I love playing the game of Mistaken Nationality. Ok, picture me: female, brown hair, brown eyes, light skin, thick-ish nose, American english, thin eyebrows, neither thin nor thick lips... got that? Ok. Where do you think I come from? Other people (in real life, of course, who know me better than a minimalistic description on the internet) have the following answers: English (their justification: I have a 'weird' accent), Irish (random girl at a debate competition after hearing me ask for some water - secret Irish accent?), Russian (justification: I study Russian and Russian culture, so clearly I am a Russian spy!), and Ukrainian (justification: I jokingly introduced myself as 'a Ukrainian'.). Ok! Everyone got their answers? My nationality is... Born in Cuba to Cuban parents, who also have Cuban parents, with a family tree that consists mainly of Cubans and Spaniards, with the random Englishman (just one, so not enough to make me English :P), American (roots traced back to either Scotland or Ireland), and Frenchman thrown in for good measure.

For good fun, the above troper will mention her friends: one has been mistaken for Mexican despite being Salvadorean and Guatemalan, one has been mistaken for anything but what he is (Italian), and one is mistaken for American despite having Cuban and Panamanian parents. I find it amusing.

Prepare yourself for this one. This troper has been mistaken for the following. Moving eastward: Italian, Greek, Turkish, Egyptian, Israeli, Arab, Iranian, Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi. This troper is born and bred Colombian, from a family that has been in said nation since ''la conquista''! To contribute to this troper's woes, his legitimately Hispanic surname is often taken as proof of Middle Eastern heritage, due to its commonality over there! It's gotten to the point where being correctly identified as just Hispanic is a moment of pure joy. * face palm*

This troper's nationality hasn't been mistaken from too far, but she's gotten, "Oh, so you're a Canadian, eh?" It's from living on the border of North Dakota, of course. They can always tell my ancestors are Scandanavian though!

This troper has been mistaken for many things. None of them Filipino.

This troper, life long native of North Carolina, has often been mistaken for British or a Northerner. Granted, he did get rid of his Appalachian accent early on and has a strange manner of speaking, due to a lifelong love of books.

Are you my evil twin?

This fellow North Carolinian is also often mistaken for British. My theory is that my speech defect makes my accent sound non-rhotic.

This troper's lack of an accent has gotten him pegged as being African, Canadian, British, or coming from the American South. Said troper is actually a Jamaican born and raised in Brooklyn all his life.

It is literally impossible to lack an accent. You just have a crazy one.

'''Dammit!''' This troper is NOT British. He just happens to watch a lot of BBC shows, notably ''Series/DoctorWho'' and due to reading Empire magazines, is used to spelling things like "colour" and "realised". However...he. Is. AMERICAN. Please and thank you!

This Scottish Troper mistook a Canadian accent for an American one when he was little. On the other hand, he doesn't have much of an accent and is often mistaken for English (which is easily forgivable to this Troper). When talking via mic on MSN, however, his accent has been mistaken for... nothing at all - his accent is ''that'' non-specific.

This troper dated a Haitian girl and has a few Haitian friends besides. Apparently the Creole he picked up got so good that soon random Haitians would try to start full conversations and were baffled when he couldn't respond. The sad part is, when he tells people he's actually Jamaican, they refuse to believe it.

This troper has a friend who does the reverse; she comes from Latvia but tells people she's Russian.

@/SilentHunter once mistook a Slovene for American, although she did speak in an American accent.

Tropers/{{Katsuhagi}} is American and of Irish decent, but was consistently assumed to be British in Russia.

Tulling is Norwegian, but when he went to St. Petersburg to learn more Russian, he was frequently taken for a local and asked "Where is such-and-such?" by Russians.

In a similar vein, the British travel writer Colin Thubron mentions being labelled "Polish" in the Soviet Union and "Russian" in Xinjiang (Northwestern China).

Maxmordon's aunt was assumed to be Eastern European when staying in an Italian town. She is actually "White Hispanic".

Tropers/BobbyG knows a South African who has been taken for English while visiting the United States.

Nasrudith, MissIzzy, and Tropers/{{Seanette}} are Americans who have been taken for British by their countrymen.

This troper, a native Scots speaker, is frequently assumed to be from the Strathclyde area BY OTHER SCOTS, although she was born in San Francisco and is actually mixed Scottish and Carib. Americans, on the other hand, will happily guess her nationality to be Canadian, Irish, French or White Hispanic.

Tropers/{{Seanette}} has also managed to confuse Russian with Ukrainian, and was politely but firmly corrected by a then-coworker of her husband. Seems Ukrainians really HATE being called Russians, probably because of the repression they suffered under Stalin.

Lurkerbunny and some other kids had a very similar conversation to the ''King Of The Hill'' example with a Laotian kid. It was first grade, cut us a break.

A few years ago, Tropers/WillyFourEyes was once told his White American girlfriend-at-the-time looked "British".

Tropers/{{Earnest}} successfully (and unintentionally) masqueraded as an American for 5 years of college (I'm a white Mexican). He was a jerk for enjoying breaking out in his native Spanish with his Mexican friends to freak out English speakers. To date, his favorite "You know I'm an X Right?" moment was: #QUOTE# '''Roomate:''' ''You don't want yellow cheese on your hamburger? That's un-American!'' #QUOTE# '''Me:''' ''*Stare* '' #QUOTE# '''Roomate:''' ''Oh, right.''

The guy that runs gaijinsmash.net has gotten himself out of trouble before by pretending not to speak Japanese.

This editor kept being mistaken for an Australian while travelling around America. Being British, that was rather annoying.

'''Everyone to me at least once in my life:''' "Oh, are you white?"

This troper is frequently mistaken for British by Americans (both online and in real life, which is baffling seeing as I'm in Australia when it happens) despite having one of the strongest Australian accents around. Oddly enough, softening the accent seems to make people more likely to guess correctly, or think he's a Kiwi. . .

This Black American troper spent much of his formative years being mistaken off and on for a West Indian or British visitor due to his insufficiently Jive Turkey speech pattern.

This Caribbean troper has similarly been mistaken on and off for a Black American, due to his lack of typical hispanic stereotypical behavior. Because only Black Americans can get whitewashed, apparently.

When you are both Black American ''and'' Carribbean you get mistaken for....everything else. Seriously, I've never even set foot in England....

This Australian troper has been mistaken for English - by other Australians.

Tropers/ZanderSchubert has too: the sad thing is that I knows a New Zealander, an American and someone from Hong Kong who have all lost their accents and ''sound more Australian than I do!''

And this British troper has been mistaken for an American by other Brits.

This Danish troper was with his family in (on?) Hawaii (Maui to be presice), when his brother spotted an old man. Just before he could say "look at that old fart" in danish, the man heard our parents talking, and introduced himself in perfect danish.

This Canadian troper mistakenly assumed a Pakistani classmate was from India. He didn't find out until after he asked about castes and stuff.

This Filipino troper had a couple of ''Filipino'' acquaintances ''in the Philippines'' ask him if he was Indian, while conversing with him in ''straight Filipino''. To make matters worse, the troper, has a Spanish name written in an American manner (like most Filipinos, due to colonial influence). Apparently all people with short hair and a moustache are Indian. Strangely enough ''Chinese'' would have been a closer guess.

This troper (also Pinoy) had a similar problem, and it did not help when he looks almost exactly the same as his Indian professor's son.

Same with This Troper. He has been mistaken for both American and British, mainly because he is really white for a Filipino, and speaks perfect, unaccented English.

This British troper was once asked if he was Eastern European (the lady doing the asking didn't specify a country).

This editor has been mistaken for Russian, German, Venezuelan, and Polish. Never mind the fact that she's American, living in America, and speaking perfect English. (Although she did live in Brazil for a while)

This troper is a born-and-bred Southerner, but apparently speaks with no noticeable accent unless he says the word "y'all" - which his girlfriend finds cute.

This American troper has, while in England, occasionally mascueraded as a Canadian to strangers. To his friends, he was honest about his nationality. But at the time, the people of Britain were none too happy about American foreign policy. Being Canadian meant that he wouldn't have to discuss politics.

This Scottish troper (and the rest of his nation...or whatever Scotland actually is, it's confusing) is always assumed to be English when outside Britain. Whether this is due to Mistaken Nationality or the honest belief that England is the name for the whole country is anyone's guess.

This (mostly) Chinese troper has been confused for just about every ''other'' nationality in East Asia (plus Portugese, for some reason) by other Chinese. Only "Indonesian" is partly correct.

This Belgian troper has been mistaken a gazillion of times for French, several times for German, twice for Russian, and also for Swiss, British, Dutch, Canadian, and "Eastern European" (whatever it may mean). In fact, she is yet to come across an American or a Canadian who will actually guess right.

The same goes for this (other) Belgian troper, who's also been mistaken for French, Dutch, German and British, and has had people thinking she was Greek(!) or American.

This troper, who lived in New Hampshire from the age of six and New Jersey before that, was asked by a high-school counseler "Are you from the South?"

