Have you ever self-identified as something you’re not?

[GirlRaisedInTheSouth]

At the risk of being the only one who posts, I am interested to see if anyone else has done this.

Years ago, I lived in a wealthy area of London. A big majority of the people there were Jewish. They all seemed to be rich, successful, knew about the arts, family-centered and were part of a close community.

I wanted some of that, so when a future employer asked if I was Jewish, I said I was and it kind of snowballed from there. I gave the impression from then on to people that I met that I was Jewish. My name is vaguely Jewish-sounding, so I fitted in.

I kept up this ridiculous charade until I moved away. Looking back now, I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. I dread bumping into somebody I knew back then and having to admit that, actually no, I am not one of the chosen race after all!

Has anyone else done this? Please don’t let it just be me!

Yes, a Lottery winner.

Only in my head, mind!

no can’t say I have!

Kind of, I pretended I was a vegetarian for a while until I plucked up the courage to come clean. No one cared 😂 Everyone lies so don’t beat yourself up too much just don’t get yourself into that situation again. Lies like that only stress you out. It’s mostly better to be honest. But I wouldn’t go around telling people that you pretended to be Jewish because they’re all rich and successful - they might think you’re feeding into a Jewish stereotype’s somewhat 😉

It was a long time ago .

Yes - I have avoided / evaded (sometimes misspoke (aka lies) about my ethnic origins as the ignorant/ prejudices follow on is a bit wearying

So I identify as having some Mediterranean/ Italian ancestry at a push)

Nope, but my mother self identified as a vegetarian despite eating chorizo.

I used to pretend to be a cat or dog as a child, and had an entire imaginary life as a different person.

As an adult, there was a running joke at university that I belonged to a different religion. Occasionally people got the wrong end of the stick and believed it.

And I had a friend who routinely made up false identities for herself whilst drunk on nights out

If by saying self identified you mean lied then no not personally but a friend went out with a Swedish girl who didn't have great English when he was 17 for 4 months. Then discovered she wasn't Swedish but was from Milton Keynes.

Your title makes no sense, surely

Once you self identify, you are. Who is it who is saying you are "not" and by what criteria and what's their standing ?

You can have errors of fact: someone from claiming to be from is objectively a liar. But if someone claims to self identify as ...

Yes, like you, I've told lies before.

Yep. Very, very rarely admit to being mixed race not white.

I also know people who misidentify their mixed heritage so they get less hassle racism

Generally they don't mention anything but if they have to because someone puts them in a spot where they have to name somewhere they also say Italian/Mediterranean.

I'm white looking (but with dark features) so don't get a lot of hassle but I definitely get people asking quite regularly my heritage (at least 4-5 times a year) or strangely, at least three times have had someone ask have you got Chinese in you. (I'm not even remotely Chinese looking!)

warning racial slurs in the next sentence
The worst though is when some asks using slurs.
Iv had both have you got chinky in you and
you know sometimes you look a bit like a paki do you have paki in your blood? Both said in a nice tone like they are completely normal inoffensive questions!

If someone asks I personally dont lie though.

Or a traveller I know just won't say anything because being white means no one suspects anything.

It's eye opening though the things you hear when people don't realise there is anyone who may be offended is within hearing distance.

Does that count? Or have I ruined the thread

I’ll be 50 in a few weeks.
I don’t like this, so will, from that point on, identify as a 30 year old.

I sometimes tell people I'm 'almost 30' I'm actually 27 but look old and I'm I'm sick of hearing people say they thought I was older.

A lot of people think I'm working class, as I can shift between RP, Norfolk and Cockney quite easily. Now I'm in Northumberland, I'll not bother any more. My ancestry includes a chap who was pastiched in Trollope, a director of the V&A, and some of my cousins are descended from people who ate human flesh. Dm's family stopped speaking to one member, not because of his earldom, but because he joined a High Church congregation. Methodists: they give good grudge.

I self identify as a killer blonde with endless legs and stacks of money......in reality however......

Yep, ginky - snap (as regards the 2nd para)

Not quite the same but I was once drunk after a night out and in the taxi home rambled on and on how I lived in Tokyo for a couple of years and how I missed it and how the people were so nice and I loved the culture, the food, the way of life and generally everything about it. Was constantly worried about the earthquakes, mind.

Never been to Japan in my life.

I suggested to my line manager that I fancied self identifying as a brown bear. I could happily gorge myself on chocolate in October/November, sleep it off and laze around until March and get up having lost 30% of my body weight.
She said that was fine, but I had to realise that brown bears didn't have jobs either.

My first year at uni I felt so boring compared to everyone else I lied and said I was a vegetarian. I said I had been one for a few years as well and kept the lie up for the whole first year.
I still don’t know why I thought being a vegetarian would be interesting

I just remembered I also have a fake name to someone at a pub and ended up seeing him for a few months still going by a fake name even when he visited me at university. We ended up together for 11 months!

I self identify as a multi millionaire. Unfortunately my bank manager disagrees 😢

She said that was fine, but I had to realise that brown bears didn't have jobs either

Brilliant!

I self identify as thin.