Ah, that old, rude and insensitive phrase, "But they all look the same!" It's said around the world. By white people about Asians and blacks. By asians about white and blacks. By blacks about white and asians. Just insert whatever race you want and do the old change-a-roo. We've all said it.
Some people claim to be pros at telling different nationalities apart. Others really don't feel it's that important. Personally, I think I fall into this category. I don't think all black people look the same, though I couldn't tell you if they came from the US, Jamaica, or Africa. *shrug* I always figured it wasn't much different than the fact I can't really tell other white people apart, in the respect if they are from Russia, Sweden, UK, etc.
I ran across this site, "All Look Same", which offers a test to see how you fare in distinguishing apart different Asian nationalities. Ironically, many asians who take this test don't fare much better than white, black, etc.
Me? I scored a pretty good. But the test isn't easy. I think it's safe to assume that most people who claim they can tell a certain nationalities apart are going on more than just physiological clues. One really good example is the way a person dresses. Another is hearing them speak, though you'd have to understand at least a little bit of what you were hearing to pick out a language. I can recognize Japanese immediately. Not so sure about the other languages though. Still, without the other clues, I scored a bit above average.
How did you do?
Posted by Zoso at December 30, 2005 03:12 PMLOL, I scored horribly. Seven. =((( "Very bad," haha. Of course, I live in the Midwest, so how many Asian people do *I* see? :P
Is it just me, or do some of those people look familiar...? Like number four (the one with the black and green t-shirt and making a funny face); I swear he has a website or blog or something that I've seen... And I still got it wrong, lol.
Some of those are unfair, though. Not that I'm an expert, but I'm pretty sure a lot of those have mixed blood. In countries that are really adamant about keeping up their heritage, it couldn't have been that hard to find even semi-"pure"-blooded people. :\
I think I had a tougher time with the guys. Or I was just really lucky with the girls. But a couple of the guys I figured were Japanese because they dyed their hair. xD And I think I did the worst with Chinese...
This whole comment makes me feel like an American jackass, lmao. But that's okay, I guess, because I don't get offended when people assume that I'm some nationality. Actually, it would be kind of hard to get mine obscenely wrong, unless you weren't even trying (just say pretty much any countries from the British Isles, Ireland, Germany or Austria). O_o The only time I get touchy is when, ah, African-Americans accuse my ancestors of being slave owners. When, actually, my Irish and Scottish ancestors came here relatively recently (certainly after the slave days--and were treated about as horrible as ex-slaves anyway) and the ancestors that came here right around the first settlers went almost straight to Canada. xD
Wow, that comment went really off. -__- Oh well. Haha, happy new year. :P
Posted by: Sharon at December 31, 2005 12:21 AMWow... I scored 7, which is both "really bad" and "average". That was surprisingly difficult. At first I compared the pictures to a few of my chinese friends, and after that I just guessed randomly, unless it was obvious based on the length/width of the face and the eyes.
Though then again, you really can apply that comment "they all look the same" to any race. Unless there's been fierce in-breeding, everyone has some similar feature or skin-tone. I could tell someone apart from the regioln of the world they're from (obviously) but country from country is a little bit ridiculous.
Posted by: LW at December 31, 2005 05:02 PMMan, you people make me look stupid. I got 5 right, "might as well flip a coin." I feel stupid now. Really stupid. I hate offending people, but I really can't tell the difference. Except for the one Korean lady with long curly hair and the sun in the background or something like that. She was the easiest one since I watch Lost, and she resembles the Korean woman on there.
Happy New Year Zoso! God riddance to the suckiest year on earth, 2005! ^.^
Posted by: Vampire_Fire at December 31, 2005 10:29 PM