Where are you from? No. Where are your REALLY from?

[Jingthing]

 

 

I think some expats in Thailand deal with similar issues, depending on how you respond to the question, and also what nation you're from and your ethnic appearance. 

 

In my case, I might respond Jomtien which is kind of a rude response, but even when I answer USA, often it's where in the USA (which is neutral) but other times it's more like what this Korean lady experienced ... digging for where BEFORE the USA.

 

So THIS thread is not focused on Asian experiences in the west, but rather on the equivalent FOREIGNER experiences in THAILAND.

 

In other words, about people here digging into what kind of FOREIGNER are you, even when answering your NATIONALITY isn't enough information for the questioner. 

 

Also note:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/10/21/the-awkward-thing-that-happened-when-scientists-asked-a-computer-to-tell-asian-faces-apart/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories_wb-faces-1245am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

 

Quote

Every Asian American has been asked this question. A computer gives the best answer.

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Jingthing

[tutsiwarrior]

when asked I always say California, never USA...then folks usually immediately understand...

[JLCrab]

Flo-ree-DAH

[swissie]

Hi Jingthing: So you tell 'em your from Jomtien. I used to tell them that I come from Hotel. Rude or not.

- This eternal "Where you come from" routine at the Bar only serves to pre-assess the financial capabilities of a Farang. Annoying to say the least.
Cheers

[tutsiwarrior]

and then the barman thinks: 'hotel? he must have some dosh...better get Noi and her pals over here to give him 'the business'...

[tutsiwarrior]

I had a pal many years ago that was from Chicago...and when he told folks in response to the 'where you from' question for some reason they always said: like Al Capone?

 

and then he would squint and look grim and say: yeah...

 

tough talk for a junior in high school...

[NoshowJones]

I just say "the UK, Land of the Immigrants", but will now change it to

"UK, Land of the Adult Children Immigrants".

[Kwasaki]

I say England first on the return of a strange look l say UK I'm angrit.

 

To answer topic Q.  I'm born from my English mother whose father was French, my father was English and his father was an Irish-American.

 

I guess my name should be Bertie Bassett.   

[transam]

Folk ask...You from UK, I say no, I am from England, London....

[Wilsonandson]

Uranus

[Jingthing]

5 minutes ago, Wilsonandson said:

Uranus

The interior or the outer ring? 

[rogeroc]

20 hours ago, swissie said:

Hi Jingthing: So you tell 'em your from Jomtien. I used to tell them that I come from Hotel. Rude or not.

- This eternal "Where you come from" routine at the Bar only serves to pre-assess the financial capabilities of a Farang. Annoying to say the least.
Cheers

 

That is a bit deep isn't it, surely it is just 'small talk' to get a conversation going. I would rather have a simple approach like that . Do speed dating in the UK and the opener from a woman is more likely to be something like 'If you had a 1000 pounds left in the world what would you spend it on'. I prefer the unpretentious approach, don't knock it.

 

So i don't mind being asked where i come from and once i say the UK they know i am going to be 'poor' now anyway !

[Jingthing]

Sometimes here non Thai people aren't satisfied with my USA answer and it seems they want to know ancestry but generally Thais aren't curious that way.

Never been pushed harder than a subtle followup question. Nothing to the level of what happens to Asian Americans as in the video. I admit when I lived in the U.S. I wanted to know what "kind" of Asian and of course I'm knowledgeable enough to make quite good guesses.

In some ways I might have been worse than the video because I assumed they knew the food of their ethnicity so might be good sources if insider restaurant tips.

I even do that in Thailand when I meet non Thai Asians.

[tutsiwarrior]

when I was young I was dark (40% indigenous andean according to my sister) and folks never asked me nothin'...they just presumed that I was a mezcan...

 

now, as what hair I have left is white and vitiligo has ravaged my skin pigment they are curious sometimes...

 

in the middle east folks would occasionally come up and address me in arabic...my features musta morphed into semitic ones along the way...

 

 

Edited October 23, 2016 by tutsiwarrior

[tifino]

 

Falangland

 

   - no matter what you say, it's always the same to...

[Jingthing]

10 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

when I was young I was dark (40% indigenous andean according to my sister) and folks never asked me nothin'...they just presumed that I was a mezcan...

 

now, as what hair I have left is white and vitiligo has ravaged my skin pigment they are curious sometimes...

 

 

I got taken for Mexican the other day ... by an Indian. Gotta love it! 

[Kwasaki]

20 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

Uranus

 

You really are an Alien,  l'm only classed as one. 

[fusion58]

I've never been asked. I've yet to encounter a local who seems even the slightest bit interested or curious.

[balo]

I tell them I'm from Thailand but I'm not Thai . 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

On 10/23/2016 at 9:36 PM, Jingthing said:

I got taken for Mexican the other day ... by an Indian. Gotta love it! 

 

Gopal musta had a look and thought: 'this dude looks like one of them "stinkin' badges" characters...'

 

sombrero and drooping mustache properly in place?

 

when I useta get the mezcan business I said: 'hey!...I can't be a mezcan...I surf!...'

[Strange]

I always get mistaken for Australian for some reason. Gotta right that wrong real quick. 

 

Ill say A-meh-li-ka, and when they want more, Ill tell them florida, but get blank-stare from that point. 

[tutsiwarrior]

when I got back to the US from 2 years in Bolivia I landed at my grandparent's house in Nashville, and I was speaking english with a spanish accent...

 

when I got to the local high school I got the 'where you from?' and, to keep things simple I said: well...I was born here in Nashville...at St Thomas hospital' which was true...

 

and they sneered: 'yeah...right...'

Edited October 25, 2016 by tutsiwarrior

[pgrahmm]

I say California....If that doesn't work then America......The US answer just gets lost for most Thais....

 

One time a gal asked - where you come from.....?

 

I gave the name of the town in Thailand I lived in.....She laughed & said "you born Thailand?"

 

I don't do that any longer.....

Edited October 25, 2016 by pgrahmm

[Don Mega]

I say "not from Thailand".

[sipi]

Australia.

Apparently we are all the same.

 

[Wilsonandson]

I'm from the sewer
I have whiskers
I scurry around at night
What am I?

[Jingthing]

I'm from the sewer

I have whiskers

I scurry around at night

What am I?

Hillary Clinton?

To quote republican satirist P.J. O'Rourke, better a mangy cat than a rabid dog.

[StreetCowboy]

On ‎25‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 8:20 PM, Wilsonandson said:

I'm from the sewer
I have whiskers
I scurry around at night
What am I?

Steaming drunk, if my experience is anything to go by

[upside]

Im from a small town called Greensboro in Alabama.  Much easier to just say USA 

[tukkytuktuk]

I'm from Surin.