This troper is also Southern, and proud to admit it (as his name implies). However, due to a lack of accent (it faded when he moved up north), nobody seems to believe him . . . until he gives info that proves it, or somebody hits the correct button by making anti-Southern commentary.

This troper knows what you mean with the {{Berserk Button}}. She was born in Georgia, but neither she nor her mother have an accent, unless we're very sleepy. Plus she's very shy so nobody knew where she was from when she first moved to Chicago. Her button was hit after a long time, when the class idiot( who thinks she funny and popular, but isn't) to the substite teacher where an absent student was. In the most horrendously fake accent, said: "Mike's in Jawja, the redneck state". So this normally polite troper stand up and says in her hardly used, refined accent: " You know why it's called Southern hospitality, because you idiot Northerner's have none!". Sorry for the rant, and no offense to other Northerners, but this really is my {{Berserk Button}}.

This troper's mother, born in Mexico and to this day a citizen, is nicknamed "China", and you can probably guess why.

She's a communist?

Milly has been mistaken for generic white, German, Russian, Arab, Jewish, Spanish, Nicaraguan and ''Japanese''. Milly is actually Mexican in descent, but born in American. Damn accents...

This troper, ALSO native of New Hampshire, and of Belgian descent, was once asked if he was Hawaiian due to the fact that he went under a Japanese-ish screen name, and it was already known that he was from the USA. His mother (the Belgian side of his lineage) was once thought...well, he doesn't remember clearly, but he believes it was Russian or something nearby.

Tropers/{{Meems}} is Scottish but has lived in England for most of her life, and has frequently been mistaken for an American by English people. (Though less often recently.)

Tropers/{{Misanthrope}} is of mixed Catalan, Occitan, Greek and Jewish heritage, yet he is commonly mistaken for a hispanic or middle easterner (granted, the Greek portion of his family comes from an island off the coast of Anatolia)

This troper is a pale-skinned, brown eyed brunette, mixed Greek and Argentinian and God alone knows what else... and has been taken for Italian, Israeli, Arab, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, Iranian, Pakistani, the list goes on. Cue apologies when I inform people of their mistake.

Subverted with this Japanese troper. Sure, my last name is Japanese, people close to me are aware of my nationality, and a few people have correctly guessed my nationality without knowing me, but still, I'm widely mistaken to be Korean, due to the fact that I mainly hang out with Koreans, 85% of my neighbors are Koeran, and I "excessively" play {{Starcraft 2}}.

@/{{Bisected8}} is a Leicestershirian white male (Leicestershire's in England, just FYI) who lives near Wales. On voice chat in online games he's been mistaken (on the basis of his accent) for an Australian, a Frenchman an Eastern European and a female. In secondary school one other student thought he was Chinese, upon being asked how he came to this conclusion the response was "your eyes look a bit squinty" (over-riding my pale complexion, blue eyes and mousey hair). In addition to this he's met some Americans who, after being told "I'm from Leistershire but I moved near Wales" asked "Why did you move to the middle east?".

This troper has sometimes been assumed to be of partly Jewish descent due to having unusually Mediterranean facial features for a person with no people from outside his native Denmark in his family tree.

7}} This troper, who is of Mediterranean descent (on his mother's side), thanks to a large Jewish population in his hometown, has been mistaken for Jewish more times than he can recall.

This troper, who is pretty much entirely White Northern European, has had numerous people yell in disbelief when he said that he wasn't Jewish. It could be because he's mostly Russian, or it could be because of stereotypes (he apparently just "looks and sounds Jewish"), but it does baffle him. His favorite was when someone thought he was Jewish because he didn't laugh at a Holocaust joke. Oy vey...

This Canadian troper has been mistaken for a Brit online, due to her dry humour and Commonwealth spellings.

This Texan troper in his fourth year in college had a friend that he met on his first day there ask him what he thought of America as a Englishman.

Tropers/TheBadWolf had an asian friend and people would always ask the friend where he was from, and he would reply in his thick Scottish accent "Glasgow" at which point people would often look disappointed so he would say, "Korea, Korea is the answer you wanted."

Tropers/TheBadWolf is often mistaken for Jewish despite the fact he's as WASPish as physically possible, a mistake that the troper has played up to get free booze during purim.

Tropers/IBlameCommunism is Scots (unionist, half-English, and strongly British, too), and confusing any term related to the British Isles is his BerserkButton. Once, on a ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge, I told a crew member that the label "England" under a Union Jack and British time clock was wrong. "It should say Britain." "It DOES say England!" She was Belgian, so she can live... perhaps.

This other Scottish troper, whose heritage is Scottish as far back as she can trace it, has been mistaken for Danish, German, American (by Americans) and Northern Irish. Also Australian, but she puts this down to the accent being very catching.

He also knows fellow German students who hace confused every single Germanic language except English with German. They're in for a nasty surprise if they do that in Sweden... On a WW1 history trip to Belgium, his class visited a place called "Langemarck" with a German cemetary and everyone became convinced we had crossed the border. This was just after we left Ieper (Ypres).

Now that I come to think of, my life is full of this. Here in Edinburgh, we have an excellent cake-baker who goes by "Falko, die Konditormeister!" and speaks with a pronounced accent. In his shop is a formidable battery of Pretzles and a ''Pickelhaube'', the spiked hat worn by those guys from Prussia. When I mentioned the shop in conversation, the response? "Oh, that Polish baker!"

Some years ago, this English troper and his family were on holiday in France. We decided to try a local restaurant; on entering, the head waiter began addressing our parents in German. Apparently, our blonde hair and statuesque body shapes had confused him a bit...

This English troper found it most amusing when travelling in France with Germans that either the waiters would assume I was German (sadly my French remains stronger than my German) or that we were all Americans. The Germans started making a joke of naming obscure countries as their home to see the waiters try to figure out their native language. Luxembourg was common.

Tropers/TweTwe (Australian) was once told by another Australian she sounded like she was from "Harry Potter land." and she also gets frequent questions about her supposed English heritage, which has actually been Australian since the late 1800s. Interestingly, when she was in Italy she was mistaken for German.

This Troper has been called, both irl and online, German, French, British, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese. I am, for the record, American (from New York!) and of Polish descent. I really don't know where most of this comes from.

This American troper regularly gets taken as coming from whatever nation someone ''hasn't'' been to. But he can't much blame folks for that, as he's got a stack of two city accents and three speech impediments! (Individually minor, but they do add up....)

This Filipino troper has often been mistaken for an "American", or at least a half-American, due to his rather fair complexion, height (6-feet high is relatively tall in the Philippines), and ability to speak unaccented English. Admittedly, it can be rather fun for lightheartedly messing with local hotel personnel.

Same here, though without the height - this troper's five foot three or so. He's also been confused for British several times. He gets a kick out of pretending he doesn't speak Filipino...then later reveal that, yes, he did understand everything they said.

This troper is Scottish, living in Australia, and has been mistaken for English, Irish, American and Canadian. The first two may not be such a stretch, but I have no idea why for the last two.

Tropers/CrypticMirror is also Scottish and is constantly asked what part of Canada she is from based on her accent. To the point of random strangers telling her she must be from Ontario and refusing point blank to believe her when she denies this.

Tropers/AcrossTheStars has unusually exotic features for an American, due to her mother being from the South of France. She has been asked if she is: Iranian, Greek, Italian, Canadian, French, and Romanian.

This troper's uncle is often mistaken for Cuban, even though his ancestry is ''Swiss''! To be fair, he lives in Florida so he's quite tan, and speaks Spanish and Portuguese as second languages.

This (Jewish) American troper, who lives in Japan, has been asked more than a few times if he's part-Japanese. Apparently, some Japanese people just can't quite get over the cognitive dissonance of an American who speaks fluent Japanese and is neither blond-haired and blue-eyed nor Black. On the other hand, some people insist on using incomprehensibly-mangled English with me, even when I ''start'' the conversation in Japanese...

This trope just fails at recognizing nationalities. Hell, I can barely recognize ethnicities half the time.

Dude, I live in New York City. Don't get me started on getting ethnicities wrong!!

This troper has repeatably been mistaken for British or American, I don't take offence but I'm also pretty sure I'm the most purely Dutch person in my class so...

British is understandable, the accent is close, if you were speaking English.

And are not talking to any British people.

This troper's mother was asked directions in French in Hong Kong. He has been asked directions in French in Montreal and Paris. At least he thinks he was being asked directions, he's a New Yorker and knows basically no French.

This troper was born in Britain, but lived in American most of her life. Curiously, Brits think she's American, and Americans think she's British. When they don't think I'm Canadian or Australian, anyway.

Tropers/{{JChance}} is American, with a rather mixed-up accent. (born and lives in North Carolina, father speaks Newscaster with odd southern touches, mother New York upper-class, way too much NPR and British stuff early) He regularly gets mistaken for Canadian, English, and various other areas of the US. Also, with a black trenchcoat and three-day stubble, has been mistaken for ultra-Orthodox Jewish (by Jews, no less) and ''Amish''.

