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Where are you from?
As a foreigner here I always get this question at bars. Some idiot asks me "where are you from?". My answer has always been "the restroom". You should see the expression on their face. What is it with idiots in this country? Are they so insecure about losing their position?
As a contrasting example, I am sitting in a bar in Boston. There's these two guys from Scotland that sit next to me. Know what they said to me? "what brings you to boston?" we got talking and I found out there was a great movie I have been missing out on. Europeans seem to have 1000x more intelligence than the average american. I think it's because of religion here. what do you think?

lafunguy818 4 Sep 20
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49 comments

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0

I think you’re a twit!

3

So, let me get this right: Someone is interested enough in having a conversation with you so they ask your origins and you immediately lump them into the category of being an idiot?

I travel to GBR regularly -- England and Scotland mostly --and I have been asked at least 100 times my origins when the locals hear me speak. The same has happened in Norway, Japan, Central American countries, and all the islands of the Caribbean.
By your logic, all those people are "idiots" for asking me.

You have an awful attitude (and a bit of a chip on your shoulder).
You are certainly not living up to your user name "funguy" and should be renamed "arrogantasshat" for clarity.

I have a suspicion that this post was just a rant to insult USA/Americans in general.

If you don't like the people and the culture.....you are free to put your ass on a plane and leave.

0

Anyway, where are you/your family from? My response in below?

1

As an immigrant who came as a teen, I used to feel like this. But with age and political consciousness, I outgrew this defensiveness. I began to own what I am - an immigrant! And I use the questions to educate. When someone asks me why I left my native land of Guyana (in South America), I say, "CIA Regime Change - as a small country, it was the cheapest destruction of a democratic government by the US Government." So, don't worry if your brownness stands out. You're not white and it is natural for people to notice the difference. Many people are simply genuinely interested without being racist!

0

I've never found "where are you from?" to be anything other than a curious and friendly ice-breaker. I'm sorry you have such difficulty with it.

0

Where are you from?

0

It is a very common conversation starter. Doesn't "What brings you to Boston" serve the same purpose?

1

I like asking where people are from because I love meeting people from other places. I've also traveled a lot so maybe I've been to that person's country. I use it as a way to start a conversation. I'm disappointed when people get defensive about it. Makes me sad for them. Not everyone has ill intent.

Remi Level 7 Sep 21, 2018
1

When I'm out and I meet people I always ask about them, start a conversation you know! To say that we're stupid, now that's just stupid on you! Shows your narrow mindedness! Think carefully when you post on here with the majority being American! I always thought that this site was open to like minded people not for this kind of nonsense!

3

Perhaps the question is being used as a conversation starter and a seeking of common ground that can lead into other discussion. Your self-righteous indignation at a question that is clearly not meant to offend is a serious overreaction. Everyone is from somewhere - get over yourself.

GwenC Level 7 Sep 20, 2018
0

I often get asked what country I am from. I am from Wisconsin!

Della Level 6 Sep 20, 2018
0

Everyone. And I mean EVERYONE. Gets that in the south.

They've (mostly) stopped asking "Where do you go to church."

That was the default second question.

Now it is generally about favorite sports teams.

0

What is your definition of Idiot "foreigner stranger"? About your question... it is not religion... sorry to tell you. but ameriKKKa was populated by the scorn of Europe, not the noble. The "marginals" were the ones that escaped Europe for the "riches" for the taking found here. Often enough the choice was prison or the "new world". You could roll the dice here or rot in jail there. So lead me back to my question to you... what is your definition of Idiot "foreigner stranger"?

0

Apparently, I have an unusual accent and from time to time people here in the UK ask me where I was born. Even when I answer the question they stare at me in disbelief because even though I have answered their question it does not seem to fit in or gel with their preconceptions.

If I told them that I was born on the same big rock (earth) as they were and that we are spinning at approximately 1000 MPH in an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy and that the galaxies are apart at 270 miles per second in no discernible direction they might find that more interesting or credible.

0

Having grown up in Europe, I am always interested in where people are from. Over the years spent in schools there, I met kids from all around the world and have interest in meeting people from other cultures, mostly because I find them more interesting to talk to than Americans who have never gone outside a 100 mile circle of town they were born in. And I am always looking for opportunities to practice my French which I have managed to maintain for almost 60 years. And while I can usually detect a French accent, I have met quite a few who’s accent was so subtle that I would have guessed wrong. So don’t be so quick to condem when the question comes up. They may just be looking for a conversation starter and a new friend.

0

if I hear a (non-local) accent, I will ask people where they are from, as a way to connect and get to know them, and find out what interesting things they can share with me.

As a northern-US-born Australian (by choice) who has lived in 6 states in the last decade, I get asked all the time where I from. Unfortunately, that is not an easy question to answer (born in Pittsburgh, raised in Brisbane Australia, and consider Portland Oregon to be "home" )

Ozman Level 7 Sep 20, 2018
2

I am an American by choice and I have an Australian accent (still, after 30+ years of living in the USA) and when I visit Australia, I get asked if I am an American. So, people have been asking me this question for 30+ years. Sometimes I am happy to oblige and sometimes not so much, but I have never, not once, considered the people asking, as idiots. A tad harsh I would say.
Idiocy or intelligence are not strictly limited to Americans....there are idiots and intelligent people all over the world.
I think that the influence of religion in the U.S. has certainly influenced the way that many people view life, just as it has throughout the rest of the world.
Yes, here in America, there are many things that could be improved upon but again, that could be said about any country in the world.
I have no idea why you see the world as you do and that is your business but I hope, for your peace of mind, that at some point you can see the the people of America in a more positive or even less negative light.
My experience has been that there are far more fair, curious, intelligent and aware Americans than there are of the closed and ignorant kind. Seek them out. You won't regret it.

