear glasses look alike.
I agree it's partly what you're used to, but does anyone have any comment on my hypothesis, that it's easier to tell apart Europeans because of things like eye/hair colour, and also because Europe is diverse in itself? I find it harder to tell apart white folk who are say both blonde or something. Just like two black men with shaved heads will be harder to tell apart.
No,Europeans aren't the most diverse of all races.
Africans are, genetically and physically. After all,they are the oldest race.
(According to genetics and Dna testing)
I think it has to do more with the diversity of the racial group you are in contact with. I noticed that among the other races I worked with there were differences that were just as distinct as those of the European people. If you are in a closed off town, say in KS of which I am very familiar, the people all look alike more or less because most if not all are of the same ethnicity (I think this is the right word). In my hometown, blacks tended to look more alike (versus exposure as I traveled and saw a more diverse black population) but so did whites at home. There was another thread that asked about what your ancestors looked like and I commented that I looked almost exactly like my grandmother's grandmother per the black and white photo I have - this has to do with ethnicity. Also, many blacks and Asians have white ancestors in their family trees and blue/green/hazel eyes and different color hair are not terribly unusual. I grew up in a town that was at the end of the underground railroad and next to South Bend, IN in the old days when it was filled with people that immigrated to the US and I traveled the US. I also had the opportunity to see foreign students which was interesting because they were better representatives of their race and of particular regions within the same countries than many in the US because so many here have ancestors of more than one race and many are not even aware of that fact.
I also think it has to do with what you are exposed to. I used to work with a Kenyan-American woman in New York City. She said that when she saw other Africans from her part of the continent on the street, she could tell when they were West Somalian or if they were from another Kenyan tribe just by looking at them.
I am your standard-issue white American, of Dutch and English descent. One time I was with a group of coworkers at the WTC and I saw three white women looking around seeming a bit confused. I said to my friends, "Oh, here come three foreigners who are lost, and watch, they are going to approach me and ask a question." Ten seconds later that's what they did. They had very heavy accents and their English was limited. Afterward my friend asked how I knew what I knew. I said I could tell just by looking at them that they were foreign. They had pronounced Slavic faces, but other than that I don't know for certain how I knew they were foreigners. It's a "blink", if you've read Malcolm Gladwell.
(The other part--that they approached me to ask for directions--was a result of experience. For some reason, I am always approached and asked for directions in the city. Even if I am in a group of five people, I am the one who is asked. That's a mystery for another thread.)
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Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
I also think it has to do with what you are exposed to. I used to work with a Kenyan-American woman in New York City. She said that when she saw other Africans from her part of the continent on the street, she could tell when they were West Somalian or if they were from another Kenyan tribe just by looking at them.
I am your standard-issue white American, of Dutch and English descent. One time I was with a group of coworkers at the WTC and I saw three white women looking around seeming a bit confused. I said to my friends, "Oh, here come three foreigners who are lost, and watch, they are going to approach me and ask a question." Ten seconds later that's what they did. They had very heavy accents and their English was limited. Afterward my friend asked how I knew what I knew. I said I could tell just by looking at them that they were foreign. They had pronounced Slavic faces, but other than that I don't know for certain how I knew they were foreigners. It's a "blink", if you've read Malcolm Gladwell.
(The other part--that they approached me to ask for directions--was a result of experience. For some reason, I am always approached and asked for directions in the city. Even if I am in a group of five people, I am the one who is asked. That's a mystery for another thread.)
Italians with the typical Italian look - I can tell them as easily as a black or asian person. I can usually tell Slavic people too, but not always. SOME Slavs have an extremely distinctive look - very round or square faces, for instance. Serbs often have very long faces. French people often have a sort of Italian look to them - many seem to have dark features. Germans and Dutch have a look too. The English can be hard to tell because they have a diverse range of looks thanks to their many origins.
Among Asian people Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese all have their own looks but there is overlap. Thais are easier to distinguish but again some look East Asian. Indians can look different but I can usually tell if someone is South Asian, as opposed to Middle Eastern, even the light-skinned ones.
I can easily tell East and West Africans apart. East Africans have thinner frames, tend to be taller, have sharper features, pronounced cheek-bones and larger foreheads. Khoisans, Pygmies and Bushmen are as different as whites are. I can sometimes tell Nigerians from say Zimbabweans.
Australian aborigines and Pacific Islanders, though dark, are very different looking from Africans.
I think I'm pretty good at telling ethnicities apart. There's not much to it. Once you know what to look for it becomes easier. Like I said though it's never a sure thing. There will always be exceptions. Many people simplistically only distinguish white, black.etc because they are not observant.
Most of the people I know are much the same. We are not terribly concerned over where you are from as long as we can understand your request and we are not threatened. Racial issues will never end until the source of its fuel is silenced from the most powerful to the smalllest place on earth.
I think it must come from experience. If I said all black people look alike to me it's because I haven't known that many black people, same with Asians. But if I worked in a setting where everyone was black, I would HAVE to look more closely and determine the differences so that I could tell them apart.
I didn't used to be able to even tell a Japanese person from a Chinese person but someone helped me out and now I can tell most of the time, maybe all the time.
I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but here goes...
My theory why it's seemingly easier to tell white people apart from one another than other races is simple...the diversity of hair and eye colours among Europeans, and a comparative diversity of hairstyles in western nations. It makes it easier to tell apart people by features other than facial features (e.g. eye colour etc). If everyone has the same hairstyle, eye colour etc it's harder to tell them apart. Which is why I find it just as hard to tell apart say Sicilians as blacks or Asians. In truth, however, I actually find it just as easy to tell apart people of other races once I've been exposed to them for a short while.
Do you think that's the main reason?
This reminds me of a conversation I had with a Blonde who was actually a Japanese teacher and lived in Japan for a few years.
She showed her host family a picture of her own family gathering and was thinking that her host would be impressed with all the diversity in hair colors and so forth in her family.
Her host looked at the picture and went, "Wow, you all look the same".
The truth is that people learn to pick out the visual differences amongst the people that they are around.
White people differentiate amongst one another through the hair and eye colors.
Blacks differentiate through the skin colors and features.
Asians also differentiate through facial features and skin colors.
I also think it has to do with what you are exposed to. I used to work with a Kenyan-American woman in New York City. She said that when she saw other Africans from her part of the continent on the street, she could tell when they were West Somalian or if they were from another Kenyan tribe just by looking at them.
I am your standard-issue white American, of Dutch and English descent. One time I was with a group of coworkers at the WTC and I saw three white women looking around seeming a bit confused. I said to my friends, "Oh, here come three foreigners who are lost, and watch, they are going to approach me and ask a question." Ten seconds later that's what they did. They had very heavy accents and their English was limited. Afterward my friend asked how I knew what I knew. I said I could tell just by looking at them that they were foreign. They had pronounced Slavic faces, but other than that I don't know for certain how I knew they were foreigners. It's a "blink", if you've read Malcolm Gladwell.
(The other part--that they approached me to ask for directions--was a result of experience. For some reason, I am always approached and asked for directions in the city. Even if I am in a group of five people, I am the one who is asked. That's a mystery for another thread.)
Being able to identify certain nationalities and ethnicites also has a lot to do with their behavior patterns. Europeans act, speak and issue very different facial patterns than Americans. With the Japanese, they are constantly bowing and that is an easy way to tell them apart from other Asians.
It is easy to tell people apart once you know what to look for.
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