This troper (due to an odd accent he has, thanks to a combination of his regular southern one, with the various ones he occasionally pics up from reading/tv and such, and the few speech impediments he has) has been asked if he is the following: English, Irish (his red hair is partially to blame), Scottish, German, Australian, A Northerner, and exactly once if he was from Wales. (Waleish?)

Welsh.

I do believe that is my Crowning Moment of Idiocy.

Hey, I thought you referred to someone from Pakistan as a "Pakistinian".

This troper's father (whose family is Italian) was asked for directions several times in Jamaica. Apparently his skin was darker back then; he's a computer nerd now.

I don't get it..Blacks can't be computer nerds too?? (Jk :)

This troper has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area his whole life, but his parents are from New York city and lived for several years in Connecticut. Some people in the Bay Area assume he's from New York, some people hear a slight accent, many people hear no accent at all. A few people hear a blend of the East and West Coasts. Nobody from New York hears any New York accent. --(Still the same troper) A couple of Danish tourists in New Jersey thought my father and I were English. And people sometimes thought my grandmother (originally Polish-Jewish, grew up in New York) was British. She traveled widely, so maybe she meant outside the US.

This troper is an anglophone Canadian with a French last name, and is constantly asked if he is from Quebec. He also subverted the trope by having to pretend to be from the United States for his job for three years - a customer service representative for an American mobile phone company.

In a lot of countries, waiters etc might ask your nationality. Ask them to guess. This Finnish troper has been said Norwegian and Germanian. He wonders why nobody thinks him as Swedish.

Cases like this are why I never bother trying to guess someone's nationality. While I've never been mistaken for a non-American, apparently, I don't sound much like the Texan I am.

When on holiday in America, this troper and his family (Australian) were repeatedly mistaken for English - because we didn't sound like Steve Irwin. On the same trip, when we got lost at LAX, this troper's grandfather (also Australian, originally from Macedonia) was mistaken for a Mexican by a worker there who started speaking very curtly at him in Spanish - when we established that we weren't Mexicans but were in fact bewildered Australians the guy suddenly became very polite and friendly.

This troper is more German than anything, but due to a freak accident of genetics looks more Irish. This troper's mother, being more German than this troper, has been called the "pretty blonde Asian lady with the British accent." By an Australian and an Asian.

This African-American troper has been mistaken for a Hispanic, probably due to his oddly straight-ish hair.

This Northern Irish troper has been mistaken for Scottish so many times,he's made it into a game,just to see if they get it right. Thirty or so introductions later,only two people have got it right. One was Scottish.

This troper is half Russian Jew, half Austrian-Jew-Swedish-Chinese, living in Australia, with an inexplicable British accent, and has been mistaken for: English (by other Australians), Polish, Czechoslovakian, Italian, Greek (twice, once by an actual Greek man), Spanish, Mexican, Romany (seriously,) and Thai. (!!)

This troper's dad is a light-skinned black guy. He's been mistaken for white and mexican. In fact when the family went to Mexico on vacation, people would just ramdomly come up to him and speak Mexican but because he took French in school he couldn't answer. So the people would get mad until he told them he was both black and from the U.S.

Tropers/{{Shini}} has been mistaken for British ''and'' Russian ever since she moved into the Pacific Northwest. The latter is extremely ridiculous since the city of her current residence has a very large Russian Immigrant population that sounds nothing like her. This Troper's accent? Mississippian with the Inlander accent softening it up.

This troper is also from Mississippi, and has been mistaken for British (by other Americans), German (by French people), and Russian (by Turks).

This Troper is often mistaken for being of Italian decent, presumably based on my last name. Which is Spanish. And adopted. And it was my paternal grandfater who was adopted, not me. (For the record: 1/4 Ukranian, 1/4 Lithuanian on my father's side; mixed but mostly English/French on my mother's side.)

This troper is often mistaken for Latina. Apparently, having dark hair, huge brown eyes, and a tendency to tan rather than burn automatically means I should be able to speak Spanish. I've actually been yelled at by complete strangers for not knowing how to speak "the language of my heritage." By rights, that would be ''German;'' I'm almost completely Euromutt, more German and English than anything else, but I have a very small strain of ''Native American'' ancestry as well, and for whatever reason it has a lot to do with my appearance.

Being white and having lived in France during his childhood years, DaNuke is ''always'' mistaken for French, German and Canadian, even though he's so Mexican he can eat a ''raw'' jalapeño without flinching. The fact that he speaks nigh-perfect English, good French and some German really doesn't helps.

This troper has seen a Venezuelan mistake a Ukrainian speaking heavily accented Spanish for a Brasilian. Since then, I've made a point of listening to Brazilian Portuguese online; it actually does sound kind of like Ukrainian or Russian.

This Brazilian troper seccond this. Altough he never have çostemed an Ukranian or a Russian in his life, his father was mistaked by the same natioalities more then once in trips to Europe, so the accent must be similar.

Inverted with this troper - no one will believe I'm half-Chinese. Until they see my dad, that is...

Happened to this troper while staying in France. Every time I mention I'm Canadian, they assume I'm from Quebec. And when I correct them and say that I'm an English-speaker from Toronto, they seem surprised (despite my heavy English accent when I speak French).

This troper has been to Germany and France with a girl from PEI who spoke the French taught in Canadian schools, which supposedly makes all Canadians with skill in French sound Canuck.

This American troper has had several people ask where he's from, and are pretty surprised when he answers "here!". Apparently the combination of southern+northern accents makes me sound like a combination of British and Russian, somehow.

This New Zealand-born troper has red hair and is pale. Therefore, a lot of people think he's Irish. Lampshaded when he was asked for ID and had his bag checked at an English bar for the third time, three weeks in a row, by the bouncers. #QUOTE#Jeez, what is it? Just because I look Irish - must think I'm an IRA member or something. It's not like I'm gonna blow up their bar.

Whatever your nationality, that quote has earned you a MadeOfWin!!

This troper lived in Germany for a while and would fool people into thinking he's native so long as he kept his mouth shut. One time this troper explained to a high school age group of young people the standard Euromutt background the troper has. Jaws dropped when Irish and Swedish grandparents were mentioned.

This Swedish troper speaks English with a very British accent. His accent is so perfect he has been mistaken for a Londoner. By a Londoner.

This troper and her friend recently went to the movies. Just so you understand this, we're Dutch, but we talk in English all the time, often in British accents (by accident, though). So we started talking and we're both a bit shy, when the guy behind the counter asks if he can help us. In English. Of course, this couldn't just be passed! We pretended to be English for the rest of the time in the cinema.

This (American) troper and his family visited France years ago. Since all of us had taken French in high school (and the aforementioned troper was in high school French at the time), we decided to speak nothing but French to people. Since we spoke English to each other, at least one nice British couple thought we were Canadian. We took it as a compliment. I assume they reasoned so because we clearly spoke mediocre French, but we spoke English with a North American accent. An American wouldn't speak French, they'd speak loud English (we met a group of these, too)- therefore, Canadian.

This Troper has very bad luck with this. Some people never notice that Portugal is not Spain, and Portuguese is not Spanish. Also, when he went to the UK, a group of Turks mistook him for one of them. And in general most people assumed he was Indian. Back in Portugal some people call me gypsy (don't really know why). The multiple fake accents don't help much.

This (American) troper was once assumed to be Israeli. I spoke to an Israeli woman in Hebrew (while wearing an IDF T-Shirt) and she asked if I had been in the army. Apparently, I don't have an American accent when speaking Hebrew. And there was the time I was assumed to be English, simply because I was shown in a documentary on an English school I was attending, and I didn't open my mouth.

This troper is American by birth, by descent Italian/German, with a tiny bit of Welsh. Very pale skin, very dark hair, very blue eyes. However, I've been mistaken (to my face) as German, French, Spanish and Irish. Oh, and someone assumed I was ''Korean''. The European ones are understandable, but... what the hell? Just... what?

As a child, this Irish troper spoke in a strange accent, one he'd had no exposure to, and was frequently mistaken as English.

Between his mixed accent and his habit of carrying a large camera, this troper is routinely mistaken for a British tourist - even though he's only rarely left the United States.

This Canadian Troper is frequently mistaken for an American of Irish descent, when in fact he is of Scottish descent via Nova Scotia.

This Troper, who is Australian, has a bizarre psychosomatic accent, which changes depending on my mood. People have asked me ''so many times'' where I'm from that I've taken to simply answering "Guess" and letting their imaginations run wild. I have in my time been asked if I'm: English, American, Scottish, Irish, French, Canadian and in one case, Spanish. No-one has EVER guessed that I'm Australian born and bred on their first guess and few ever guess it at all unless I tell them. In fact several people have, after I've told them I was born in Australia, questioned me about my ''family background,'' convinced that I must have got my accent from my parents (who have no accent).

I'm a native American, little-n native; third generation Yank, rarely left the home state, and, barring a week in Vancouver BC, never left the country. I have lost count of how many times I have been asked just where I'm from, and typically people guess that I'm Russian. Granted, I have a strong Slavic accent, but it's entirely fake.

