Is it appropriate or acceptable to

Not me but it was funny as owt .... for me anyway. We we're at Center Parcs in the Lakes a few year ago and I was getting an ice cream for me and the little un. The lad serving us made Gary Bennett look pale. There was a 60 year old (ish) fella beside us, next in the queue and he said to the lad "Where are you from?". The kid was concentrating on not dropping my mint choc chip scoop (the bairn had hers) and looked at the bloke as if he'd heard something but wasn't sure. So the fella repeated himself in slow, loud, and very distinct tones whilst leaning forward slightly, as is compulsory when addressing a person assumed to be from elsewhere, "W h e r e a r e Y o u (points at the kid) f r o m (does a circle movement with his finger) ?" The kid looked at him, then me while handing me my ice cream, then back at the bloke, smiled, and said "Carlisle !"
 


A friend of mine's daughter works in China, aparently 'Where's your hometown?' is quite a common question, largely due to the migration to big cities of rural populations. She always says Sunderland, which a suprising percentage of young Chinese know about presumably from our glory days in the Prem.
 
A friend of mine's daughter works in China, aparently 'Where's your hometown?' is quite a common question, largely due to the migration to big cities of rural populations. She always says Sunderland, which a suprising percentage of young Chinese know about presumably from our glory days in the Prem.

Probably a combination of that and uni students coming to the NE from China generally I Imagine.
 
As someone who has suffered racial abuse it has been used as a precursor to the classic why don't you fuck off back there/where you come from.
Whilst there are racists in the city, I think people in Sunderland are genuinely more open and interested in other people.

I could be wrong and have a rose tinted view of the friendliness of your average Sunderland resident.
 
I was on a conference call with load of Americans...who at the end, congratulated me on my grasp and use of the English language displayed on the call.

They'd mis-pronounced my surname as FOO and as result, assumed I was Asian.

If they'd simply asked me what part of China I was from or for my best Ma Po Tofu recipe, all the ensuing hilarity and years of piss taking could have been avoided.
 
As someone who has suffered racial abuse it has been used as a precursor to the classic why don't you fuck off back there/where you come from.
I can understand that. I sometimes get chatting to taxi drivers on my way back from town and if I ask I can sense them immediately tense up.
Mind we end up having some great conversations about it once they know I'm genuinely interested.
 
Perhaps we need a state "force" to stop people randomly in the street and lock them up for thought crimes or other things the elders dislike.

A kinda Stasi/Taliban/Religious police type thing?

Uniforms by Hugo Boss (Natch) and Clubs by Carbon fibre Composite.
 
When I worked darn sarf, I was asked on a regular basis where I came from...... or do you come from Newcastle?..... which was fuckin annoying. It's a common question to anyone that is a perceived stranger in a particular area.
At one time just walking into a North East pit village pub or club as a stranger, you were lucky if that question was even asked before you got a slap.!
I don't know if it would have been any different if I was a POC, but then would I put being questioned, down to my colour , depends how it's asked I suppose... ??...
 
I'll sometimes ask, but only if we've been talking and there's an accent there. But then I'd do that with anyone with a different accent. I just find accents fascinating and I like to hear about folk.

I always like that. Because I've moved around the north a bit (Bishop, Hull, Manchester, Lancashire) my accent has probably moved and melted a bit with it. It always amazed me when someone asked if I was Irish.
I've no idea how they came to that conclusion. Put me next to anyone from Ireland and I doubt I'll sound similar.
I remember this lass from my course at uni. Really nice. She was black, so you may have anticipated (rightly or wrongly) maybe a London accent or some other before she spoke, but she had a thick Glaswegian accent.
 
I'll sometimes ask, but only if we've been talking and there's an accent there. But then I'd do that with anyone with a different accent. I just find accents fascinating and I like to hear about folk.
I’m always being asked where I’m from. The one that bugs me when i tell someone I’m English is: “Are you from London itself?”

I often get mistaken for South African too

That’s Texas for you.
 
I’m always being asked where I’m from. The one that bugs me when i tell someone I’m English is: “Are you from London itself?”

I often get mistaken for South African too

That’s Texas for you.
Certainly had Irish and Scottish a lot. Even in Scotland. :lol:
Lad in the bogs at the Castle Tav asked me if I was a Geordie and never seen anyone backpedal and apologise so profusely as when I said Sunderland. :lol:
 

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