can you tell where someone is from based on how they look (transplants, live in)

[city_data91]

Do you think there is any way to tell where someone is from based on how they look? Is it possible to be from somewhere, but look like you're from somewhere else? I don't mean ethnicities, I mean regions in America.

[WestbankNOLA]

For some strange reason I can pick out New Orleanians most of the time. (Dress, Attitude)

I have been told that different regions have different dominant features such as body proportions and facial features.

[Rachael84]

Really? like what?

[WestbankNOLA]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

Really? like what?

I don't know about the whole proportion thing, but I do think that it could be possible for features (like eye shape and spacing, nose, hair, mouth, cheekbones, etc.) to be similar in certain regions based on the decent of the people who settled that area. Then throw in the way they dress, talk, eat and the environment that they live in

If you had State A that had people of irish and african decent that lived somewhere in the cold snow and State B that had people of french and carribean decent that lived in a swamp and mixed them together wouldn't you know the difference?

[westhou]

I don't think it's possible to tell where someone is from by just their appearance. But once they start talking it can be a give away.

[political genius]

When I get back to Minnesota I always comment how many of the people look and act like Minnesotans. Much of it has to do with the large number of people from Scandinavia and Germany in Minnesota. They have a distinct look. Just like the large number of people in Long Island and Staten Island NY that have Italian Accessory.

The dominate ethnic background common in many parts of the country gives people a distinct look just like traveling around Europe.

[Rachael84]

I've been all over and could never tell where a person is from based on facial features. The accent is what obviously gives it away.

[stan4]

Sometimes you can tell if they are more likely to be from one place or another based on how they interact with the strangers around them.

[Verseau]

Sometimes facial features can be a clue, although for most people it's difficult to tell. As others have pointed out, it's largely due to the predominance of certain ancestries in a particular area.

I can often spot fellow New Englanders based on how they look and how they dress. The same can be said for other regional groups.

Of course, the most accurate indicator is always the accent.

[le roi]

I currently live in a metropolitan area with migration of transplants from all over. However, I am from a rural area of the country that hasn't had much migration over the past few centuries. White people there are of a certain "stock".

I have trouble describing these different ethnic features, but when I go to a large gathering back home, I can see that everyone is decended from a certain mix of protestant northern European ancestry. More or less, Scottish, German, French Protestant, and English. Blue eyes, peaches-and-cream skin color, same type of hair texture, similar builds and facial structures... it is an odd feeling.

Growing up there, I can generally identify when someone isn't the same type of "southern mutt". The various Slavic, Italian, Eastern European, Scandanavian, etc., features of people from other parts of the US seem to give them a slightly different look.