This troper, born and bred Australian, has been mistaken for American. IN AUSTRALIA. As far as I can tell, I have absolutely no trace of American accent. (On the other hand, when on a trip in California and Arizona, I was mistaken for a Floridian. What? If anything, my accent is closest to a New Yorker's!)

Given that you are Australian Florida whould be a reasonable guess if your accent is tinged New York. For large parts of Florida the accent is best described as almost but not quite from New York.

This Venezuelan troper advises you against trying to guess her nationality just by her looks, because of Venezuela being a true melting pot where people of all races mate and reproduce, making difficult to guess at first sight where someone is from. She has been asked once if she was from some country of eastern Europe, and her sister has been repeatedly confused for Arabic or Lebanese, despite both being Nth native mixed-race generation, and the most exotic they have found in their genealogical tree was one grand-grandparent from Spain. Strangely, this troper is confused for a people of another ''city'': because of her MotorMouth speech she is identified as a native of Maracaibo, a city whose inhabitants are famed for their speedy speech; in fact, she have been born and lived all her life in Caracas, raised by her Andinian grandmother, whose respective singing and pasty accents are pretty distinctive.

This mexican troper has been mistaken from Chinese to Israelite, and almost everything in between. The fact that I use a lot of foreing words (Schmuck, kawai, ce' la vie, boer...) doesn't help either

This Scottish troper's coined a term to describe what she's most often mistaken for: Mistakey Jamaikey. (This troper is also black.)

This Chinese troper has been mistaken for a Filipino and his grandfather has been mistaken for a Mexican and Native American.

As a child, this New Zealander troper learned to speak partly by watching Sesame Street, and its influence on his/my accent means that even a quarter-century later, strangers often take me for American or Canadian. Fair enough. My father's Australian, so being taken for a Ocker is also common. But, really: with those linguistic influences, how the heck could my dialect be mistaken for '''Israeli''' by other Kiwis!?

This troper has a mixed background from across the UK, and his family has been in Australia for several generations... and somehow, he is the only one to not have an Aussie accent. The questions "Are you British?" and "Were you born in America?" have been asked too many times.... and yes, its either one or the other, people can't make up their minds.

Our literature teacher went the U.S.A. for her vacations and took photos of of all the classroom(mexicans) to her old students there, once she returned she proceed to tell us that for some reason many of us were confused as Asians...

This troper is often mistaken as as Sigaporean, when she is in fact born and bred in Hong Kong, by other Hong Kongers and Sigaporeans. It probably has something to do with my non-accented english. Both my sisters and cousin have been mistaken as Japanese, while my friend has been mistaken for being a Latino.

This troper was once thought to be, based on his accent, Irish, Polish, and English. In that order. It didn't help that his accent was halfway constructed (see TroperTales/OohMeAccentsSlipping).

This has never happened to this Scottish troper, but her sister was once asked by a tourist which part of America she came from. When the tourist was corrected, they were very apologetic.

This Floridian troper has been mistaken, on the basis of his accent, for being from Brooklyn, The Midwest, Appalachia, Canada, and Houston, not just without trying, but without leaving Florida. To be fair, it's sort of a hodgepodge of numerous American accents of the sort that can only come from living one's whole life in Broward County.

Mistaken for Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. Never Vietnamese or Hmong! Wonder why - Filipinos don't usually have "Asian eyes", but mines aren't as dramatic as Japanese or Chinese.

This troper made friends with a guy in the beginning days of uni. One of the many factors in this friendship was that we were both of a Native American/Cacasian descent. However, while this troper has dark hair and does tan very well, his friend is blonde hair, blue eyes, and paler than ghost. Ironically, he has a scholarship for being Native American while I don't (never bothered applying/ don't know the exact tribe and whether I would qualify as a member).

Having thick (curly before I had it cut) black hair and olive skin, this troper has been asked if she was everything from Greek to Italian to Mexican to Australian (!?) to Israeli to Arabic. Usually they'll ask where I'm from, then where I was born, and disappointed that yes I was BORN here, they'll press on to demand to where my parents were born (in all cases, somewhere in the midwest), and then they'll just come out and ask "Well, what's your nationality/race/heritage/ethnicity?" Cause apparently it's inconceivable that a white person who doesn't look like a WASP could ''possibly'' be American.

Tropers/{{Tabby}} has a classic Newscaster accent with a tendency to slip into inexplicable Southernisms (seriously, ''nobody I have ever met'' says "y'all" or "them as," and yet I do), and was still once accused by a customer of being British. The customer then ''argued'' with her and insisted that she must at least have a British family. Not for the last three hundred years!

This was made even weirder when a coworker, upon hearing about this, immediately responded, "Yeah, it's 'cause of the way you talk."

This Canadian-born-and-raised troper has been mistaken for English (''possibly'' because of her generally careful, precise way of speaking...?). She is sure that there is an obvious joke in there somewhere.

This Troper is sometimes mistaken for a Japanese person, especially when everyone knows that he openly fanboys anime. I am actually Chinese. People even come up to me asking what Asian type I was...

This troper is a Chinese-descended Thai who has been mistaken for Japanese. Even a genuine Japanese says he looks like one, to his confusion.

This troper is a half Chinese, half EuroAmerican mongrel that has been mistaken for Korean and Russian.

This troper is half-Austrian (NOT German) and half-Italian. Every single time I explain what ethnicity I am, I always have to explain where, exactly, Austria is. Some people have misheard me and asked, "Australia?" This, while I was wearing an "Austria" T-shirt ''with the Austrian flag on it.''

This troper is often mistaken for Jewish, because apparently only Jews are allowed to have dark hair and beards.

This Canadian troper is of English and Scottish stock (with a touch of irish). However, his grandmother was born in China (to English and Irish parents). When he reveals this to others, they will remark "yeah, I can totally see that". They, in fact, cannot.

This troper is Irish. She has a job in a shop that is in a different parish. It's a ten-minute drive from her house where she has lived since her parents brought her home from the hospital after birth. Many customers have asked her if she's going back to the States after the summer is over.

This troper's father came from one of the Greek islands, but was often mistaken for Mexican -- an illusion he often took advantage of in his sales job, and helped by the fact that he was extremely fluent in Spanish. I myself has been told I look very Mexican -- but I don't ''sound'' the least bit Mexican, so should I ever need to pass, I should keep my mouth shut.

Reverse Anthony Quinn in Zorbas?

This Ukrainian troper is mistaken for either English or Russian too many times for her liking. The worst thing is, even after she tells them people still mistake her for another nationality.

This very Asian-looking troper who was born in the US and grew up with next to no knowledge of any Asian culture or language is fine with the frequent question "Where do you come from?" as her parents did immigrate here from Thailand. She's also okay with people mistaking her to be Chinese, as Thailand isn't as well-known as China. What she isn't okay with is people assuming that she doesn't know English before she's even opened her mouth. Sometimes ''after'' she's already spoken in perfect English, just because her voice sounds accented.

If you think that's offensive, try somebody talking to you in some gangsta-rap lingo just because you're Black. Although, it is mighty hilarious when you respond with "Excuse me, sir. I speak American standard English. I'd appreciate if you'd do the same." I only got to do it once, I wish I could do it again.

Crowning. Moment. Of. MUTHAFRAKKIN' AWESOME! to the Black troper above.

Fading Echo grew up in the hills of Georgia and has a Southern accent thick enough to cut with a knife, but can speak fluent and unaccented German when she chooses, and happens to have pale skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She got some ''very'' strange looks during her trip to Europe when she abruptly shifted from speaking very capable and region-neutral German to pure Dixie English.

To this Finnish troper's joy, his English accent has started to sound authentic enough for people to have mistaken him for a non-Finnish person at where he's working. So yeah, I've been asked "Are you Finnish? 'cause you don't sound Finnish" 4 times now (usually the exact question but 4 different people anyhow) and once when I asked the person in question what nationality did I sound like then I was only replied "cute". I wonder where in Europe that is...

This troper is Italian by heritage, but is often mistaken for Spanish. To be fair, though, my last name could go either way, and we ''do'' live in heavily-hispanic Florida.

This troper is mixed-European, but frequently mistaken for Arab. Sometimes it's because I know some Arabic, and sometimes people just guess that I am.

This troper, a Canadian with a French Immersion certificate, went on a school trip to France. Some schoolkids on the train heard her and her classmates speaking in English and began saying disparaging things about Americans. When they got up to disembark, the troper turned to the loudest one and said in French, "En fait, nous sommes Canadiens...et votre tirette est ouverte." ("Actually, we're Canadians...and your fly is down.")

This troper is an European mutt, raised in California. Imagine her confusion when someone thought she was British. After heading her talk. That was after someone asked if she was from New Jersey since she apparently sounded like that. And that's just her voice. People assume she is Irish due to her last name. However, in this case, it comes from ''Italy'' and got mangled on the way over. Though someone said she looked like she was from New Zealand. Huh. Color the troper confused.

