Are you ever mistaken for a race/ethnicity/ancestry that you are not? (natives, Asians)

[VelcroQueen]

I have been mistaken for Italian and French, mainly French, and I have neither. A little old lady on a dark bus in the summer in St. Louis, MO, thought I was African-American when I was a teen. I just thanked her for her sweet consideration and didn't tell her otherwise.

[pamelaBeurman]

All of the time. Even though I am of Irish/English/Welsh descent I have about a tablespoon of Cherokee in me and I tan easy and dark. I am always being mistaken for Mexican.

[glastron_79]

I've been mistaken for a lot of ethnic backgrounds. The most interesting was maybe 6-7 years ago when someone asked me if I was Egyptian. Not even close.

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by City Data Guy

A Mestizo is an individual of mixed European (usually Spanish) and Amerindian ancestry.

Here is the definition on Dictionary.com.

----

Well, Spanish, French, English, etc. The American word is "metis", comes from the French version of Mestizo.

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by pamelaBeurman

All of the time. Even though I am of Irish/English/Welsh descent I have about a tablespoon of Cherokee in me and I tan easy and dark. I am always being mistaken for Mexican.

----

You are a mestizo. Most Mexican (not all) are mestizos.

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by City Data Guy

Not really. Mestizos are usually of Spanish and Latin American Indian descent. Most speak Spanish as a native language.

---

Mestizo, Metis in American, is the mixture of Indian and European. They can speak French, Spanish, English or Native languages. There are Indian nations that are métis (they have some white ancestry).

[Manolón]

What most people mean by "hispanics" are racially native American.

---

Then "most people" need to go back to school.

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by glastron_79

I've been mistaken for a lot of ethnic backgrounds. The most interesting was maybe 6-7 years ago when someone asked me if I was Egyptian. Not even close.

----

Back then, The Mummy Returns was very popular.

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot

I am from Sweden. My whole family are Swedish. We have done some research and can't find explanation. It is just myself and my mom that get so dark in the summer. I have a serious tan in the summers and an olive skin tone all year around.
I have heard people guessing Spanish, Italian and even Middle eastern.

----

I lot of Swedish girls came to Spain for some hanky panky and sangria under the sun during the 60's, about 150.000 returned pregnant.

My uncle had to marry a pregnant Swedish girl because her father came from Sweden with a shotgun. She's just like you, brunette, a skin that tans easely and somewhat slanted eyes, one daughter is very beautiful but the son looks like an eskimo.

[Manolón]

Originally Posted by EB2

I've gotten Italian a couple of times. My guess is that it's because I want to move to NJ (and a lot of people assume with that, I'm originally from NJ). A terrible stereotype. Not an ounce of Italian in my blood, and I'm mostly northern European (Scottish/Irish/English).

(Not to sound pretentious, though. Some of my closest friends are Italian, and wonderful people. And who can turn down a great Italian meal? )

---

You are "northern European" from Jersey but you look Napolitano?..... Strange..
You'll have to investigate those Pizza Deliveries...