What are you mistaken for?
When I lived in Santa Monica, CA, people thought I was Mexican. In Okinawa, I was mistaken for a Filipino because it was hotter there so my skin was darker. Where I live now, there are still times I'm mistaken for a Filipino - usually after a tan. Lol! When I visit relatives in Japan, people think I'm Korean - maybe that's why I usually play a Korean on the TV show, "Lost". Lol! And then there's my little one - a mix of Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, Japanese, German, Chinese and Portuguese. Some days, my child looks really Oriental to people and on other days, my child looks very Caucasian. Like a chameleon, I guess it depends on the background. Lol!
9 months ago
The most often mistake for me is hispanic. Since I speak basic spanish, and my accent keeps this beleiving that I am truley mexican. Then I did polynesian dance, and hawaiian was the next question. I am simply hapa, but having to explain it and justify it to people is exhausting. This is partially I got involved with making my major into Sociology with an emphasis in ethinic studies. Making more people aware that hapa's are here and we are a growing breed. Suprisingly, people ask you, "what are you" then when you respond, they argue with you that it is not possible. I think I am the best expert to explain what I am, sadly human isn't enough anymore. It is the social heirarchy that has created a need to understand where I fit racially, so then I can be placed in the correct box by society.
9 months ago
Sometimes I get some sort of middle eastern or eastern european. Most of time the only people who will say I look hapa is other asians. Some of my Vietnamese cousins even said I don't half Vietnamese! That's cold... >_<
9 months ago
Back in California everyone thought I was Mexican and other Latinos would speak Spanish to me. I do happen to speak Spanish (I learned in school and in Spain) but that always irritated me for some reason. Some Filipinos can't believe I'm Filipino. Alot of people say Japanese and White or guess every Eurasian mix before saying Hawaiian. One ignorant contractor that works for my firm referred to me as "the Chinese guy" (No joke) . I can relate to Athena because someone here in New York actually thought I was FULL WHITE.....I was dumbfounded and astonished to be honest. Most of the time noone knows and I've heard the question for years "What are you anyways?" One person actually said Filipino, Hawaiian and German and I feel so terrible, I forgot his name!! Now that's damn good guess.
9 months ago
I usually get hispanic, mostly Mexican. This other time at baseball camp, people thought i was hawaiian and i actually played it off for almost a week until my folks came for parents' night. No one had the notion that my name was actually japanese. They thought it was hardcore inland hawaiian or something haha. Other than Hispanic and Hawaiian, I don't think i've gotten anything else. Not even Filipino, to my surprise. To Pualani above, that is some crazy story lol.
9 months ago
If the other person is Hispanic, they think I'm Hispanic. If the other person is Persian, they think I'm Persian. If the...well you get the picture. My top list is as follows:
1. Hispanic
2. Spanish
3. Filipino
4. Persian
5. Chinese
9 months ago
most people think i'm just mexican (which i don't mind) but I'm proud of my heritage so i let em know.
9 months ago
Pretty much everything. I'm mostly mistaken for hispanic, hawaiian, or Italian. Other half asians can usually tell that I'm mixed though. When I was living in Texas most of the Mexicans would speak to me in spanish. I've also been told that I look like a white girl with slanted eyes.
9 months ago
mexican, cambodian (i don't how) vietnamese,
9 months ago
mexican, cambodian (i don't how) vietnamese,
9 months ago
I always get asked "what nationality r u" my answer "Eurasian" Then they'll go onto "what mix"... People usually guess the following: filo or spanish or chinese with white, no one has ever guessed it, or even come close. I luv it like that hehe
9 months ago
I get Mexican, like it sounds like a lot of you do and in living in LA, somebody tries speaks Spanish with me almost every day!
The coolest I've been mistaken for recently are Native-American Indian and Eskimo!
9 months ago
korean-if my hair's straight, mexican-if my hair's curly, hawaiian/samoan-if my hair's wavy lol
9 months ago
mexican almost always (i think the curly hair confuses them) & i get native american a lot too. but if u think about it, a lot of mexicans are sort of mixed themselves and i feel like some of them can pass for a lot of different things too (as well as hapa!)