But even New Zealanders don't look like they're from New Zealand!

This troper is a Filipina immigrant to New Zealand who lived in Michigan for ten months when she was seven. The Midwest accent is the main part of her hybrid accent. In New Zealand, she is Mistaken for American or, more often lately, Canadian. In the States, strangers only noticed she was foreign when she pointed it out. On one occasion in New Zealand a Cantonese man approached her and began speaking in Cantonese...

This American troper astounded a car-full of Japanese students at her language school when she was asked if she was half-Japanese and said no. She does, however, have some native Siberian ancestors possibly very, very distantly related to the Japanese, and got their phenotype very strongly. Subverted when a friend guessed that she's Russian, without any prior indication whatsoever.

Not quite the same as everybody else on this but this troper had a story about thinking my heritage was something else. This troper used to do tech support an online college and talked to people from all around the world. One day this very annoying long talker type instructor called in and needed help setting up a class for the next semester. This instructor has an annoy habit that if you help her with something and you don't resolve the issue on the call she will only talk to you because "you already know the issue at hand" even though she may talk to someone who created the FUCKING APPLICATION. Any ways, towards the end of the call she asked what my names was even though at the start of the call I clearly said my name (which is Anthony). To which she asked me if I was Italian. Take it I was born in America, has a nerscast accent, and as far as I know I do not have any Italian heritage. I told her I was not Italian to which I ended up telling her I was Irish and Scottish in heritage. After the call this troper from that day forth become known as the "Italian Stallion".

This Troper has been mistaken for british because he sounds like Hugh Laurie doing his "House" accent. Since Laurie is british, I must be, too. Apparently.

This Finnish troper has been mistaken for a native English person various times now. Sometimes even in his ''home city''.

This American troper was mistaken for British and Russian in close succession by different people.

This French Canadian troper learnt english very early in life. Thus, when writing on the net, he is often mistaken for American.

This Troper's arrived in Israel by way of Russia at the tender age of 8. He also learned Englsh quite early, and speaks it "good very". The resulting accent results in him being believed to be South-American /North American much more often than the Russian connection is made.

This Troper is nearly ALWAYS mistaken as someone from Pakistan and the like because although she's Turkish, her skin's darker than most (sorta caramel) because of some Egyptian/Albanian blood in the family tree. But the REALLY funny looks come when she speaks. She has an American accent.

This Welsh troper has been mistaken for several different nationalities due to a strange muddled accent that her mother blames on Sesame Street. The list includes Irish, Scottish, Australian, Canadian, Northern English, and most commonly American. Only one person has ever guessed Welsh, and that was before this troper opened her mouth (so apparently she at least ''looks'' Welsh...)

This Aussie troper has been mistaken as an American, since she lived there for two years and the remnants apparently still exist 16 years later. Why do American accents stick so much!? *fistshake*

In a minor case, almost everyone asks This Tropette if there's japanese blood in her family. And no, there is not. She only happens to have straight brown hair and small eyes, that's all!

Averted by me. Instead of guessing, people always just ask. After I tell them (Mixed Jamaican/Italian/Assyrian), they only ever mention the black part. It's Jamaican not black, but I don't really care.

Though I've been told I look like a Mohammed. Whatever that means…

Now, that's what I call a mix!

This American/Filipino troper lives in East Tennessee and is usually assumed to be Mexican. Even though I'm really pale. Even though there's another half-Filipino student who doesn't have the same problem. Things are usually cleared up when I confirm that I'm half-Filipino through an F-bomb packed rant. (Hey, it's not my fault the same idiots who think I'm Latino also happen to be extremely racist pricks.)

This Troper's father was once told he could pass for Pakistani.

This Troper is German and routinely mistaken for British - by Americans - or Scandinavian - by everyone else - when speaking English... even when she swears like a motherfucker (apparently that's cute instead).

This Texan troper with an ancestry comprising of German/English/Czech/French/Scots-Irish was recently thought to be Iranian.

This troper has been in Australia since he was three, with an Australian father and English-German mother. ''Nobody'' seems to know what his accent is, not even him.

This troper has never been mistaken for another nationality in person, but while playing an MMO, he once got got called "Asian" for not using chatspeak. I wish I were joking.

This happens to this Puerto Rican troper alot. Only Mexicans speak Spanish apparently.

This troper has mistaken a lot of her darker friends for black, when they were actually Hispanic; you would think that being in a Hispanic-dominant community would have been a clue...

This Asian troper tends to do this a lot, unfortunately. It's not my fault all you white people look alike! (For some reason, it's only whites. I can tell blacks, Native Americans from various tribes, and Hispanics apart easily.)

This Australian Tropers has jokingly been labeled as the 'Fake Swedish Girl' by a Scandanavian-Obsessed friend due to her blond hair, blue eyes, strangely pale skin (considering the Australian sun) and just her general look...(I didn't mind the title though) she is however fourth generation Australian

This troper is perpertually chased by this trope. He's Brazilian, and despite being born in raised in Pará, a northen state, he was always mistaken by someone born in São Paulo, a southern state (note that the old concept that southerns are country bumpkins are inverted in Brazil, so everyone always saw me as a snarky nobleman, or such crap.). This makes me feel like ThatIdiotFromOsaka. Okay, so that's not actually a mistaken Nationality, but I'm not over. I've been mistaken for a Bolivian, a Argentinian, a freaking ''German'' (I don't even fit with the steriotypical description fo a German!), and a American tourist mistook me for a fellow American, not because I speak perfectly good English, but because I speak English ''at all''.

This troper has been mistaken for Swedish (presumably on the basis of my height), Polish (on the basis of my middle name), French (because I was wearing a beret), and German (in Germany... because I was reading a book in German...). I'm English!

Most of this troper's classmates have at some point commented on her "British accent." She's been living in the same Southern California city as most of them for her entire life, and isn't an Anglophile. Apparently Americans aren't supposed to enunciate. She has recently come to suspect that another reason for the error is the same reason people mistake her singing for opera - tall vowels. Lack of them is, to her ears, the most prominent feature of the standard California accent.

This troper's dad is Arab and her mom is American. She looks like her mom, so when she told her friends she was half arab, they were surprised.

This troper is half-Cambodian on his mother's side, half-lots-of-Europe-but-mainly-Italian on his father's. (His Pronunciation Guide}} surname doesn't help in the ''least'', even if he insists, "Come on, it's got 'gio' in it! Like 'Giovanni!' ") The most common guess people give is Filipino; the closest people ever get is Thai (which this troper doesn't mind ''so'' much, since he himself describes Cambodians as "half of us look Vietnamese, half of us look Thai").

This troper is Black with traces of Native American and Irish ancestry. Why do people think she's ASIAN?!

It's the eyes.

This Spanish troper is working to avert this trope with her mother: we're going to New York for a week this summer, and if I hadn't convinced her to dye her hair a strawberry blonde color, or to postpone going to the beach until after we're back in Spain, my mother would have looked thoroughly Latin. It doesn't help that she speaks English at about a first-grade level. The troper herself, though, has dark eyes and hair, but is pale as a corpse and is fairly good at getting rid of any bothersome accents in her speech.

This troper is not English. She is Welsh, German, Scottish and Jewish mostly, but also Irish, American, Australian, Dutch and French, but not English.

Years of watching American TV has caused this (Asian) Troper to develop a Midwestern accent. I've been mistaken for American quite a few times.

This (French born, raised in the US and France, all-French ancestry) troper has been asked if he's French, American, Russian (I have a very low temperature threshold) and from "some Arab country" (sic) (Bearded, don't drink alcohol, never party. But you should see me eat pork...)

On an online game, this troper was once asked by someone if she was from the Philippines. She isn't, and replied as such. The other person then enquired if I was ''xur''. To this day I have no idea what they were trying to say....

A girl in this troper's class was convinced I was from Eastern Europe. I'm an American of German-Dutch-Anglo-Italian descent living in the US, and as far as I know I speak with a bland Californian accent.

This Troper is a purebred mutt-- that is to say, both sides of my family are mixed race. German-Cherokee on mom's side, Irish-Filipino on dad's. Do I look white? No, too dark. Do I look Asian? Only if I've already told you. Do I look Cherokee? Only when re-enacting. Most people say I look Mediterranian, or rarely, Hawaiian. (To date, one person identified me as "Polynesian or Malaysian") Doesn't help that I speak a little of four or five languages outside of English and tend to drop them into my sentences. It's worse for my brothers; my twin bro looks whiter than Paul [=McCartney=] except for his eyes, and everyone asks my if my little brother is adopted from China. We've all got the same genes to work with. You can guess how it goes when I have to check the "Ethnicity" box on a scholarship application...

This troper's brother (we're from the American south, but neither of us have noticeable accents) was in France when he used this trope to his advantage. Before arriving in Paris, his plane had stopped in Germany and he bought a German football jacket which he then wore everywhere. He also has blond hair and speaks German better than he does French. So when he overheard a couple of French girls talking about "that hot German guy", he immediately turned to his friend and started speaking to him in German, putting on a show for the girls.

