Weird/incorrect race assumptions you've made?

[Howallergic]

My first was Tracy Chapman. I presumed, despite the first name Tracy, that she was a white male. I was shocked to see from a picture that she was not only female, but that she was also black.
My Mum's ex partner presumed that Millie who sang My Boy Lollipop was white and was disappointed (80's) to discover that they were all black. From how he described it to me, it was almost as if he had fancied a girl who turned out to be trans - he felt ashamed.
Latest I can think of is an Irish singer called Hozier who my father assumed was a black man. He's a white Irish singer.
My most recent one was this very posh lady I had to deal with at work, and I presumed she was white, don't know why, but that bias was there. When a black girl turned up in jeans and a hoodie to meet me, I was a little shocked.

This is not a race row argument thread. I'm just wondering whether you've ever made incorrect assumptions based on accents or whatever. Jesus I hope it doesn't get me deleted. I started this with the intention of showing just how stupid our assumptions can be, not the opposite.

Anyway, I'll leave it to you.

@BabyYoda

For some reason I am shocked every time I see Bob Dylan as I keep forgetting he’s white. I think at some point as a child I got him mixed up with Jimi Hendrix and it is stuck now. Every time I default back to thinking he’s black.

Same. Exactly the same.

I thought Prince was white for years. I am still not sure why.

Yep, 20 years ago, a potential new client contacted me by email - his name was typically English - say Dave Brown. We exchanged a few emails and then had a few phone conversations. Then he became a client and we worked together by phone/email for a few years. He had a cockney accent, but well spoken, excellent written English, we chatted about rugby, wimbledon, etc. I had it firmly in my mind he was middle aged, white British, maybe slightly balding, maybe slight build.

As legislation changed and Money Laundering laws came in, we were required to "prove" identity and so we had to start asking for certified copies of passports etc (before electronic ID came in) and no more "know your client" background checking.

I was literally gobsmacked to see his passport photo - he was actually a Jamaican born huge black guy!

I really had to give myself a severe talking to about making assumptions based on name, speech, literacy, etc!! I've a much more open mind now after that.

Do more, not no more.

I was literally gobsmacked to see his passport photo - he was actually a Jamaican born huge black guy!
That reminds me that I had the opposite experience. A guy I always dealt with on the phone had a really strong Jamaican accent (born and bred there) but turned out to be white. Just goes to show I know nothing about Jamaica!

I think my DC will confuse people when they are older. Their names are English Italian-Hispanic and they look like different ethnicities to each other.

People always think I'm German (I'm a mousy haired blue eyed Italian which I guess they aren't expecting)

I once had a contact who really had the most beautiful voice. It was smooth and silky, slow and measured, and in my minds eye she ‘sounded’ like she was young, tall, elegant, sophisticated - such a gorgeous speaking voice.

We met for a drink and I just couldn’t see her anywhere then a voice yelled my name from the other side of the pub ‘oi - serenidddeeeeeee - Wotcha!’

Her telephone voice was indeed deceptive - her normal voice (although pleasant) was not the same. She didn’t ‘put it on’ but it was definitely different (she was actually rather small, in her 50s - just normal looking!). She joked that no one ever recognised her from her phone voice - however she did also so voiceovers for radio.

@gobbynorthernbird - I’m a blonde haired blue eyed Jew. I get a lot of “but YOU aren’t Jewish” comments.

My close friend is black .She is lawyer and speaks with a ‘posh’ accent.
She has told me that some clients are shocked that she is a well spoken black woman, they probably assume that she is going to have a ‘street accent’ by dint of the fact that she is black.
She is also stunning which probably contributes to the shock

People always assume that I'm a white lady when they speak to me on the phone. When they come into the office to meet with me, I can always see their shock 😆

I moved to the north west 10 years ago and am still often surprised when someone I've been communicating with via email has a northern accent when we finally speak on the phone. If they also have a forrin sounding name then my mind is well and truly blown :D

I couldn't believe Anastasia was white!

Whilst I know I have biases I generally think I'm pretty good at not making assumptions. I have too many friends with horrible stories of being on the wrong side of stereotype assumptions.

But when I met a client from Finland who was black I think I did that embarrassing 'oh are you Fedde?' (Name changed). She didn't seem to notice my shock, or is maybe all too used to it.
That's the only time so far I've had a very fixed idea of a blond haired blue eyed type and been flummoxed by a difference.

That said I did make the mistake a few years ago of assuming the Asian woman chasing the kid in the BBC interview was the nanny.

I feel awful about that as I have a good friend who's mixed race with a ginger blue eyed son and is often mistaken as his nanny.

It's a horrible thing to realise your own bias.