9 months ago
haha....interesting!!...
i always get filipina for the most part.
latina,though i am half latina anyways.
and don't know how it got there but ,that one time an iranian man said "you look iranian."
9 months ago
People always think I'm Mexican or some sort of Latin....
9 months ago
Most people think know Im some sort of asian mix. Most people think Im asian+Italian. 4 guys I met at a party thought I was from Czech (wth?)
9 months ago
Hawaiian... always Hawaiian! However one guy at a bar asked me if I was an Eskimo??? Great pick up line right?!?!
9 months ago
Spanish, Jewish, Persian, part Korean...
9 months ago
white usually :( somtimes asian mix, hawaiian a few times, hispanic a couple of times too... and a whole lot of... "WHAT are you??" ugh.
9 months ago
Usually hispanic, but during the summer I have gotten black/white mix. lol. filipino . . . usually people assume I am asian mixed. I don't mind it because most people just say I am exotic looking, i can live with that.
9 months ago
I am always mistaken to be hispanic, mexican usually ,a pure italian blood or just plain white sometimes by most people of color. There are a few people that can tell that i have some asian in background. I am told in photos i look asian but in person many say i look hispanic.
9 months ago
Hawaiian and Polynesian when I've got a tan, or the "White and something..."
9 months ago
Uh.
Recently i've been getting a lot of brazilian.
Mostly always brazilian.
I've never gotten a blatant latino,
but old women would randomly speak to me in spanish a lot.
I've gotten hawaiian a couple of times.
But you'd be surprised at how many times i've gotten black and japanese,
while living in NYC.
I've only gotten it randomly in the streets of japan,
three times. but they got black and japanese right.
like pretty much everyone has said,
a whole lot of,
WHAT ARE YOU?!'s
9 months ago
Everyone thinks I'm Hispanic. I guess it's because of my Italian quarter that gives me that look. Another thing that I've been mistaken for Egyptian... that was weird because I don't think I look Egyptian at all but, I am flattered. And then when I tell people what I am they all say "ohh I thought I saw some Asian in you." Also, no one believes me when I say I'm a quarter Irish but those people are people who know my name and are usually my friends (lol) but, they still are shocked when I say it. But, I just don't understand why because to me 'Quinn' sounds very irish.
9 months ago
In the mainland, I definitely get the whole "are you Hispanic?"
Its pretty funny.
The next best one is "are you Hawaiian?" No, I am not Hawaiian. However, I am from Honolulu, HI. Its always interesting to be asked if Im Hawaiian. Anyone that even looks remotely Asian gets asked that here in Oregon.
Im kinda glad I have an Okinawan last name to help save me.. lol
-Paul
9 months ago
Alot of people come up to me and say im Filipino. This one guy totally insisted that i was Filipino, he wouldn't give up. He kepted saying i was.... I would know if i was filipino or not right?!? Also Mexican peope come up to me and start speaking spanish to me also and i like i have no idea what you are saying. People also think im hawaiian, but im not im straight up black and chinese and proud!!
9 months ago
wow... that would be really annoying @_@ I hate it when people try to tell YOU what you are. ugh.
9 months ago
I am usually mistaken for hapa Hawaiian ahahaha! Or Portuguese...but NEVER Native Indian, and I am more than half! When I first moved to Hilo, they thought I was Spanish because of my accent..but I love being an enigma
9 months ago
Idk, its wierd because I look more white than Hawaiian/Tahitian so Most people dont know Im also a pacific islander. Since I live in Hawaii, some think im a tourist! haha, I just think its funny. I try not to be offended soo much.
9 months ago
Finally back from work, can post!
Being in the Southwest most of my life I have been mistaken for being Latin frequently, and the people that were keen on detecting any Oriental blood asked if I was half-Korean [an army base was next door to the city, many of the offspring being white/Korean].
Haven't really been mistaken for anything else except Latin, 100% white, or Korean. No one ever takes a stab at Japanese, Chinese, or Scottish.
