When you see someone at the store

[Elta]

When you see someone at the store
And at first glance you can't guess what their *nationality is do you take a second look to try and figure it out?




* I mean that in the PC way Americans say it as in "what are you?"



This happened to me at the store today, I saw to people talk with a kind of east coast accent ( They are probably from new york ) and I only saw them out of the corner of my eye.

I thought to my self South Indian (Dravidian) - South East asian? ..... and then I was like "why do I even give a crap?, it's not like I'll ever interact with these people ever again .... nor will it ever matter ... what wrong with me?"

Then I went on and got my Tooth Picks and Queso Ranchero.

I always do it, but it never really bothered me till today.

* I voted Giant radio active monkey, I am not sure if I will catch my self doing it later. I'll probably always do it if it's a girl I am trying to talk too thou.

 

[nivi]

What can I say, I'm a people watcher, nationality is just one of the things I like trying to figure out in my head.

 

[scherbchen]

More along the lines of what you described regarding the accent. Walked past two girls the other day in the supermarket and they were talking (native) English with an accent I just couldn´t place. Drove me nuts to the point where I just about up and asked them.

Doesn´t happen with colour/fashion/etc though.

 

[Quildavyr]

I saw the girls before in the bus talking english.First I tried to recognize them and thought one of them was Ukrainian and the other Greek.But unfortunately I had to listen their conversation and that forced me change my mind.But still thought for the first one to be a Ukrainian and the second one to be a Turk.Of course the legendary traffic of Istanbul didnt help me and I had to listen their conversation for 45 minutes more.Then decided to ask them.They were both turkish.The second girl was a nice person to reply but the first one didnt answered.At the end I was ashamed and became some angry gazes from other passengers.So after this matter I try to guess someones nationality,but never ask to him.

 

[Swedishguy]

I am pretty skilled at guessing people's nationality by just looking at them. It's called experience. There is a rather large difference between people living in other countries. It's pretty easy to see the difference between Scandinavians, British, Germans and Russians, for example.

 

[dosed150]

I saw the girls before in the bus talking english.First I tried to recognize them and thought one of them was Ukrainian and the other Greek.But unfortunately I had to listen their conversation and that forced me change my mind.But still thought for the first one to be a Ukrainian and the second one to be a Turk.Of course the legendary traffic of Istanbul didnt help me and I had to listen their conversation for 45 minutes more.Then decided to ask them.They were both turkish.The second girl was a nice person to reply but the first one didnt answered.At the end I was ashamed and became some angry gazes from other passengers.So after this matter I try to guess someones nationality,but never ask to him.

that seems kind of weird why would 2 turkish people in turkey be talking english to each other

 

[Quildavyr]

^^They were talking girl stuff.Girl said it was a private discussion,so they wont that the other passengers hear what they are exactly talking about.

I am an awful eavesdropper

 

[dosed150]

^^They were talking girl stuff.Girl said it was a private discussion,so they wont that the other passengers hear what they are exactly talking about.

I am an awful eavesdropper

yes you are it is so hard not to listen to other peoples conversations on the bus though

 

[BirraImperial]

I just pay attention when people are speaking a foreign language (French, German, English) at a restaurant, bus or at the mall. I try to figure out what language is. Most of the time people speaking native English are Americans, most people speaking German are well, Germans. I can tell between Austrian, Swiss and German accents pretty well.

 

[GoodGame]

I basically find that to be an invasion of privacy so I don't do it. It's basically the same at staring at some girl who's hot while grocery shopping. Move along citizen!

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I try to guess their nationality. If they are speaking what appears to be a foreign language, I try to guess that as well. Then I make wild speculations about their personal lives. Yeah, I'm terrible.

 

[Abaddon]

Don't even think about it

 

[dosed150]

I basically find that to be an invasion of privacy so I don't do it. It's basically the same at staring at some girl who's hot while grocery shopping. Move along citizen!

oh and people never do that do they , its weird though how its seen as wrong to check out girls but would any guy object if girls checked them out

 

[scherbchen]

I basically find that to be an invasion of privacy so I don't do it. It's basically the same at staring at some girl who's hot while grocery shopping. Move along citizen!

I actually try to avoid that while at the super, not necessarily because it is a breach of eprsonal boundaries but because that is an area (over here) where it is not one of the places where talking to strangers is the norm (as far as I understand any Brit will understand this). The two girls with the unplaceable accents were also darn cute. And way too young for me so I really felt creepy. Was just wondering about the accent though. *ducks stones thrown at him*

 

[rilnator]

I'm more interested in if the girl is hot rather than her background.

IMHO half caucasian, half Japanese is the perfect mix.

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

I see so many foreigners that I don't think twice about it.

 

[Mr_Fusty]

Same here. Living in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, finding a true, local yokel is becoming quite hard. I do find that I'm quite good at placing people though - perhaps it is experiance.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I look, I baisically count how many of each race I see in a day.

 

[Dubai Vol]

I actually try to avoid that ...because that is an area (over here) where it is not one of the places where talking to strangers is the norm (as far as I understand any Brit will understand this).

Yes, Brits also don't talk. Mrs Dubai is British, and the first time we rode the tube in London on a visit, I was nose to nose with some lady, and just started chatting. She was maybe a bit surprised, but we had a nice talk. When we got off Mrs Dubai was all "you don't talk to people on the tube!" and I said "YOU don't talk to people on the tube, but I do!"

Just the opposite on our first visit to the US. On the minibus ride from the airport to the car rental everyone was old friends by the time we got off: two men found they both had the same hobby, people were talking about their children, we helped each other with luggage. Of course this was the south. Damyankees talk to each other, but the words are all rude.

 

[RedRalph]

All the time, I try and distinguish more by language than by looks though... I think I can distinguish Polish from Russian, and Latvian is fairly distinctive...