I'm originally from Alaska, and when taking an "American Accent quiz" online based on how you pronounce things, it told me I was Canadian.

To be fair, it's right feakin' there.

This Texan troper is generally assumed to be from the heartland by people not familiar with the Texas accent. I apparent mix up a lot of things and speak in a very clear manner (I'm also a ham radio operator), and my generic Ulster Scot/Scott Irish (I'm not offended by the latter term, unlike some oversensitive folks) looks muddle the matter further.

This Irish troper has red hair, blue eyes and pale skin. He was once asked "Are you Palestinian?" by another boy of the same ethnicity and physical description.

When she was a foreign exchange student in Guatemala, this half-White, half-Chinese American troper was sometimes mistaken for a fellow Guatemalan whenever she wore her glasses to conceal her epicanthic folds (technical term to describe what causes the characteristic Asian "slanty" eyes) of her eyes. Having dark brown hair, brown eyes, beige skin, and being short helps too.

On a related note, this same troper's half-Chinese, half-White brother often gets mistaken for Mexican while in the United States, sometimes by actual Hispanics. He has black hair, brown eyes, lacks epicanthic folds, but is actually rather pale.

This (Australian in Tonga) lurker is constantly mistaken for American ('cause all whites in Tonga are American Peace Corps. Aren't they?) except by Americans who think I'm a Kiwi (New Zealander). Even the Kiwi's think I'm a Yank. Back home I'm mistaken for British due to my Oxford accent.

This Troper, of almost completely Northern European ancestry, British, Scottish, Irish, Swedish and some Cherokee, has lost count of the times people have mistaken him as Jewish... maybe it's the curly hair and self-deprecating humor? Oi vey...

This Troper actually is half-Dutch, half-French, with a German last name. He has been mistaken for coming from Belgium a few times, and in one memorable instance, from the Middle East, only because his last name sounds vaguely like a common Arabic name (hint: part of it is a common German word), and despite being Western European-looking.

This Troper once passed himself off as British. I was on liberty (time off from a Navy vessel) in a town in Spain where a lot of British people vacation. The buddy system was in effect for safety reasons and my buddy had gone down the street to another bar. The American shore patrol showed up. If they caught me without my buddy, I'd have been in trouble, so I just acted like I was part of a group of Brits seated near me. One of the shore patrol asked me a question about something on the television. In my best (but not at all good) British accent, I answered the question and carried on a short conversation. The shore patrol left and the Brits were all curious as to why I had put on the accent. After I explained, they laughed and I figured I had done a good job with the accent, but they spent the next few minutes describing what I sounded like with comments that ranged from "retarded Scot" to "New Zealander with a lisp."

This Troper once volunteered at a hospital. I was working alongside a nice Asian guy. One old woman asked me where I was from, and then asked if me and him were brother and sister. (I wanted to play along, but he was no fun!) I've also been mistaken for English. I'm Irish.

Because I'm half Filipino, people had mistaken me from being Korean to Mexican. Once, someone asked me if I knew Spanish and when I said no, he asked if my parents or grandparents knew. Finally, I said, "We're Filipino." He paused and started talking to me in Tagalog. (I didn't know Tagalog either.)

This Australian troper has been repeatedly mistaken for American, including by other Australians. I was born in Australia. My parents were born and lived their whole lives in Australia. So were my grandparents. On both sides. I have never been to any American continent at all, much less for most of my childhood. Why do you people think I'm from the States? Why?

This Australian troper has sometimes been mistaken for English...how come? Probably due to my speech being more than the usual local slang drawl. His (now-ex) girlfriend looked like a 18-year-old slightly odd-looking racially nondescript girl. She was actually 1/4 Chinese, the rest was Polish-Australian, and she was OlderThanTheyLook. Awfully cute too.

One of this troper's friends is half-Japanese, half mixed-American, with a Germanic last name. He can't count the number of people who walk up to him and start speaking Spanish, because he's gotta be Mexican, right?

Well, this one's always fun. I don't really look Hispanic and so most people usually assume that I'm an American until I start spouting Spanish at them. For some reason, I have been known to slip into a bad English accent without realizing it and so I've gotten asked if I'm British before.

I'm 5'6"/5'7", nicely built, light brown hair, blue eyes, Celtic complexion. Born and raised in Maine. Nobody ever believes it, though- I've been mistaken for English, French, Canadian, Greek (???), and "no, really, where are you from?". Part of this is because my parents were insistent that we know how to speak properly, even if we didn't always do so. Also, my father was Canadian and my mother is a retired English teacher. And I read a lot of British books. Add nine years of doing Gilbert & Sullivan plus opera to that, and you have an accent that is apparently hard to place matched with an appearance that could be from almost anywhere in North America, Australia, or Europe.

This troper is Canadian (born and raised in Alberta), but, apparently, speaks with a different accent. People constantly mistake her for being American (Boston or New York, usually), or sometimes even Australian! This troper is still trying to figure that one out...

During one holiday to San Francisco, this British troper's mother was complimented by an American lady, who asked: "I love your accent, what state do you come from?" On another occasion, we had to politely explain that we were not Australians to a group of Americans. Who turned out to be Canadians. Hilarity Ensued.

This (English) Troper was once asked "What accent is that?" by another person in my school. We live in Yate, a small town near Bristol. Everyone here has Bristolian accents. I was not only born and raised in Bristol, but so was the majority of my family on both sides. My accent is just a lot harder to notice.(My theory is that I'm spending so much time on youtube that I'm picking up a mix of accents.)

This troper is a pale Caucasian. Nevertheless, he has been asked if he is Chinese. It remains the most befuddling thing to happen to this troper.

People ask if I'm Japanese, Korean, Chinese... Anything BUT Malaysian!

I'm black, but people always ,always ,always think I'm mixed, and people think I'm hispanic sometimes. Oh and Canadian, I don't get that one.

I'm Colombian and have lived there my whole life, except for a 3 weeks vacation period abroad (at the time). Once, during class in my home city with other people from the same city, I casually mentioned I was going to spend a week in Argentina. I've never understood why they assumed I was Argentinian. They have quite the accents and I had NEVER been there, and my family has no Argentinian heritage at all. I'm pale, but rather short.

While on trip to Europe through this troper's high school she was mistaken for German while in Italy, so yeah.

This troper is Dominican, both parents born and raised over there. I have been often been mistaken for being half black and half white (which is truish due to race but not ethnicity). My father will occasionally get Middle Eastern, my mother and one of my younger sisters as Indian (my mom will get asked if she's from India, my sister, Trinidad). My youngest sister has yet to be asked as far as I know. Clearly no one is supposed to know what anyone in my immediate family is.

This troper has been mistaken... To list: Japanese, Chinese, Filipeno, Maylasian, Indian (....Yeah.), British, Taiwanese, Hong Kong (I-I don't even.....), Thai, Vietnamese, and....-drumroll- Russian..... Yeah. I DON'T EVEN KNOW........ I'm pure KOREAN. Stop mistaking for random things!

This troper, born and bred American Jew, has been mistaken for an immigrant many, many times. No one can agree on where, though. He's apparently sometimes Mexican, Puerto Rican, Chilean, Israeli, German, Russian, and Cuban. He had ancestors who passed through Cuba on their way to the United States from Spain, almost a century ago. That's the closest he is to any of those. He was actually mistaken for Puerto Rican for over a year by Puerto Ricans themselves, until several of his school's Puerto Rican community studied Spanish in the same class as he and they couldn't place his accent (it was Ladino-derived, which is related to Spanish). It was their confusion that led to one girl from among them asking me where I came from, and shared interest in comparative heritage with her led, years later, to a year-long relationship that ended relatively well (and they remain friends). Usually, before that, Mistaken Nationality was a BerserkButton for this troper, but since then he's taken to seeing it as just another aspect of himself

Because of This Troper's unusual speak pattern she has ALWAYS been confused with a mexican, the fact that she lived a couple of years in Mexico doesn't help.

This troper has been told she looks Irish. That is, with the stereotypical pale skin and reddish hair. Subverted because I am part Irish, but the coloring comes from my father's English/German side. My all-Irish grandmother has dark hair and tans wonderfully while I burn. Also, while not a nationality mistake, when I lived in a small town I was told I had a 'city accent', which in all fairness could have been picked up by my mother. Later, after moving to the same city, someone said I sounded Southern. I'm from the northern East Coast! I've been to Nashville twice, but I've certainly never lived below the Mason-Dixon line!

I'm American, although my mum is English and around 4 AM I start to forget what you Americans call your inferior version of cheese on toast, and I have a bit of an English accent. My accent has been mistaken for Scottish, and for no good reason at all and according to my dad, I look decidedly Hispanic in my state ID photo.

Also, I know someone who has dark hair and eyes and a pale olive complexion, and is very into learning Japanese. She's been to Japanese camp, has a Facebook photo of her in front of a statue of a blue oni, often wears colourful tabi, and talks a lot about visiting Japan. She doesn't actually look all ''that'' Japanese, but for some reason I was convinced for about eight months that she's half-Japanese.