Doesn't really bug me except for when the inquiry regards nationality, to which I am a US citizen or when the relative tone is condescending, as if I were born with a defect or disease. I just give them my usual blank stare!
8 months ago
I have a t-shirt that says, "sorry, I don't speak Spanish...I'm hapa-haole!"
In the mainland, I'm usually mistaken for some kind of Latina. Like someone said before, I think the curly hair confuses people, and also because most of the people I hang out with are Latin as well.
In Hawaii, I am also mistaken for Latina...it's like no one can see any Asian features on me at all! It's kinda fun...I could tell people that I'm anything and they'd believe me because my looks are so non descript, I guess. I think next week I'll start telling people I'm a Maori princess, visiting here on a diplomatic mission.
8 months ago
I usually get South American (Various countries), Filipino or Islander (various countries)
There have been a few peeps that have guessed half Asian, Half Anglo but very rarely!
8 months ago
Japanese, Thai, part Maori, Mexican, Brazillian, Native American. Italian twice (which was really strange).
Never chinese. And even when people realise I'm mixed, they hardly ever pick "half chinese".
Does everyone like to get people to play guessing games? Or do you prefer to just tell them straight?
8 months ago
- Hispanic
8 months ago
- Caucasian (with my sun glasses on)
- Native American/Caucasian mix
- Full Asian (do I look full Asian to you?)
- Part Hawaiian
- Part Japanese
Ultimately Filipino. lol
8 months ago
1.Chinese - I live in New York and when on two separate occassions, elderly women have come up to me and speak Chinese to me, asking for directions.
2.Peruvian by Hispanic people in my salsa class.
3.Russian when people see me and my hapa friend Steph together
4.Mongolian
8 months ago
-middle eastern
-latino
-hawaiian
-alot of the times people guess that in half japanese
-phillipino
8 months ago
It 's funny, I thought, that '1/2 whites, 1/2 browns', like myself, 'look -Latin' but then I 'd think, '1/2 Orientals, 1/2 whites', 'd look different. We should be HAPPY, to look like so many people, in a way, though it is good, to be 'Unique'. In 'Unity', we could 'join with these people'.
But, I can be, a Paranoid guy, sometimes and I think, if 'Pure -whites', try to harm -us, then 'the Latins', will hopefully, be on our side IF NEC. I call myself, 'Olive'/'Golden -Brown'; a group, I also -mean, to include:- 'Arabs', 'Latins', possibly -'the -Jews' and '(Possibly) the Russians', I DON'T KNOW, IF I Could 'pass as a 'Jew'' but, I 'd be PROUD, If I could, because: as a 'Moderate' -'Christian' (1 who is not strict), 'Jews', 're 'special', as 'Jesus -himself, was a Jew' etc. etc. SO, I Hope, that 'the Jews', 're 'Golden -Brown'/'Olives' but, 'The Bible', says that: 'Arabs' and 'Jews', should never -ever mix?? IF GOD, supported me, in'Joining -up, 'Jews', with 'Arabs', forgetting -the -past, then I 'D 'Love him, way more'....
Golly, I do 'waffle -on', sorry.
Love -Mike.
7 months ago
kia ora
people get confused with my ethnic background becuase -
1. am a freckle freak
2. i glow in the dark during winter so pass as a whitie but tan/olivey during summer
3. never heard of my race,or seen lotsa slim polynesians till i tell em i'm related to The Rock.(I'm not haha).
4. Absolutely straight dark brown/black hair makes people think i'm part asian (eurasian) but i have no asian blood in me......dreamed of being the long-lost spawn of bruce lee as a kid but then realised if i was,could'nt marry my brother brandon lee.[sigh].....
So, in the end - mediteranean(frenchie,italian),hawaiian,native american(awesome),bitsy - but almost never Maori.
Love confounding people....putting people under labels,boxes annoy me...who put the box there in the first place?why can't the box be a sphere?or a cylinder? hehe
arohanui people :-)
7 months ago
anything but Japanese.I've been mistaken for mexican,chinese,and korean.
