mistaken as an European
Aug 29th, 2003, 12:24 PM
#22
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Here's a good one. I am Chinese, so there is no mistaking that I am asian when in Europe! Once in Venice, a German tourist came up to me and started asking for directions.....in German! And for some odd reason, although I speak no German, I knew she wanted to know how to catch the water bus so I started gesturing away and spoke to her in English. She seemed to understand and gave me a very grateful "Danke." I kid you not! I wish someone had caught that one on film.
Aug 29th, 2003, 12:37 PM
#23
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My parents have always been mistaken as European when they're over there, but it's hardly surprising. They are both first generation Americans and grew up in Queens and Brooklyn, surrounded by immigrants and immigrants' children.
Europeans always wanted to know where my father bought "his funny American shoes."
Europeans always wanted to know where my father bought "his funny American shoes."
Aug 29th, 2003, 01:06 PM
#24
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In France and Spain, Europeans think my older son and I are Italian. Elsewhere, they think we are French. Dark short hair, blue eyes, thin, nice looking clothes. My husband and youngest son really do look English--until they start talking--I have seen guys on the street in northern England around Manchester who could be my husband's twin, but that is where his family was originally from.
Aug 29th, 2003, 02:13 PM
#25
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To blend in, I usually wear a XXX-Large T-Shirt in Paris with a huge picture of the Eiffel Tower on the back and Paris, France written over a rainbow on the front.
In Italy, its usually one with the Forum on the back and Rome written on the front over a picture of a smiling gladiator. If I really want to look like a local, I take off my Atlanta Braves baseball cap and my american flag belt buckle. Fools them every time!
I never take off my fanny pack since some thief might steal my emergency supply of snack food.
In Italy, its usually one with the Forum on the back and Rome written on the front over a picture of a smiling gladiator. If I really want to look like a local, I take off my Atlanta Braves baseball cap and my american flag belt buckle. Fools them every time!
I never take off my fanny pack since some thief might steal my emergency supply of snack food.
Aug 29th, 2003, 02:29 PM
#26
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I'm a skinny blue eyed blond, if I walk really fast and look like I know where I'm going, I eat my gelato by licking it from a cone, wear black and look bored, and my father is french, do you think everyone will think I'm Italian while I'm in Paris and London this September?
Aug 29th, 2003, 03:38 PM
#29
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Melissa,
I have a similar story. I'm also Chinese American. On my last trip to Jamaica, I was asked where I was from by a local. When I replied 'the U.S.', his reponse was 'oh, I thought you were English'
I have a similar story. I'm also Chinese American. On my last trip to Jamaica, I was asked where I was from by a local. When I replied 'the U.S.', his reponse was 'oh, I thought you were English'
Aug 29th, 2003, 05:04 PM
#31
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Rufus, yeah, I'm always mistaken for Brad Pitt, too.
Nutella, that gelato is TOO cold for me if you are eating with a knife and fork. I am disappointed that "eating your gelato like an Italian" might just mean how you hold your silverware. I thought it surely would be more complicated and involve pages of diagrams and instructions.
Jacko, why don't you just run off and do just that?
Nutella, that gelato is TOO cold for me if you are eating with a knife and fork. I am disappointed that "eating your gelato like an Italian" might just mean how you hold your silverware. I thought it surely would be more complicated and involve pages of diagrams and instructions.
Jacko, why don't you just run off and do just that?
Aug 29th, 2003, 05:49 PM
#35
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Once when I was in Vienna, a young American couple approached me and said in very sloooow, precise English, "Do you speak English?" When I replied in my obviously American English, "Why, yes I do", they just cracked up.
When my daughter was going to school in London, she was asked by a group of young men from Scotland for directions to Madame Taussauds. When she started to direct them, one said "Why you're a bloody yank!" She replied, "Yes, but I know where Madame Taussauds is".
When my daughter was going to school in London, she was asked by a group of young men from Scotland for directions to Madame Taussauds. When she started to direct them, one said "Why you're a bloody yank!" She replied, "Yes, but I know where Madame Taussauds is".
Aug 29th, 2003, 07:12 PM
#36
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We were in Paris this May and were waiting for the traffic light to change (which automatically labeled us as tourists), I was wearing a Lands' End jacket, shirt, pants and shoes when a Frenchman wearing a three piece suit an carrying a tightly furled umbrella came up and asked me directions
When I said that I was an American he haughtily marched off.
:-B
When I said that I was an American he haughtily marched off.
:-B
Aug 29th, 2003, 07:28 PM
#37
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What a strange thread -- I fall into the category of being asked for directions everywhere I travel, US or Europe. I think it's because I'm not scarey looking and I usually have a good idea where I'm headed because I've read the map ahead of time. When I am lost myself, though, I always look for someone who doesn't look lost. 
And why is it that cops are usually the least helpful if you are lost?
And why is it that cops are usually the least helpful if you are lost?
Aug 29th, 2003, 07:40 PM
#39
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Italians never mistake me for a local (although my father is half Italian), but the American tourists do. It is funny when they ask me for directions in Italian. I always answer back slowly in Italian and then act surprised when they say they are American. Just adds to the charm of their trip I think. Someone actually mistook them for a European. Why are we so flatterd by that I wonder?