Tropers/{{Muse}} is often mistaken for Hispanic, as she has a dark skin tone and hair while everyone else in her family is fair and blond. She gets a kick out of this, seeing as her heritage is entirely eastern European. Also, she apparently sometimes develops a British-sounding accent when she speaks. Well, since she's from the North (New England), she thinks its a little fitting. :P

This Troper's been mistaken for being a Londoner by cabbies, South African by store-owners, New-Zealander by friends of friends, and once I got "So, what part of Canada you from?" off a fishmonger. WTF, PEOPLE? I was born in Australia, and I've lived here in West Yorkshire for the last thirteen years! Surely a childhood accent doesn't take that long to fade?!

This Troper, being Hispanic, has been mistaken for being Mexican, Puerto Rician, Ecuadorian, Argentine, (and believe it or not, Arab), among other things. I'm really Chilean, my parents were born in there.

This Troper has often been mistaken for being half-Caucasian while in East Asia, whether in Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, or Japan (both of my parents are Taiwanese and both sides had lived there since the 1600's). It doesn't help that I sound like an American when I speak (my limited) Mandarin or Japanese. My brother does not have this issue.

While in Japan, I have also had random Japanese people converse to me, them only figuring out that I'm not Japanese by my blank stare thanks to my poor speaking skills and slow response time (this also happened to my cousin once). There was another time I was searching for a ryokan that my family had stayed in six years prior, and a family from France came up to me and asked in Japanese if I could help them find a ryokan. Fortunately, they understood English and we managed to find it (they were the same one).

This Troper - brown, very curly hair, slightly tan skin, blue eyes, always using strange euphemisms, shows an interest in Russian culture. Apparently I'm Afghan or Pakistani or maybe Israeli. Never mind that I'm 100% Irish. Even my name is Irish! I have the bloody flag on my shoes! Plus, in Atlantic United States, it is ALWAYS reasonable to assume EVERYONE you meet is Irish by descent.

Just because Mira-chan is a PaleSkinnedBrunette who speaks English well, it doesn't mean she's American. And how the heck did some of her classmates get the idea that she's part-Brazilian? Nope, Mira-chan is mainly Filipina with British and German blood.

This troper is a Filipino who has mainly Spanish and native blood. So how the hell did some Chinese lady, whom the troper thinks is asking for directions approach him and saying random Chinese words AT HIM? Seriously.

This Aussie Chinese troper has had a few Japanese people come up to her and ask her some stuff.

This Troper is probably the whitest you can be without being an albino. In Elementary school, he was mistaken for Chinese, with people attempting to bully him for that.

This Canadian Troper had an interesting exchange with a cashier at a convenience store outside London while travelling in Europe. When I was buying a magazine, he pointed to the US price, and joked, "I'll have to charge you that." I replied, "Actually, I'm from Canada," and pointed to the (higher...) Canadian price. The cashier proceeded to ask me what the weather was like in Canada.

This troper is a mixture of generically white Anglo-American ancestry(British, Scottish, etc.), with some Armenian/Middle Eastern thrown in. People have mistaken him for Latino(Cuban seems to be popular), Eastern European, Arab, Turkish(at least that one makes sense, my ancestors used to live there back when it was TheOttomanEmpire), and ''Korean''. What.

This Filipino-American troper has been mistaken for various other Asian ethnicities, mostly Chinese and Japanese, due to her light-ish skin, straight hair, and angular face. Because Filipinos ''all'' have deeply-tanned skin, rounded facial features, and wavy hair. It sucks because her last name is ''Spanish'', and should have been a dead giveaway.

This (mostly) Puerto Rican troper has never had this happen to her personally however her family members have been though of as Mexican, Domincan, ''Italian'', etc. Even by their best friends.

This troper has been mistaken as Hispanic by classmates before, despite being white. Probably justified in that she happened to be in a predominately Hispanic environment and has features (dark brown hair, somewhat brown skin, hazel eyes) that could plausibly be construed as Hispanic. Interestingly, none of her family members have been mistaken as Hispanic, although her family members also have pinker skin and lighter hair, so... I guess it makes sense?

This troper once mistook an Australian for a Brit. He will '''NEVER''' make that presumption again.

This (South African) troper is often mistaken for a Brit, and almost equally as often for an Aussie. I don't actually mind. In fact, I make a point of cultivating my accent in order to make it difficult to place: I call it my "melting pot" accent: part Oxford, part Cockney, part Aussie, part Irish, part Scottish, part Canadian, and all on a thin South African base.

This troper is born in New Zealand, has a Scottish mother and has an Irish last name. So many people expect her to have an Irish accent when they read her name and are surprised when she speaks with a Kiwi accent. She also gets people who expect her to speak with a Scottish accent, and she has been mistaken for an Australian.

This (African-American) troper is usually mistaken for being Latino, Native American, Indian, Lebanese, Iranian, and Filipino. This has led to so many incidents of people speaking a different language to me and then being upset because they wonder why I'm not responding, racist comments at me referring to a ethic group I don't belong in, and last but not least being pulled out of lines at the airport. All because I become kind of pale during the winter.

This Welsh troper has been mistaken for American in the past due to her drawly accent.

This troper is half Swedish-American, half Czech-American. For some reason, people think I'm Greek. I have no idea why. I'm short and blonde, with large eyes, a small nose, and a large mouth. I've seriously had people walk up to me and try to converse with me in Greek.

This troper is as black as it gets, but would love to play "guess my nationality" with unsuspecting people. Seriously, I've gotten Jamaican, Somalian, Nigerian, even Irish (admittedly, that last one was really a joke). If you're wondering, I'm Afro-Guyanese and Canadian-born.

This tropers friend is NOT A MUSLIM, for the last time. She is of Pakistan desent, but that doesn't mean she follows Islam.

This fandubbing troper has received a lot of comments on her accent, mostly from the UK. England, Scotland, Ireland... Rather close, for a Cultivated AustralianAccent, but it always bothers me.

This troper is Caucasian, but with black hair and brown eyes. He has been mistaken for ''Japanese'' on several occasions- mostly BY PEOPLE FROM JAPAN. The fact that he speaks the language, and that he was usually cosplaying as Shinobu Sensui at the time (the Japanese tend to like him more than Americans do) '''did not help matters'''. He also was mistaken for Japanese-''American'' by a Japanese-American Sensui fan who severly hated the notion of white people cosplaying.

He's also been mistaken for a Spaniard while '''IN SPAIN''', mainly because of his fluency in Spanish and his (acquired) Castilian accent when speaking the language. He had to whip out his American passport to people who didn't believe he wasn't a native, and one woman told him she was surprised because she thought all Americans were stupid. In the latter case, it saved him some humiliation, since his aunt, who went with him on the trip, stuck out like a sore thumb because she didn't speak Spanish and she dressed like a stereotypical tourist, and, while in Barcelona, a guy peed on her to express anti-American sentiment (this was during the beginning of the invasion of Iraq). So, yeah, lucky break there.

I am Swiss. Somehow, there seems to be a common thing with people confusing Switzerland with Sweden. I forgot the number of times it has happened. And it wasn't just in English. Having lived in Turkey for numerous years, it was amazing to have the ''same'' problem pop up there. To top things, I have a Swedish friend who was confused as being Swiss. Hell, when President Bush confuses the two, you might as well change your citizenship.

On a side note, my accent seems to confuse people too. I've been asked if I am Slavic, Russian, German (close enough), Scandinavian, French and ''Irish''.

This French Troper spent a one-year study trip in Japan, and got to talk with a lot of locals. Those who were wary of me at first opened up ''instantly'' as soon as I told them I'm French : they thought I was an Eaglelander.

Tropers/{{Excel-2010}}. I actually subvert this. Throughout my years in school I've been assumed to be many kinds of Asian, but mostly Chinese. This and the names that I much later discovered were racial epithets never bothered me. The kicker is that I learned from my father in my last year in middle school that I'm half-Filipino, quarter-Spanish, quarter-Chinese. While all of those people were technically correct in assuming I'm Chinese, they never guessed that I'm primarily Filipino or part Spanish. I myself never knew there was any non-Filipino blood in me. But if anyone tries calling me Filipino-Spanish-Chinese-American, they've got another thing coming.

This troper is a bilingual Anglo-Canadian. Her accent in English is straight-up West Coast North American, but in French it's a little Paris, a little Montreal, a splash of New Brunswick and of course a generous helping of "French is not my first language". This accent is good enough to pass for true French among non-native speakers, but francophones are deeply confused by it. In addition to being mistaken for American while speaking English, she has been mistaken for Quebecois (by French people) and Belgian (by some Quebecois) while speaking French, and for French while speaking Italian. On appearance alone, she's been thought Irish by some and, again, French by others.

This troper is Polish, yet while talking in English with a group of people (other Pole, two Georgians and Kazakh) was mistaken for being Spanish. Which is strange, 'cause pale skin and dark-blond hair aren't usually associated with Spain...

