I have been asked this question in a context-less way. I travelled down south, driving through the mountains of North Carolina and I was in a gas station paying for gas. This older guy with far too few teeth asked me out of the blue, "Whut arrr youuuu?" in a unique southern drawl that I learned was actually common in that area.
I was initially thinking he maybe wanted to know whether I was an Engineer or not, having just graduated from college with an Engineering degree, but when I realized there was no context that would give him that impression, I was at a loss as to that the question was about. Something along the lines of "Huh? Wha?... Huh???"
Turns out it was my ethnicity he was concerned about. I have French Canadian and Mexican heritage, in addition to many other western European ancestors of various nationalities (lost count at seven countries of origin). The man wasn't a racist, just curious because he couldn't place my ethnicity in any of his mental containers.
I would say profession.
