The opposite of "you look like __"

Sep 19, 2009 00:24

Today coming up from the subway on the UWS a twenty-something Asian guy stopped me and asked "what part of the world are you from ( Read more... )

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jacquez September 20 2009, 03:59:12 UTC
well, your father is from a different planet, you know.

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jacquez September 20 2009, 04:09:37 UTC
on a more serious note, I wonder if it's just -- so, some of us look obviously "like" some ethnicity. If you look at me, I look like I must have some Eastern European heritage. You (and J, to some extent) look neither "American" nor any obvious ethnicity.

By "American" I mean that there are some particular features which are ... oh hell, I'll just give an example. Carol Hannah Whitfield looks "American". She's the woman in the strapless dress in this photo:
http://carol-hannah.com/meet-carol-hannah/

(I suspect the particular look I mean is "British Isles with a little Scandanavian or German admixture", or vice versa, but that's just a suspicion.)

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vallentine September 20 2009, 04:21:51 UTC
Okay, well I do agree that I don't look specifically Irish or Scandanavian or Polish and I certainly don't look like the bit of Native American we have. But at the same time I guess I've never felt like I looked "other". And maybe that's because our family's big enough that I've always had people around who look like me. And maybe, now that I'm thinking about it, it's why people frequently ask me about my ethnicity. But I assumed that was more of a "she's got Irish coloring but looks more German" than it was "I can't place her at all".

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jacquez September 20 2009, 05:28:27 UTC
I don't think you look other-y, either; but then to me you just look like my sister.

But in a way I think it's like with mutt dogs; some dogs you look at, like Bella, and can go "oh well there is definitely some Beagle in there somewhere". And other dogs you're all "well...um...look we're just naming him Heinz 57, OK?"

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vallentine September 20 2009, 06:45:11 UTC
Though I do recognize that, unlike you and M. in particular, I don't look particularly ethnic. But my previous experiences had taught me that with prompting people could see a little bit of the eastern european or of the Irish or whathaveyou. But even after mentioning my heritage the guy seemed unable to look at me and see how I have traces of my roots etched in my features it's just that they're not particularly prominent.

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