meow85 said:

70 kilos(figure it out in pounds ).



25 years old



I have kids,,,and one of them was by accident, yes.



Medium,,,,,again, not good with figures



Right now I'm studying Human Resources in college



I never advocate removing manners and tact,,,tell me where I said so

No dahling. You can be as diplomatic as an ambassador and still ASK about somebody's ethnic background, it really depends on how you present yourself.

I think you guys underestimate people a lil' too much. While you may encounter afew touchy ones here and there, you'll also find alot of people who're not easily offended by this ?uestion.

I DO believe however that you get to know person 1st since it is personal but after the formalities, I think its ok to ask about it

I've been asked about mine PLENTY of times(some were on ignorant display and some weren't) and I personally don't mind 'em at all. Life is too fuckin' short to be a prude.

purplewisdom said:

My grandmother(my father's side) is Nubian as well Wow!

There are times that i get a slight irritation when folks would already assume i belong in a particular culture/nationality without asking what i am, not offended but when a Turkish or whoever starts talking to me in their native tongue, and i fail to comprehend they get uppity uppity on me, LOL.

Harlepolis said:

There is another member who i chatted to on here also part Nubian. Unless its you? lol

purplewisdom said:

My father is Somali but his mother is Nubian.

I got ALOT of flack & snares when I went to Somalia and all I could speak from the Arabic dialect was the "fussha" and not the native Somali language.

Harlepolis said:

oh wow..Mashallah!
The tribal thang back home needs to jack it in..we all the same, melting in the one big pot!! lol

Harlepolis said:

And that's what I'm asking: how to do so politely. You never know how a person is going to react, so manners should be key -as they should with everything.

That's all this thread was supposed to be about. But all of a sudden I'm being attacked for so-called PC bullshit.

I'm really getting tired of people bitching about political correctness. Most of the time, it seems, people are just annoyed because they're being asked not to behave like monkeys.

purplewisdom said:

When Cows go to Hajj(As my grandma would say ).

Thats the thing I noticed about Arabs, Afro-Arabs and Africans too,,,they have a STRONG pride in belonging to their "tribes"

Its a good thing, but its alienating to their OWN who grew up in "the west" who didn't learn all the traditions that they should've learned.

meow85 said:

I'm sorry,,,,,my post wasn't an attack against you as it was an against PC itself. I was talking in general terms and it wasn't directed to you personally, baby.

Come to think of it, nobody was attacking you, they were answering your ?uestion the way they feel HOW to. Folks were being honest.

And once again, I'm sorry if I sounded like I was attacking you

Harlepolis said:

Oh, I didn't mean you. Sorry about that.

Read up a few posts and you'll definitely see accusations of "PC bullshit" directed at me. Not exactly the friendliest of answers.

meow85 said:

Welcome to theOrg were cynicism is the mother language

meow85 said:

There's good and bad in everyone and unfortunately there is idiots everywhere, in any country, and no one could help it. Some won't mind if you ask them politely and naturally, some will. (However I think that's what Harlepolis meant)

But once you go beyond prejudices it's alright, just behave naturally like you would do with anyone else.

i guess the weird thing about this whole topic is that identity isn't as easy to define as a person's skin color or facial features, and that might be part of what makes this such a touchy topic.

i mean, we have people talking about whether they're african or canadian or american or german or whatever, and i think it all comes down to what the individual relates to the most. sure, biologically you may be of "X" ancestry, but in terms of your life experience, you might consider yourself 100% "Y". technically, both would be correct answers, but you can relate to one more than the other, so it doesn't matter if you look like you're from some one part of the world if another part of the world is all you know.

meow85 said:

sorry , i suppose that was a little blunt

Whenever I have new students it just sort of comes up....either they ask me or I ask them. I have no idea how to go about asking an adult. I guess if I wanted to know I'd just ask.

I have asked people about there accent many times and have never had a bad response. How else am I supposed to learn about different cultures and backgrounds.

it used to bother me a lot when i was younger, but i don't mind people asking so much now. especially if it comes up in conversation naturally somehow, that's totally cool. it's kinda weird when people bring it up out of nowhere, but eh

as long as you're not going about it by saying 'what ARE you, anyway?'

evenstar3 said:

i actually asked someone that once way back when i was in college, but we'd already slept together a few times by the time i asked - i figured i had the right to know.

yes, my life has been one big stupid seinfeld episode.

Anxiety said:

that kinda makes sense. it's more when someone you don't know that well has been looking at you for awhile, then randomly runs over and blurts that out that it gets weird.

Imago said:

A former colleague of mine married a man from Belgium. They went to the Indiana State Fair, where they were approached by somebody who said something like, "That's an interesting accent. Where are you from?"

He responded, "Belgium."

The reply? "Where in Indiana is that?"

matt said:

matt said:

What a countrified illiterate mess
[Edited 9/16/08 9:18am]

meow85 said:

In my mind, if she was born in Iowa (from the state of Iwoa), that's exactly what makes her Iowan. Her ancesters may or may not have been, but she and her parents and her parent's parents and etc. for 4 generations were.

I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA and still live here. That makes me a Minneapolitan, a Minnesotan and an American. Until I move or obtain a different citizenship, that's what I am and where I'm from.

And I realize now reading the whole thread, that piece of it was already discussed.

In any case, I agree with Anxy. I think we all identify with whatever we identify with.