Ever get mistaken for a foreigner in your own country?

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I've felt like that almost my entire life. I've never understood how or why people get so caught up in things like sports, reality shows, celebrities' lives, etc. I've pretty much always felt like I was Jane Goodall, studying a colony(or whatever the hell they call the groups)of gorillas, and I feel more and more that way the longer I live.

I have been, numerous times. For example, a shopkeeper asking if was used to the weather here, after asking where I was from. And another shopkeeper who told me "Welcome to xxxxxxxx". And numerous guys who made conversation in the toilets of bars who said I didn't seem like someone of this country's nationality. And someone who threatened me at a bus stop, because apparently I was a particular nationality. So I know the feeling, often in an ethnocentric, nationalistic way. Sorry to be vague about location, but I have decided to adopt a policy of geographical anonymity on this site, though some people might remember from previous posts.

I was told by a west indian woman at work that i didnt strike her as an american, i took it as a complement.

Btw, im also in CT.

Kinda...Im from Hawaii, we have a very distinct local culture. I get mistakened all the time that Im from another state. Occasionally a foreigner. So not quite another country. But oddly enough, when I was in california for school, people thought I was from there.

i do because im lebanese australian. i also get mistaken for other ethnic/racial backgrounds (french, spanish, indian, etc). conversations follow the same structure as yours:
them: so where are you from?
me: the shire...
them: no i mean really
me: i really do live there...
them: where are your parents from?
its quite racist really, i mean why is it that you are only considered a real australian if you are caucasian? especially if you consider that the country is made up almost entirely of migrants and if you discount first settlers then thats still a lot of migrants.

People tend to think I'm from Africa or some Caribbean island even though I've been in the southern part of the United States since I was born. They say that I have an accent and carry myself differently from all the "local yokels".

I'll take that as a complement.

Not quite a foreigner, but on more than one occasion people have said they thought I was from the Midwest. They're usually surprised to learn I was born and raised in Southern California.

I'm often asked where I'm from, or where my accent is from. I keep being confused by this because I live within a half hour of where I grew up.

I get mistaken for a foreigner all the time, but I'm not sure if it's because my mannerisms seem different or because people have overheard me speak a foreign language or seen me with foreigners before (I hang out with immigrants more than natives). It's probably a bit of both.

I have noticed that I get along better with foreigners though, both with foreigners in my own country and as a foreigner in other countries. People tend to be less uncomfortable and more accepting of me being different when they think it's just a cultural difference rather than a neurodifference, so they actually give me a chance and get to know me rather than get uncomfortable and avoid me.

Am an American, but there was a period in my 20's In which folks thought I was either British or Canadian.


I had my hair styled in bangs ( like a 'british rock star- some said), and listened to the Who, and watched so much Monty Python that apparently it all rubbed off on me and folks I met would say that I looked and sounded like a brit.

A young lady customer I helped on the store phone asked if I was canadian because I sounded like her boyfriend ( shoulda told her that 'for YOU I can be Canadian").

People often think I am from Europe. But when I was in England, they could tell I was an American from six blocks away.

I am a sub teacher and the students always ask me where I am from. I live 245 miles in the south from where I grew up. Until I found out about asp dx, I thought I talked proper. Black people said I sound like a "white girl". Now, I believe the weird sound of voice has to do with the aspie traits. I remember black friends who I always thought talked proper used to tell me that they would always remember my voice.

Yes.

I get mistaken for a New Yorker, right here in this part of Kansas. I came home to this house from the hospital as a newborn, and five of my eight great-grandparents are buried in this county (all four grandparents). Probably just the speed with which I talk when I get wound up, though the PhD Doctor who evaluated me said that I speak in an academic style, so that might help too -- though I don't get the impression that New Yorkers are all that academic.

People don't ask me. They tell me "You're not a New Orleanian." It's very annoying. New Orleans accents are somewhat diverse but still very distinguishable, and being that most of my family has lived in this city for several hundred years you'd think I'd sound, or at least look like everyone else in my family/city. And yet even though I'm white... I look asian for some reason, and I talk like a news anchor (except for my tendency to confuse "r" and "l" in words). Go figure

I've been told that I look Eastern European, sometimes even Russian, a number of times.
I'm very pale, have very dark brown hair, and eyes that change in colour between brown and hazel depending on degree of exposure to direct sunlight, so I guess I do look foreign to most people. Oh, and I dress like I might be a part of the Communist Party (that is, uniformally).

I think that looking unlike your fellow nationals is a good thing, however, because it makes relating to actual foreigners easier than NTs of your own cultural background, and allows you to make friends within the broader ethnic spectrum.