Random Question!

[jhameia]

If you didn't know I was Malaysian-Chinese (I mean, I kinda make a huge deal about this these days), what would you have thought I was, ethnically? Like, if you erased all references to where I come from and stuff.

I ask this because I just discovered someone on my f-list who I hitherto had thought was white is actually Asian, and I gotta admit it surprised the heck out of me.

This inquiring mind wants to know!

Comments

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

American-born Chinese?

[fantasyecho.livejournal.com]

The Chineseness just shines through, eh?

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's a bad thing, but I tend to assume strangers on LJ are white females from the US. I think I get this impression a lot because of icons and automatically assuming that people have the ethnicity of their icons (which makes zero sense I know). I do remember when a LJ community I'm in found out this prominent poster who always used an icon of a black man was actually white. I also get mistaken for white a lot.*


(*Funny mostly-unrelated anecdote, I used this icon of myself on steamfashion a little while ago and someone asked me if it was an icon of Han Solo.)

[fantasyecho.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's a bad thing either - I do the same? Except they're white people from UK, US or Australia.

Han Solo.

Wow.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Well, huh. I think before I saw your photograph, I thought you were perhaps American, but of Asian extraction, because of what your Fridays links focus on. I try not to default to "white female" on LJ, or when I read people's letters to advice columnists, or anything else...but unless the person actually *says* where they're from, etc etc, I'm in a limbo 'visually'. If you know what I mean?

[eiko82.livejournal.com]

I would've thought you were Chinese.

This is gonna sound really stupid but unless stated otherwise, I often assume that Asians are Chinese simply 'cause it's the country with the biggest population >___

[divabat.livejournal.com]

Malaysian of some extraction, because I first met you through the Malaysians comm. Possibly of Canadian origin (like how Sharon Bakar is a Brit expat) because you mentioned Canada but I didn't know at the time if you were from there or not.

Otherwise...huh. I don't remember.

I'm so tempted to make a 1-page site with my name and voice (or a video!!) and get people to guess what ethnicity I am. Problem is you'll get the tons of people who know me and know the answer :P