6 months ago
Filipino
White
Chinese
Somoan (when I was a HWT wrestler in HS, rofl)
WTF are you is the most common though nowadays.
6 months ago
Geez, where do i start? Just to name a few, spanish, greek, egyptian, hawaiian but the all time favourite back in the day when i lived near the beach and actually had some colour was brazilian, always "are you from brazil?"- pfft no.
6 months ago
greek, spanish, italian, native american...I'm none of those things...the best is when people want me to prove that my mother is vietnamese...amazing4 months ago
among other things, full white, Chinese, Persian, Native American and (rarely) mixed with black! I get "exotic" a lot.
last month
Oh, and 1/2 Chinese, Hispanic, Italian, Sámi, Filipina, Jewish, Egyptian... The "part black" assumptions occured when I had my hair in braids or curly/kinky.
last month
Black people (these were beggars who I'd say I'd give a dollar if they could guess what ethnicity I was/where I was from) in Dallas, Texas (I was there for a year and a half) mistook me for:
"where those big sumo guys are from", Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Puerto Rican, Italian, Mexican. Hawaiian, just one time.
An "African" person in Suckarillo, Texas asked me (after I asked if he was from Nigeria):
"Are you from China?"
White people in Texas:
Not one asked me my ethnicity, but one classmate (I brought up the issue), so I haven't the slightest idea. My classmate thought I was White.
I guess girls get asked directly a lot more than some of us guys.
last month
By Chinese or Malay people in Malaysia (Indians tend to see the Chinese in me a lot more than they do):
Australian, British, Eurasian (most guess half Chinese, though a few half Malay Muslim hapa girls thought I was half Malay too, one even told me the type of European she tought I was mixed with- weird!).
Once, I was at a Malay grochery and a few of the Malay girls working there asked if I was from Iraq. I hadn't shaved for over a week and was rather tanned at the time. When I made them guess somemore they asked if I was from Pakistan. Then I told them I was from Hawaii and their faces went blank. LOL! They prob. never met someone from Hawaii b4.
last month
By darker haired/complected White peope in Hawaii:
Hapa, a few even thought I was White.
By all other White people here:
Hapa
By local Japanese: Many mistake me for half Japanese, never half Korean.
By local Filipinos: I either get half Filipino or half Japanese from them.
By almost full-blooded Hawaiians: Hapa (half Asian type), a few thought I was a Haole dood. :-/
By local mixed Hawaiians: half Okinawan, half Japanese (haven't had too many comments from them since I don't live near many of 'em, though I think they're some of the most beautiful women in the world and want to get myself a collector's edition).
By a 7/8 Chinese + 1/8 Hawaiian mixed person: They thought I was part Hawaiian too.
last month
Oh, and as for Chinese people in Hawaii, they more often mistake me for a White guy since a lot of Chinese here are FOBs while a lot of the Japanese are "local". The Chinese probably have worse hapadars than the Japanese in general also b/c there aren't very many Chinese hapas here compared to Japanese hapas. Japanese hapas are probably 15-35 times more prevalent.
last month
...also, half Scandinavian and half Chinese; 3/4 Scandinavian and 1/4 Chinese; 1/2 Chinese, 1/2 German; half Russian, half Korean...
last month
in Australia I get alot of "are you..."
Burmese, Thai, Phillipino, South american, Indonesian, Samoan, Spanish...
Though I pretty much never get "You are some mix but Im not sure... what is your background?" which I would presume would be question to ask. I don't get how Japanese, Maori and White can make full Thai or full anything for that case, or maybe it does???
Many Asian People can pick up on something being different EXCEPT mainland Chinese. There everyone thought I was Chinese, to a point where when I told them I was not, they would talk amongst themselves in that puzzled tone of voice like "Wtf, I dont get it?!?".
It really is a gift though to be thought of as, and accepted by so many different peoples. They are willing to let you into their worlds when others who have spent more time around them but don't look like them would have no chance. Thanks for the mix Mum and Dad.
last month
Sign In or Sign Up to post your message.
Athena