3

No, where are you from? But where are your people from?

??

JeffB Level 6 Sep 20, 2018
0

I also get asked this question and guess what, I’m American. See the thing is about this country is that people are curious about other people’s background. Sometimes it’s because they just want to learn about a different place, sometimes it’s because they are a jackass who wants to kick out every foreigner they meet: though I’ve seen that the majority of cases are the former. They are reacting that way because you are being rather impolite in that situation. A piece of advice: don’t attribute to malice what can be attributed to ignorance. Everyone is ignorant about something including you and I.

1

I live on the Isle of Wight, UK. I was born in Wiltshire (UK) and moved to London when I was about a year old. I left the London area 47 years later. I have a London accent, south London to be precise. I don't know if it's the same round the world but there are nuances and subtleties to accents in Britain. The super trained ear can tell the difference not only between different areas of Britain, most of us can do that, but variations in the same area, there are different London accents for example.
I do get the 'where are you from' question on the Island, especially during the holidays, as my accent isn't local and they think I'm on holiday.
I've been to America a great many times and I certainly don't think Europeans are more intelligent, there is an equal spread of dimbo's round the world. Europeans have a longer history as nations, usually involving being at war with each other for most of the past two thousand years, but I found Americans, if anything, to be more polite and inquisitive rather than a variation of less intelligent.
Something I have also found around the world is that the vast majority are welcoming and enjoy your being interested in them and if you can learn a few bits of the local lingo, such as 'Please' and 'Thank You' then so much the better........with the possible exception of Parisians lol

This is common in most countries. When I grew up in France and French was all but mu primary language outside the home, I could tell you which part of France the TV news announcers came from by their pronunciation of words. My last wife, who was Slovak, could tell which part of Slovakia people she met over here were from just by their way of speaking Slovak. And there were definite class distinctions in how she reacted to those from some areas than others. And we here in the States certainly have hundreds of differing accents, not only state to state, but specific areas and even cities within the states. I live in Lancaster, PA, home of the Pennsylvania Dutch and often get asked where I am from because Even though I was born here, I grew up overseas and never quite developed the accent despite living here for 50 years. Never bothers me.

2

Tell them to learn proper English and not end a sentence with a preposition. The question should be from where do you come? Correcting someone else's grammar in their language will shock them. Haha.

@AmyLynn I teach writing and correct that error every time. I speak that way and know a number of people who do. Better to say most Americans do not speak that way. It is not pretentious at all. Look how Trump and his epigones speak.

Ok, where are you from, bitch? ?

@Skeptic66 @AmyLynn theres not actually any real rule about not ending a sentence in a preposition in English. This is a common misconception but it's a latin rule whose application to english was totally made up by pretentious people to sound smart. Sometimes it's unavoidable and when a preposition gets used that way I think you'll find it's almost always functioning as an adverb instead.

What is proper English, after all the language is basically a hybrid of French, Latin, Anglo-Saxon, a smattering of Indian sub-continent, and Classical Greek amongst other derivatives. Is there a uniquely formulated type of English? Perhaps we can ask people to stop using words such as Bungalow, kayak and regality. Just a thought. The term, if we are being pedantic should be ‘correct English’, not ‘proper English’. That sounds colloquial and uneducated!

1

So where you from ? 😉

0

Euros are so close together. They are the sizes & variations as are our United States. Most speak more than one language. Here in this large country we borders states not countries with different languages thusly we are less familiar with language differences. I dislike that Americans are thus so often some citizens bordering on language chauvinism. Forgive us our isolation from the world in this regard. Montreal Quebec Canada & Mexico,Puerto Rico, Jamaica are our closest non English languages other than our indigenous one. The latter being isolated on their own country within a country. We ask each other the same question about what state one is from in order to begin a conversation.

2

Oh, I get asked, "Where are you from?", a lot, A LOT!!!! As a kid, I didn't get asked so much because I grew up in a very multicultural environment and went to school with kids from all backgrounds. As an adult, I get people wanting to know where I'm from. Now living here in Alberta, when I get asked, I always say I'm from here. Then they asked me, but before that? And I'd say I'm from Vancouver. LOL. I'm sure that's not what they were expecting me to say. I know they aren't being malicious though nor are they threatened by immigrant minorities. It's because I have what they consider an exotic look. That is not to say I haven't experienced racism spewed directly in my face, however.

Oh, and obviously I'm not American, and I don't know how intelligence is connected to asking someone where they are from. But I do understand the frustration of being asked that all the time.

5

When I lived in Seattle, I wrote at a Starbucks on Capitol Hill... which was a fairly diverse part of town One block up the hill from Downtown Seattle. Thousands of tourists visited this Starbucks every year. I heard accents and languages there all the time. I always felt it was a great experience getting to know the people, who they were, where they were from, what brought them to Seattle/America... Occasionally, I got to direct them to some of the more "local" places in the area to visit that tourists often miss but are well worth the visit.

I met a lot of US college students who traveled the country with their stuff, spent the night on someone's couch, and then moved on to another town. I lived close by, and could share a couch from time to time, and that was a lot of fun as well.

Now if they thought I was an idiot for wanting to learn more about them, then that's on them. I took care to make sure I didn't take up more time if they were otherwise busy, but most of the people loved asking me about Seattle and all the things they could do while they're 'here.' I loved hearing about where they were from. In some cases, I'd even been in their neck of the woods.

Our exchanges were quite 'enlightening.' Hell, we even discussed politics sometimes (ours and theirs).

Saying you're from "the restroom" is clever, but what if these people generally want to know more about you and your point of origin? Is that really so "stupid"?

Well said!

Agree.

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