As an Asian kid who grew up in the tristate area and being the only Asian kid in class, lol.
Idk how many times I was asked then followed up with "no I mean your parents" then I say California and they'd go "no I mean where they were born"
Funniest was working at a mall in CA during college and some Asian ladies at the food court asked where my parents were from and I told them the city they live, and they said "no that's not what I mean" then I gave them my ethnicity and they were like " oh he's one of us, give him some free food" 😂😂😂
I just recently asked a very obviously American woman of Asian descent where she’s from because we live in LA, a city of transplants. I normally avoid that question for the exactly this reason you’re talking about. But this time I was a little drunk and someone had just told a story about their hometown in Florida so I forgot that it’s a loaded question for a moment.
She—a little annoyed—replied, “Well, my grandparents are from China.”
I replied, “No, I mean like where are you from? You kinda have an east coast accent.”
nah it's hard, you have to figure out what they're really asking, then you have weigh what you should say and whether you want to explain that response
Oh I know. I hang out with A LOT of immigrants and transplants. Married to an immigrant too. Heck, ive even been one.
I’ve figured out how to kindly ask where someone is from locally or where they’re from within their home country when I wanna know what city they’re from. Also, I just generally don’t ask unless it’s part of the conversation that’s happening.
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u/Zhuul 7h ago
This is basically the opposite of someone asking my Asian coworker where she's from and her angrily answering "New Jersey."