But you don't look....

[firecat88]

I've never gotten it about being part Venezuelan. I have gotten it about my age, though. I don't look almost-26 to some people, apparently. I think it's because A) I'm so short and B) I generally don't act my age anyway.

I've also had some people freak out/look at me funny because I:

~Am in college
~ Like Metallica
~ Am a firm believer in the paranormal
~ Have no idea who various pop/hip-hop/whatever artists from this decade are
~ Do not obsess over anything pertaining to sports
~ Enjoy reading young adult fiction
~ Am obsessed with German musicals
~ Am obsessed with random food trivia, despite the fact that I get grossed out by cracking eggs and the most complex thing I know how to make is a cranberry-feta-and-pecan salad.

[blas87]

I've had a few ignorant people say I couldn't be German because all Germans have blonde hair and blue eyes. Nevermind that I have all kinds of other European backgrounds in my makeup, and my dad's dad's side of the family were brunette Swiss Germans with light brown/green eyes.

My mom is mostly Italian, you'd think she was Irish because she's a Ginger.

[Andara Bledin]

So, Blas, does that mean that Hitler wasn't a German, and neither were much of his staff?

^-.-^

[guywithashovel]

It seems that a fair number of people around here actually celebrate their heritage. For example, there's an Italian grocery store close to work where many Italians around here have gone for years to get food and meat. Likewise, my boss's ex-wife (according to him) was Polish, and he says they served Polish food at all the get-togethers.

Like I said, the ancestry that I know of is Irish and German, and we don't do anything to acknowledge that. We actually eat Italian food more often than anything else (though it's the basic Italian stuff, and probably highly Americanized). When I mentioned to a coworker that I was part Irish, she said, "Well, you and your family must eat a lot of corned beef and cabbage!"

Actually, no, we don't.

I might like corned beef and cabbage, as well as the other Irish dishes containing cabbabe, but I've never been able to get past the smell of cabbage long enough to enjoy it.

[firecat88]

It seems that a fair number of people around here actually celebrate their heritage. For example, there's an Italian grocery store close to work where many Italians around here have gone for years to get food and meat. Likewise, my boss's ex-wife (according to him) was Polish, and he says they served Polish food at all the get-togethers.

Like I said, the ancestry that I know of is Irish and German, and we don't do anything to acknowledge that. We actually eat Italian food more often than anything else (though it's the basic Italian stuff, and probably highly Americanized). When I mentioned to a coworker that I was part Irish, she said, "Well, you and your family must eat a lot of corned beef and cabbage!"

Actually, no, we don't.

I might like corned beef and cabbage, as well as the other Irish dishes containing cabbabe, but I've never been able to get past the smell of cabbage long enough to enjoy it.

First- I lovelovelove colcannon. Just saying that now to get it out of my system.

Also, no one who knows us is really surprised that we eat a good amount of Venezuelan food. People do get surprised, though, when they try it for the first time. They expect it to be ridiculously spicy and like badly-stereotyped Mexican food. In all actuality, Venezuela doesn't really *do* extreme spicy like that. It's more about balancing sweet and savory (which is why we put sugar in our black beans and serve tajadas (fried plantains) along side 'em)

[bex1218]

My favorite food is Indian, its rare that I get it though. I don't like Irish food or German food much. I love my Grandma's cooking. Love me some Puerto Rican style foods.

[HYHYBT]

Well, now, it makes a big difference whether your cultural dishes (if that's the right term for them) are appetizing or not. Many people around here love chitterlings (pronounced CHITlins). Many others, including me and all my close relatives, won't go near the things. But I like the custom of having blackeyed peas, turnip or collard greens, and cornbread on New Years Day, because I enjoy those foods.

As for further-back... the only parts of the family I know far enough back to say where they came from originally are Scotch-Irish. Some menus are best forgotten.

[AdminAssistant]

I make an awesome hog jowl and black eye pea soup on New Year's Day. It's also fairly spicy, which makes it great for the post-NYE hangover.

[Teysa]

I'm Hungarian, Czechoslovakian, or Ukrainian on Dad's side of the family. The village my grandparents came from moved around a bit. Pre WWI it was in Hungary. After that it became part of Czechoslovakia. Post WWII it got relocated to Ukraine.

I only recently learned that some of the foods I ate growing up were ethnic foods. Things like cabbage and noodles, goulash, and mushroom-barley soup were common fare. My paternal grandmother also fixed chicken paprikash on occasion.

[Rapscallion]

So, Blas, does that mean that Hitler wasn't a German, and neither were much of his staff?

^-.-^

I don't know about his staff, but he was born in Austria.

I always did think it rum that the Aryan ideal was mostly contradicting the leader of the group espousing it.

Rapscallion

[blas87]

Most people pushing that crap against me didn't pass history, so it's not really worth trying to point out that he wasn't a "true" Aryan.

[Greenday]

Most people pushing that crap against me didn't pass history, so it's not really worth trying to point out that he wasn't a "true" Aryan.

It really surprises me that he was pushing all that "blonde hair, blue eyes" stuff and people didn't stop and think, "Hey, wait a second, you have neither of those..."

[BlaqueKatt]

It really surprises me that he was pushing all that "blonde hair, blue eyes" stuff and people didn't stop and think, "Hey, wait a second, you have neither of those..."

not when you realize people breeding cats have neither tails nor paws......

[jackfaire]

not when you realize people breeding cats have neither tails nor paws......

Difference between "this is the master race that should be ruling all of you" and being the one putting yourself in charge of it and "Fluffy should win the blue ribbon"

As for the "But you don't look" I am pale face white man so my puritanical origins have never been in doubt.

However I have gotten, "But you don't look bi or like a geek"

[HYHYBT]

Short of actually having a man on one arm and a woman on the other, how does one "look bi"?