@CovidStoleTheRainbow

Where I grew up, it was really diverse, black, white, Chinese, Gurkhas, polish - so much diversity! But nonetheless when I was about 8 years old I remember a black guy talking in a strong Scottish accent and it totally threw me. I'd never in my life, and haven't since, met a Scottish person who wasn't white. I guess I haven't met many Scottish people? 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

I met a man a couple weeks exactly the same. Such a strong Scottish accent. I live in a very diverse borough too.

I have a 'white' name but I am black.
My field of work involved talking to people who may not be pleasant. I've lost count of times racists and the like have tried to gain sympathy from me after a conversation they had with 'Gurpreet' or 'Jamal'.

I find it fascinating when they are polite to me when I repeat what what my colleagues with ethnic sounding names have already told them.

I'll admit that when I imagine someone (like a character in a book where race isn't stated or when I speak to a client on the phone/email) that doesn't have an "obvious" ethnic name, my default "image" is that they are white. I'm not surprised or anything if they come into the office later and are black/asian but for some reason my brain imagines everybody as being from the same background as I am.
I suppose it's some kind of bias?

For a long time I assumed the Lockerbie bomber Al-Megrahi was an Irish republican named Al McGarry.

[quote CayrolBaaaskin]@gobbynorthernbird - I’m a blonde haired blue eyed Jew. I get a lot of “but YOU aren’t Jewish” comments.[/quote]
I can believe that. The daft thing is I have Jewish people in my extended family who have that colouring, so I shouldn't have a preconceived idea of what constitutes a Jewish person.

I'm just glad I realised before I knocked on the door!

@CayrolBaaaskin one of good friends is blonde and Jewish and she tends to keep her mouth shut around the WASPs who don't realize she's Jewish and let them talk smack about Jewish people. She's willing to go undercover in order to see what people really think. She then swerves them later or directly calls them out on the spot.

There was a good NY Times article about this back about 10 years ago. I'll see if I can find it.

@unlimiteddilutingjuice

For a long time I assumed the Lockerbie bomber Al-Megrahi was an Irish republican named Al McGarry.

I'm pretty sure the CIA we're convinced the bomber was Irish. It's a long standing example of group think bias! Took a rookie to ask the inconceivable question 'are we SURE it's an Irish attack?'

PMSL at Al McGarry!

I've had the reverse happen to me.

Called an estate agent, booked an appointment as Ms. XYZ (to be fair I do have a short surname).

Showed up at the appointment, estate agent said, I thought you were Chinese!

I couldn't look any less Chinese, tbh

@User563420011

I'll admit that when I imagine someone (like a character in a book where race isn't stated or when I speak to a client on the phone/email) that doesn't have an "obvious" ethnic name, my default "image" is that they are white. I'm not surprised or anything if they come into the office later and are black/asian but for some reason my brain imagines everybody as being from the same background as I am. I suppose it's some kind of bias?

You could call it bias, but everyone has it. People tend to imagine people as looking rather like themselves, or sometimes like the people around them if they are not from the same group. If you are in a country where most people are of Indian descent, or Chinese, people will tend to assume others are Indian or Chinese unless there is some reason not to.

A good deal of it is a sort of probability calculation. If I know a Jane Brown from Scotland, even though I know Scottish people can be black, probability suggests she's not. On the other hand, I might reasonably suspect Ying Lee from Scotland is neither black nor white. Over time as demographics change new patterns emerge but it can take time for people to catch up.

But there really isn't anything wrong with it that I can see, unless you are being a prat if Ying Lee does turn out to be black. Lots of people automatically visualise someone they hear or talk to by phone or text, and if they don't interrogate every visualisation it's probably just because it would be a waste of time.

We had a 16 year old student work for us whose mum was from Glasgow and father was from Mauritius. She had been brought up in Lancashire and had a strong Lanky accent. Whenever she spoke to any of her family, her accent switched to Glaswegian. She had no idea she was doing it, and in a three way conversation she would talk to me in Lanky turn to her mum in Glaswegian and back to me in Lanky, even in the same sentence. Not known anyone else do that..She was very capable and stayed working with us till her early 20s when she would manage the shop when we were on holiday. She looked very young for her age, at 21 like a 15 year old Asian schoolgirl, which surprised many customers who had spoken to her on the phone, then came in and met her.

My husband has a very posh English accent (posh school) and a very ordinary name like John Brown. People are shocked when they meet him that he is Chinese. Obviously not realising Chinese folk can have English accents.

At my work, there was a huge drive on diversity (huge huge company). Someone must have gone through the internal phone directory and picked everyone with 'foreign' sounding surnames. So my friend Ila Patel (ish) and I (Jo Park type of name) went off to the photo shoot, They were very disappointed I was not Asian (guess they thought Korean), but instead I have very translucent skin tone. Still my mate was very photogenic!

People often assume my surname is my married name- as my husband is 'foreign' looking