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Old 12-02-2011, 01:59 PM
 
2,043 posts, read 2,894,804 times
Reputation: 1546

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Although people generally figure I'm American, I often get asked if I'm from Tonga, Fiji, or another south Pacific island. I guess it's because I'm half-white/half-black, and a pretty big guy.

I don't want to get totally off-topic here, but I'd like to chime in with one of the most annoying things I have seen while living abroad. Now, I'm no nationalist or great patriot by any stretch, but I find it appalling when I meet Americans who have sewn the Canadian flag on their backpack; I used to run into this all the time back in the Bush era, and a couple of summers back I met a girl who'd done that. I asked her why. She said, "So people won't give me grief." I held my tongue, but I find that to be preposterous. I had always thought one of the central ideas of international travel was to break stereotypes and foster understanding.
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Old 12-02-2011, 03:21 PM
 
221 posts, read 655,263 times
Reputation: 157
German.

All the time actually, no matter where i go.

In England people say i speak with a German accent and my name sounds German.
In Spain people tell me i speak with a German accent and also in France.
Only in Germany i am recognized as a Dane.

Im guessing danish and german must sound similar to foreigners.
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Old 12-02-2011, 03:57 PM
 
26,704 posts, read 22,337,393 times
Reputation: 9997
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDanishGuy View Post
German.

All the time actually, no matter where i go.

In England people say i speak with a German accent and my name sounds German.
In Spain people tell me i speak with a German accent and also in France.
Only in Germany i am recognized as a Dane.

Im guessing danish and german must sound similar to foreigners.
The last time I've bumped into Danes, I thought they were Dutch. I didn't expect Danish language to sound more on German side comparably to, say, Swedish.
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Old 12-02-2011, 08:09 PM
 
1,801 posts, read 3,542,594 times
Reputation: 2017
I've been mistaken several times for French and Northern Italian (their words) and, this I've always found puzzling, also for Hungarian and Polish. I have dark hair, hazel eyes (although most people think they're green) and whereas not Mediterranean-looking, I'm not as pale as people often are up there.

Most people I've known while travelling seem to think that Spanish women are all short. This may be why they tend to presuppose that I'm not one of them.
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Old 12-02-2011, 08:46 PM
 
249 posts, read 801,911 times
Reputation: 521
Turn this around a minute. I went on a date with a man who owned a Chinese restaurant.

Sometime during dinner (at a different restaurant) I asked him something about China, naturally assuming he was Chinese. He got very offended, and said, "I am NOT Chinese; I was born in Malaysia"!
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Old 12-06-2011, 07:55 PM
 
Location: Center of the universe
24,645 posts, read 38,560,671 times
Reputation: 11780
Usually I'm thought to be from somewhere in the Caribbean. Or New York.
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Old 12-07-2011, 05:15 AM
 
Location: Madrid
1,049 posts, read 1,600,101 times
Reputation: 1229
I'm an American guy temporarily living in the UK. I've gotten Australian several times actually (I take it as a compliment), and I even had a Spanish girl ask me if I was Italian(she spoke very basic English, so probably could not tell much from my accent). Haven't been mistaken for Canadian yet, but I have a very west coast laid back tone in my voice that is pretty far from Canadian.
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Old 12-07-2011, 02:42 PM
 
506 posts, read 1,953,058 times
Reputation: 1014
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffpv View Post
I don't want to get totally off-topic here, but I'd like to chime in with one of the most annoying things I have seen while living abroad. Now, I'm no nationalist or great patriot by any stretch, but I find it appalling when I meet Americans who have sewn the Canadian flag on their backpack; I used to run into this all the time back in the Bush era, and a couple of summers back I met a girl who'd done that. I asked her why. She said, "So people won't give me grief." I held my tongue, but I find that to be preposterous. I had always thought one of the central ideas of international travel was to break stereotypes and foster understanding.

+1
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Old 12-07-2011, 05:11 PM
 
2,226 posts, read 5,094,021 times
Reputation: 1028
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDanishGuy View Post
German.

All the time actually, no matter where i go.

In England people say i speak with a German accent and my name sounds German.
In Spain people tell me i speak with a German accent and also in France.
Only in Germany i am recognized as a Dane.

Im guessing danish and german must sound similar to foreigners.
-----

Not at all.
Danish does not sound like German at all.
Danes are also very different.
Danish are Scandinavians, Northeners, beautiful women...
Germans are very diverse.
I'm seen entire buses of Germans that could pass for people from certain regions of Spain, France...
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Old 12-07-2011, 06:28 PM
 
1,264 posts, read 3,852,574 times
Reputation: 798
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffpv
I don't want to get totally off-topic here, but I'd like to chime in with one of the most annoying things I have seen while living abroad. Now, I'm no nationalist or great patriot by any stretch, but I find it appalling when I meet Americans who have sewn the Canadian flag on their backpack; I used to run into this all the time back in the Bush era, and a couple of summers back I met a girl who'd done that. I asked her why. She said, "So people won't give me grief." I held my tongue, but I find that to be preposterous. I had always thought one of the central ideas of international travel was to break stereotypes and foster understanding.
Whatever makes them travel at ease is fine with me.

Once there was this guy in our group, who carried his hand baggage with him all day long. And it was tagged with his full name, rank and department (Pentagon). I wasn't alone feeling uneasy then.
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