I'm Indian. In elementary school, someone told me, without a trace of sarcasm, that I looked like a Puerto Rican gangster. I can't possibly imagine how any elementary school-age kid could look like a gangster, but some people...

This troper is of mixed Indonesian/Czech ancestry. He has been mistaken for Filipino, Chinese and somehow, Indian. Additionally, my accent causes people to think I'm American or Canadian.

This Troper - of mixed North African jewish, Britton, Italian, and Maltese descent, emphasis on the North African jewish - gets mistaken for Italian, Spanish, ''English'', and been told by family members she looks like an Ashkenazi Israeli. Her brother gets mistaken for Italian, generic Arab, and Pakistani. Her North-African-jewish-Italian aunt almost ''never'' gets her nationality/ethnicity guessed right; she's mistaken for Lebanese, or generic/specific East Asian. At one point she was hired in a high-class retail job because the manager thought that as a Asian, she would be able to be talk to the numerous wealthy Asian costumers.

This troper and her brother are Chinese/Spanish. As a result we're mistaken as all sorts of things often enough, and honestly MistakenNationality is mostly fine anyway - what she at least still finds irritating is that it happens on assumption of Japanese/Mexican being the same thing still happens more often than it should.

I have a pretty mixed background. However, my last name is French.Upon meeting someone, even if they are looking ''right at me'', they will hear my name and assume I am Spanish, and start talking in Spanish. Embarrassment hits everyone in a mile radius. (My hair, by the way, is a mix of Blond and Auburn. Have you ever seen a natural, unmixed background, Hispanic girl that is ''Blond''.) In an..thing..I guess.. of this, many people have, on occasion (rarely) guessed my Irish part correctly. ''Because of the personality stereotypes.'' {{FacePalm}}

This Japanese-American troper was once mistaken for Korean...by a Japanese-American recruiter for the California National Guard.

I'm Chinese, get mistaken for other Asian nationalities, expected, learned to not get too worked up over it. But in an absurd example, one of my friends asked me what nationality I was, I said Chinese, and she said, "Oh, I thought you were Dominican." ???

This troper was born in France from mostly French parents( he has a Spanish grandfather) and lived in Quebec for most of his life. Whenever he goes back to France,people immediately poke fun at his Quebecer accent. Back in Quebec, he his a damn frog. He also routinely gets mistaken for an Italian, and some people even thought he was ''Chinese''.Go figure.

This Norwegian Troper and her family were apparently mistaken for Russian on vacation. Huh.

This American troper is very pale, tall, has blue eyes, and auburn hair. A lot of people think he's Irish, German, French, Canadian, English, Dutch, Russian, Ukrainian, or JAPANESE! Of course the fact that this troper is quiet; has a regionless accent that has been described as somewhere in-between Canadian, English, and American; and the fact that he is learning German, Russian, and French (This troper fooled a French person who he had no idea where in France they were from that he was from Paris) probably don't help. This troper has been mistaken for a German foreign exchange student the most though.

This troper is of Irish, Welsh, and Dutch extraction. I even have a very Irish (and hard to spell) surname. However, due to my looks (pale skin, dark eyes, dark hair, short, and curvy) and the fact that I do speak Spanish fluently, I am frequently mistaken for Cuban, a Spaniard, or Argentinian. I used to work as a Spanish translator/interpreter at various jobs, and people were always gobstruck when I explained that actually, I was white.

This troper is only part Portuguese (1/4 to be exact) but is mistaken for full plenty of times. I was also once thought to be Welsh.

I am a Costa Rican-American. As in, from Costa Rican parents, born in the US. And yet, I have been mistaken for Chinese, Filipino, Russian, Italian, German, and even Turkish. You be the judge.

This troper has been mistaken for French, Austrian, Persian, Italian, Spanish, JAPANESE (Because of the sound of her last name), and Swiss. Partly justified because she's half Pakistani and half British. The mix is a little unusual.

Although I am French (and begrudgingly American), when I travel in the Czech Republic, and eat at restaurants with my family, people assume we are German because we speak English, despite the fact that we live in the same town for at least 16 years, on and off. We always have to send back the German menus and ask for Czech ones.

This Canadian Troper of Ugandan-Sesotho descent is oft-mistaken for Jamaican. Needless to say, it gets annoying.

My troper tale is kind of weird because it's my name that confuses people, not my appearance. I'm American, blonde-haired, and blue-eyed. People can usually tell I have European ancestors. But my surname is stereotypically Mexican and I live in an area with a lot of Mexican immigrants, so I'm often asked if I'm Mexican. And I say no, some of my ancestors on my father's side came from Spain. And they look at me like they didn't know it was also a Spanish surname.

I'm from the Untied States,but have somehow mange to get an accent that sounds British and apparently i look British or someone that's foreign, yet i grew up in California my whole life and never left until 2010 when i went on a field trip. Also everyone i ever met has always ask me where I'm from and don't believe me when i tell them I'm a native Californian. Doesn't help that i have an lisp that makes me can't say some r words right,that justs makes me sound more foreign, and i only really watch British shows and read mostly British books...

This troper has magnificent, almost chest-length sideburns. Growing a full beard usually gets him mistaken for a Hutterite or Jew.

This Troper is very often mistakened for being Japanese, since when I take my glasses off I do look Japanese. The fact that my life is Anime and Manga dosent help. I'd so love to be Japanese though. I'm British, by the way.

This Troper (or "I" if you will), have light hair, green eyes, and is kinda pale. Even though I live in Denmark I am often mistaken for Russian or even French... And Danish. I'm Turkish/Kurdish by the way. I just got all the "blonde" genes from the family.

despite being whiter than paper, this troper is often mistaken for being half black or mixed in some way. this is probably because she's got huge, fluffy, thick afro. she's pure European- Italian, Scottish, Swedish, Irish, German, more Scottish, french.. no one in her entire family history as far back as it's traced is Black. And her mother is a family history freak, so it's pretty accurate.

One of this troper's best friends: 6'1", blond hair, blue eyes, described by one person as "A Nordic god". He's half-Hispanic.

This Troper is particularly good at Spanish. One day during class, I corrected someone on a word and they implied that I was good at Spanish because I was Latina. I'm white with no Spanish relatives of any kind.

I am tall, VERY TALL, light skin, light brown hair, and brown eyes. Once I went to a shop in a little town in my own state, and the woman there asked me if I was American. I told her that no, I was not American... I am MEXICAN!

I am sometimes asked if I am English, due to my formal way of speaking in public and love of top hats and things. Irish people do not like being mistaken for British.

This troper is in FLORIDA. Where EVERY Hispanic race come to gather. To the point where nobody bothers to tell the difference anymore. This DOMINICAN troper has been confused for many things over the years. Mostly Puerto Rican because I have very very curly dark hair and a Puerto Rican surname. Second most common is Cuban because I'm sorta pale. Confused for CHINESE once because I was in the water at the moment and squinting to see. Confused for white BY OTHER HISPANICS (They said 'Look, you made the white girl cry!' while I was facepalming)! The kids in my Drama class were shocked to hear me speak fluent Spanish and asked which nationality I was. I say "Guess" and they come up with the following list: Puerto Rican, Cuban, Mexican, white, Colombian, Venezuelan, Panamanian, Chilean, Spanish, Guatemalan (at which I laugh out loud and clap my hands to because that's the first time someone was ever THAT off), Italian, and French. It would've been amusing to hear them shout random nationalities if it weren't for the fact that there was a Costa Rican, a Puerto Rican, and two Haitians in that class of 8 people... It's become a Berserk Button if someone mistakes me for Puerto Rican, Cuban, or Mexican.

This CORNISH troper is aparantly american. I'm not. I'm CORNISH, I live in the capital city of CORNWALL, and I have lived in CORNWALL all my life (save for a few summers in Germany, which is not america either).

This American tropette has been mistaken for British, Australian, and South African so many times it's beginning to bore her.

Having grown up with three languages, I have a distinct, if nondescript accent that flavours all the languages I speak. Naturally, I get this a lot. It is the varieties of nationalies people assume me to be that makes it funny. I have been asked if I was German (close one. I am Swiss), Dutch, Nordic, Slavic and, Irish.

I've been mistaken for German oddly enough. It has nothing to do with my accent, but something about being tall, pale, blonde, and built for childbearing has lead more than a few people to believe I'm German.

Whenever someone hears this tropers full name, they instantly assume him to be German due his last name being "Schiffer", easily overlooking his ''clearly obvious'' Japanese first name, "Daisuke" and middle name, "Kazuhiro". Does "'''DAISUKE KAZUHIRO SCHIFFER'''" sound like a german name to you?!

This troper has been mistaken for... Eurasian (Portugese mix), Indonesian chinese, Phillipino and Japanese. However this troper is in fact a Singaporean Chinese of pure chinese ancestry. Even in college now (2011), I still get mistaken for being foreign by fellow Singaporean Chinese.