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QueensKIng..your statements are outrageous. Not too many PRs and Dominicans in Queens which is a huge reason why it's such a beautiful place? You are kidding right? Most of them settled in the hood back in the day? Back in the day it was not a hood!!! It was a working/middle class community (the Bronx) and was MADE into a hood by the whites fleeing, LLs bruning buildings, and the city withdrawing any interest in the area.
Last edited by Viralmd; 07-02-2008 at 07:52 AM..
Reason: Attack
Regaring the rest of the comments, it si exceedingly difficultu to tell a Cuban, a PR, or a DR apart..as they share many of the same seasonings! Who the heck can tell a Venezualan from a Columbian (physically that is)? Yes there are differences, but in general..you really cannot. Spanish people of carribean descent are very similar..although we work very hard at being different from eachother and putting eachother down. Such a shame.
Well, I kinda have "Hispanic radar" as well but it's more "Who IS Hispanic?" and "What is their racial admixture?" (I think) I'm pretty good at eyeballing Hispanic people and guessing "white?" "mulatto?" "mestizo" and "how much? - about 75/25?" - I always love to meet people's families and see pictures to kind of informally "confirm" what I think I can observe. However, where I grew up (South Florida) has very few Puerto Ricans and Dominicans compared to here so I am NOT very good at telling who is Puerto Rican and who is Domincan, ESPECIALLY when the individual is mulatto and has black-ish features. I could just say something simple like "Puerto Ricans are usually whiter looking (skin, nose, facial structure, hair)" than Dominicans but this just isn't good enough given all the variation and that many Puerto Ricans here in NYC look just as black as many/most of the Dominicans! I can only do my best to guess by accents, but to be honest with you I am NOT an expert in the differences of Dominican and Puerto Rican Spanish. Often the PR's give themselves away by displaying their flag on a bandana, tattoo, shirt, or bag. Mexicans/Central Americans in NYC are a pretty solidly mestizo group and almost always look distinct from the Caribbean groups so they are pretty easy to tell. Also, their Spanish accent is much different from the Caribbean accents.
Mario: CLEARLY you would think I was Dominican if I was strolling down the street in the West Bronx lol
My 100% Arab bf is often mistaken for Colombian (or at least someone from a Spanish-speaking country) when we are on the streets of Jackson Heights. He is frequently spoken to in Spanish while I am not --and the ironic thing is that he speaks NO Spanish and I do speak some.
I do believe in the radar thing but it's also clear that it's not always exactly accurate.
Colombia has had a large amount of immigration over the years and many Middle Easterners (esp. Lebanese) ended up there so I imagine there are many Colombians who have Middle Eastern ancestry. So it's not that much of a stretch for Colombians to think an Arab guy is one of them, but again - -their assumption in this case would be wrong.
Yep this happens to me sometimes as well, I'm a medium browned skinned black male and I've had Dominicans to Mexicans speak spanish to me or ask if I'm Hispanic. My father is part Haitian so I have some Caribbean features, but I was kinda shocked that a few Mexican thought I was....well...a Mexican
Well you are part haitian which is right beside the Dominican Republic..."i think" that Dominicans took half of what use to be all of haiti and named it "Dominican Republic"or vice versa...Can someone who is more exprianced about this shed some light on this subject!I seen Dominicans that are darker than me and the only way i knew they were Dominican were when they opened their mouth to speak and had their flag on some part of their body or hanging in their car.
Yes at times I can be walking down the streets and there are a group of what looks to be the blackest black people, like Jamaicans, but when they open their mouths they are clearly Dominicans. PRs have plenty of them too..you just don't see them as much.
I'm just curious how you know when you "see" a Puerto Rican versus a Domincan, South American, etc. PR's can be as white as the Italians or Russians and as black as (most/many) Dominicans. Some PR's even look mestizo-ish like many Mexicans do. Just curious.
Well if you happen to be from one of these groups you can usually tell the subtle differences. But there are always exceptions. For instance none of my immediate family including myself look stereotypically Dominican, my family happens to be ridiculously mixed even by Dominican standards, lol.
I think people also look for other cues too. Rican's tend to get stereotyped for not knowing Spanish or speaking it horribly so that tends to give them away. Also inner-city Dominicans tend to have their own style of dress, etc, little things like that usually give people clues.
Regaring the rest of the comments, it si exceedingly difficultu to tell a Cuban, a PR, or a DR apart..as they share many of the same seasonings! Who the heck can tell a Venezualan from a Columbian (physically that is)? Yes there are differences, but in general..you really cannot. Spanish people of carribean descent are very similar..although we work very hard at being different from eachother and putting eachother down. Such a shame.
Funny you bring that up, because it depends on what part of Colombia. In the capital, in Bogota and the areas nearby there are very few Mulattos or Black people. It's mostly Meztizo and White. But in the coastal areas the people are a lot more lilke what you would find on average in Venezuela, Panama, and the Caribbean countries. So yeah it can be hard telling them apart, but it depends.
Last edited by NooYowkur81; 07-02-2008 at 02:01 PM..
Yes I can spot the Dominican attire from a mile away..gotta love it. But yes there are always cues you can use, but oftentimes they are wrong! Nonetheless..it's fun seeing who they really are....I am typically wrong 30-40% of the time.
There are alot of white Dominicans aswell. Im certainly not dark, in fact I get called Puerto Rican alot. There are areas in DR that are only white.
We are much lighter than Haitians. Its not even close. Every race has dark people in them...including Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Columbians etc
The Spanish took over the Island......then the French conquered part of it......the Haitians got their independence from France and tried to take over the Dominicans....the Dominicans fought and won....that is why you have the French (creole) speaking easter third of the Island.....and the spanish speaking western 2/3rds.....
The French brought over alot of African slaves to their part of the island which is why Haitians are all black.......the Spanish actually stayed and that is why Dominicans are mixed.
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lol
