Mistaken for Latino?

[jpeezy]

I was just wondering how many EAN's have been mistaken for being latino or hispanic. When I am in Texas or Florida, 2 heavily latino populated areas, I always get mistaken for latin, hispanic, or Puerto Rican then summarily griped out when they discover I don't speak Spanish fluently (I took 2 years of it in high school, but just know enough to get by).

Just recently I encountered a lady of latin decent who came up to me and started asking me directions in Spanish and when I told her I didn't speak it she told me how embarassing I was to the latin community and how my parents should be ashamed for not teaching me my "native" tongue. Then she called me "stupid" when I told her I wasn't latin!

[helles]

I dont' get mistaken for latino as I've never been to populated latino areas.

But its Filipino's who are the only ones who claim me as one of them. They are usually the only one's who can tell I am mixed and insist I must be half filipino and argue with me when I say I'm not!

[dannyd]

I've had it a couple of times. Both from Americans though. The term is not really in existence in Australia.

But then again I've had all sorts of things, from Mexican to Italian to Polynesian to Maori!

In fact the second-time Italian came about was just yesterday. I work in Leichhardt which is a very Aust-Italian populated area. Bloke comes in and as I'm serving him he says a few words, including a 'thank you' which I picked up, in Italian. I asked him why he was speaking to me in Italian and he said he'd just assumed I was for some reason.

When I was in Egypt at the beginning of the year, I had an Egyptian bloke tell me he though I looked Egyptian!

Quite a number of similar stories with different nationalities. What talent!

[i move the stars for no one]

jpeezy said:

I was just wondering how many EAN's have been mistaken for being latino or hispanic. When I am in Texas or Florida, 2 heavily latino populated areas, I always get mistaken for latin, hispanic, or Puerto Rican then summarily griped out when they discover I don't speak Spanish fluently (I took 2 years of it in high school, but just know enough to get by).

Just recently I encountered a lady of latin decent who came up to me and started asking me directions in Spanish and when I told her I didn't speak it she told me how embarassing I was to the latin community and how my parents should be ashamed for not teaching me my "native" tongue. Then she called me "stupid" when I told her I wasn't latin!

this happens to me all the time and it drives me nuts.

[catgirl]

jpeezy said:

I was just wondering how many EAN's have been mistaken for being latino or hispanic. When I am in Texas or Florida, 2 heavily latino populated areas, I always get mistaken for latin, hispanic, or Puerto Rican then summarily griped out when they discover I don't speak Spanish fluently (I took 2 years of it in high school, but just know enough to get by).

Just recently I encountered a lady of latin decent who came up to me and started asking me directions in Spanish and when I told her I didn't speak it she told me how embarassing I was to the latin community and how my parents should be ashamed for not teaching me my "native" tongue. Then she called me "stupid" when I told her I wasn't latin!

I totally have the same experience. I get mistaken for either Chilen, latina something, Spanish or Italian. Basically ALL the time... Must be the dark hair and eyes, makes one look latina.

My friends think I look French. But some french I met near Paris insisted on me being Italian, although I were with alot of Norwegians at the time. In Spain the locals always ask me if Im Spanish

When I lived in Southern France nobody questioned me about my etnisity, so in a strange way I felt like fitting in, until I opened my big mouth with my crappy French and all ;D The locals thought my blonde host sister was the Norwegian one and thought I was the daughter of the host mother. lol.

[Freecia]

I've had random people comming up to me and start talking to me in Spanish, but then again, because of the area I live in (3 miles above Mexico), they were probably expecting everyone to speak Spanish.

And I have been asked if I was hispanic by random guys in the club before. And that happened back when I was still in Chicago.

Of course, SouthEast Asians always think I'm one of them, because I was always asked if I was Vietnamese, Thai, or Philipino.

[daisypukes]

Yeah, it's happened to me, mostly when I was living in heavily latino areas. Very seldom happens to me when I'm living in latino scarce areas.

[shugi]

When I was 15 I remember a group of girls kept calling me Ricardo on a regular basis one or two thought it was my real name.

[Ajeno]

Interesting.I have never mistaken a mixed-asian person for latino before.

Freecia - I remember the pictures you had in your sig so I can see how you might get that sometimes.You can pass for Mexican or El Salvadorean Imo.

[Altan]

It's funny because the the Mexicans call me "Lobo Gris."
"The Grey Wolf"
I call the others "Lobo Negro," and "Aguilar."
Black Wolf and Hawk or Eagle.

Shamanism alive and well in Mexico. A trait from Siberia or Turan from the past!

[LaFace]

I've been mistaken for being Latino before. From a neutral perspective, the misunderstanding of EA's being Latin is understandable, because some physical traits can appear similar.

Let's not forget though, that if one is mixed, then they may tend to blend in more with certain ethnic groups surrounding them (as stated in the first post). When I am at uni, I blend in more because there are many Asians in my degree, and I am half Filpino. This is in comparison to when I am surrounded by Anglo-saxan Australians, where I tend to 'stick out' more. The same goes when I am around some of my friends who are of Italian backgrounds. I also tend to blend in more with them, as opposed to 'sticking out'.

[honeyviper]

I am on the occasion, but I don't really mind. My name only adds confusion into the mix. It's in my ancestry, but my features are almost entirely from my Ojibwe side.

[i move the stars for no one]

juniper said:

jpeezy said:

I was just wondering how many EAN's have been mistaken for being latino or hispanic. When I am in Texas or Florida, 2 heavily latino populated areas, I always get mistaken for latin, hispanic, or Puerto Rican then summarily griped out when they discover I don't speak Spanish fluently (I took 2 years of it in high school, but just know enough to get by).

Just recently I encountered a lady of latin decent who came up to me and started asking me directions in Spanish and when I told her I didn't speak it she told me how embarassing I was to the latin community and how my parents should be ashamed for not teaching me my "native" tongue. Then she called me "stupid" when I told her I wasn't latin!

this happens to me all the time and it drives me nuts.

i feel the need to clarify:i'm not irritated at being mistaken for Latina but at how incredibly rude people can be if you don't speak Spanish and are perceived to be Latina.Some are up front about it like the ones jpeezy was talking aout,some are really snide and just look at you like you're something they stepped in.

[jefe]

curlytop said:

A few weeks ago I had one of those nightmare EA days. In the morning a couple of Mexicans swore I had to be Chinese or Japanese(of course since those are the only Asian countries in existence. : They said if I visited Mexico, everyone would assume I were a Japanese tourist.

I then headed to the supermarket. A black guy said he was so shocked that I spoke English because he thought I was Latino. A Bangledeshi employee said I looked Russian. Later that day a Mexican lady thought I was Colombian (Guess she didn't know the Mexicans from early in the day.)

Yes, that was exactly my experience in the USA.

It is amazing how SURE everyone is about what your background is.

People in Europe and Asia are "certain" also, but differently. I think they just think "foreigner".

[jefe]

helen said:

I dont' get mistaken for latino as I've never been to populated latino areas.

But its Filipino's who are the only ones who claim me as one of them. They are usually the only one's who can tell I am mixed and insist I must be half filipino and argue with me when I say I'm not!

Helen,

It happened to me in HK 2 years ago. A Venezuelan man in Times Square said "Habla Espanol?" to me. I was completely shocked -- (am I back in the USA or what?)

He could not speak English or Chinese, so I tried to help him and ask questions for him at the Info desk.

I had a German guy and a Chinese guy with me, and they laughed saying that the guy thought he found one of his compatriots.