Funniest Racial Questions/Comments You've Heard

[nakanaka]

I never seem to get crazy rascits questions in Canada... but i do in the US and japan

One time, i went on a scholorship summer study abroad program that my family pushed me into.... when the organization was sending my "about me" portion, they screwed up the translation into japanese horribly and neglected to mention i was half japanese.... so when i met the host family i was supposed to be staying with they ask, "why don't u have blonde hair "

In USA, i've had people ask me why i don't always do the peace sign when i take a picture and if i eat sushi everyday

[palaver]

How is your Asia-vision?


Hmmm... last Christmas we made up some "If Santa was Asian jokes".


If Santa was Asian...

... Mrs. Claus would still be white. (EA joke?)

... there would be fewer reindeer, but he'd get better mileage.(Japanese sleigh)

... all the toys would still be made in China. (No more lying to the kids)



Hmmm... If Santa was Eurasian....

[Nikki]

Apr 16, 2009 16:49:31 GMT -5 nakanaka said:

In USA, i've had people ask me why i don't always do the peace sign when i take a picture and if i eat sushi everyday

Man... Yeah, I remember growing up I had kids ask me why I ate on a strange table so close to the floor. Or why I wore slippers in the house sometimes. Or if I always ate with chopsticks. I can kind of forgive kids as they just don't know better. But if you get past eleven/twelve and you're still asking questions like that, your parents did not do such a stellar job.

[nakanaka]

Nikki,
oh the slippers in the house/ NO SHOES.....
once when i had a friend over (white) they didn't take their shoes off when they came into my house... my grandma gave him nasty stares for about 5 minutes straight

... on a totally different note, today my sister was asked by a classmate why she doesn't wear a mini skirt like all the japanese girls in manga

[TeeHee]

Apr 16, 2009 20:23:08 GMT -5 Nikki said:

Or if I always ate with chopsticks.

Along similar lines... "How do they eat rice? "(having assumed chopsticks are the only utensil used)

Years ago my then-bf/now-ex somehow got on the subject of people being fluent in a language that's not from their ethnic background. In the process I mentioned of one acquaintance/classmate who was full Asian, but didn't know anything about any Asian language or culture; having been adopted/raised by white Hispanics, Spanish was her first language so not surprisingly she had native command on it. Another example I mentioned about was a full white person(child of family friends) who was adopted/raised by Vietnamese parents, so he had native command of the Vietnamese language. Upon learning of these instances, he asks "hold up, so it's possible for somebody who isn't Vietnamese to be fluent in the language? you mean it's not wired in your tongue?"...I wanted to think he was kidding, but nope, he was serious when he asked me that. In response, I said "well you can't speak any German, so it obviously wasn't wired in your tongue, was it? "(he was n-th generation white american of german background). That shut him up. He was one of those folks who saw Asian people as "mystical" and who saw Asian languages as some other-worldly phenomenon that only someone of Asian/EA descent could do.

[decepticons]

shoot. i wish japanese was wired into my tongue.

[moralhazard]

Hil.ar.i.ous ;D

[Subuatai]

"What kind of Asian doesn't know how to use chopsticks"

Duh! Mongols can't grow rice dumb-a--! Bah

[milkman's baby]

yeah I remember in 2nd grade, my white teacher always had to bring up my asianness. she's tried to put it in a positive light because of the whole diversity campaign in schools, but it was just annoying after a while. i remember we had some activity talking about our favorite foods, and i said mine was burritos. she was, "that's not korean." yeah, and? asshole. or i hate it when people ask if i speak korean and when i tell them no they say it's a shame. is it a shame that you don't speak gaelic or welsh if you're a boston irish? at some point some ancestor of their's stopped speaking their ethnic language and just used english, so what's wrong with me only knowing english? even though half my family is in south korea, i don't have any plans to move there or visit long term. i'm not ashamed of my race, my interests just gravitate toward other areas. seriously, i hate stupid people.

[Fiona]

I find that white ladies always say that my mum is "so beautiful" and they always rave about my mum's beauty. Like my or my sisters friends or my boyfriend's white mothers.
Pretty sure my mum isn't beautiful.. but they all say it like 100000000000000x.
I think it's almost like they finally understand where my looks come from. Is that racist of them? I can't really tell-and I don't know if I'm over thinking it...either way it bothers me.

Sorry that's not very funny.

[Subuatai]

^?!

Everyone keeps telling me my mum is really beautiful too, but I just go 'uhuh', and take it as a compliment. I don't see the racial connection there o.O

[Kush]

I've had a fair few, most of them are in the stupid comments from white people thread.

My favorite so far though has to be:
"So you're half asian, half Chinese?"

[Shock]

White people always creating problems. I am guessing why.

90% of people asking me strange questions are not-white. I see them(mostly asian and latinos) treating me as a sort of "brother". Bah.

[nemesisgalofdoom]

I posted in another thread already, but the most stupid question I've ever got was:

q: are u chinese ?

me: "no, i'm half Japanese"

q: "what the difference between Japan and China ?"


...

[ChickenSoda]

Once, my friend's mom asked me if my people celebrate Thanksgiving