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Old 04-26-2019, 10:25 AM
 
Location: So Cal
52,283 posts, read 52,713,798 times
Reputation: 52788

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He's probably just trying to practice using Chinese and assumed you were. I'm not sure that this rises to the pitchforks and torches level.
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Old 04-26-2019, 12:40 PM
 
Location: Denver CO
24,201 posts, read 19,219,950 times
Reputation: 38267
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldgardener View Post
So what? I really don't see the problem. Someone was trying to be nice, and you turned it into some kind of imaginary insult against you.
It is insulting. Just because someone is Asian doesn't mean that they signed up to play "Guess My Ethnicity!" simply by being out in public.

Caucasians don't get randomly addressed in a variety of European languages by someone hazarding a guess what their national origin might be.
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Old 04-26-2019, 05:50 PM
 
3,211 posts, read 2,980,594 times
Reputation: 14632
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
It is insulting. Just because someone is Asian doesn't mean that they signed up to play "Guess My Ethnicity!" simply by being out in public.

Caucasians don't get randomly addressed in a variety of European languages by someone hazarding a guess what their national origin might be.
If someone did hazard a guess at what my national origin might be, guess what? I would be happy to answer. It's interesting to know where people originated, and some people are curious and like to guess.

There is absolutely no insult there unless you want to be insulted and want to have something to complain about.
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Old 04-27-2019, 05:56 PM
 
Location: Caverns measureless to man...
7,588 posts, read 6,631,916 times
Reputation: 17966
I don't think the OP said anything about being "insulted," just annoyed. And yes, it is annoying. To just be going about your business, doing your day to day routine, and some grinning stranger starts hopping up and down in front of you like a puppy, bombarding you with multiple guesses about your ethnicity and place of birth, and implying an expectation for you to confirm those guesses? The dude's a freak.

It's not necessarily an insult, but when I go out in public and interact with the world, that sort of foolishness is not the sort of thing I am usually expecting to have to swat aside. I'm not likely to have a lot of patience for that crap.
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Old 04-27-2019, 06:12 PM
 
24,587 posts, read 10,896,457 times
Reputation: 46931
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
It is insulting. Just because someone is Asian doesn't mean that they signed up to play "Guess My Ethnicity!" simply by being out in public.

Caucasians don't get randomly addressed in a variety of European languages by someone hazarding a guess what their national origin might be.
You are so wrong. And some of it can be past annoying, simply insulting.
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Old 04-27-2019, 06:19 PM
 
9,868 posts, read 7,707,756 times
Reputation: 22124
I don’t speak either of my parent’s native languages, and we spoke English anyway. One or two people in my life have done what the OP described. My response was to smile and tell them, “I know what that means but I do not speak the language.” That was enough to satisfy their curiosity (or whatever) without being nasty.

The only people I get angry at are those who think I somehow was wasteful, disrespectful of my parents’ background, etc etc because I did not learn their two languages. The reason our household spoke English was because it was neutral ground. Their own countries used to be at war with each other, and during fights they would actually dredge it up! So, in our home, English was the language of peaceful relations. If some idiotic third party chose to make it anything else, that is THEIR problem.
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Old 04-27-2019, 11:03 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,594 posts, read 84,838,467 times
Reputation: 115143
Quote:
Originally Posted by emm74 View Post
It is insulting. Just because someone is Asian doesn't mean that they signed up to play "Guess My Ethnicity!" simply by being out in public.

Caucasians don't get randomly addressed in a variety of European languages by someone hazarding a guess what their national origin might be.
People are ALWAYS speaking to me in the language of my ancestors, and I have NO idea how they all know my great-grandparents came from England.
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