I am totally getting the last laugh....

[sparkle_jello]

I have the funniest situation, if you could call it that, that I wanted to share with you.

So after eight years of marriage I wanted my husband to change up his look a little, you know, allowable variety. Since he's asian I've always wanted him to do asian anime hair, seriously, I love crazy spiky asian hair but he says he's in a professional career and he can't do this kind of thing. So we compromised and he grew a mustache and small beard, maybe a goatee over the summer for me.

Well, I've learned to love the facial hair, it definitely gave me what I needed, but he comes to me the other night, all distraught looking and says, "I really want to shave my mustache and beard. Shady looking mexican people have started to come up to me speaking spanish like I'm one of them." (for clarification, he's not really racist, but I think you know what he's getting at).

I got all huffy but I was like, fine. He was getting all the stuff ready to shave his goatee when it occurred to him that his face had gotten tan, and if he shaves he will have the outline of said beard and mustache stuck there. He has decided he can't shave till mid winter. I laughed so hard I seriously almost busted.

[Incognito]

Wow, that sucks, but it is funny. Its can be offensive to be mistaken for someone/something that you aren't. I have been mistaken for Puerto Rican, Mexican, Brazilian, South Indian, and a slew of others. I think the one time I got a little offended was when I was buying some curry paste and other things to make chicken curry. The girl behind the register looked at the curry paste and said "So what do you do with this, put it on burritos or something?". She said it with a straight face and with total ignorance, but the fact is that she alluded to me being Mexican. I laughed and told her what it was really for.

I think I was a little offended because she caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting a black woman to mistake me for a Mexican. I have had varieties of spanish speaking people come up to me and start talking, but I expected it a little from them. When I told my wife she laughed for a good 30 minutes. She is always saying how I should stop talking about Mexicans because I look like a few of them.

[sparkle_jello]

Personally my preference is asian or latino so my husband looking kind of mexican is okay with me. In fact, I am almost inclined to say he looks more mexican than asian right now... I think it's upsetting to him because no one likes being mistaken for a different race.
When we bought our first house after we were married my husband and I were both in the military. We got a knock on the door once, we lived in tucson, az. It was border patrol. Someone called and reported us. Imaging how surprised they were when my husband answered in his military uniform.

[Incognito]

I think it's upsetting to him because no one likes being mistaken for a different race.

I think it is a little more upsetting to be mistaken for a Mexican. If you said that any other spanish speaking person was Mexican they'd be very offended. There is a generally a negative stigma associated with being Mexican, at least in my experiences. When I worked as a HVAC installer on a construction site the Mexicans were the most hated group of people there. They were SO dirty. They would eat Popeye's for lunch and then shit in the box and leave it in the middle of the floor of the apartment unit that they ate in. I'll note that there were no napkins or toilet paper in the box or in the unit, so they didn't wipe themselves. They would piss on our ductwork, and everywhere else. They even pissed down the main duct and when we fired the unit up the whole building smelled like boiling piss for a week. I'll never forget the time..... No wait, I'm going to have to start a new thread for that story LOL

[vashti]

??? That's silly. Mexicans are employed in all kinds of housekeeping jobs in Los Angeles. My Mexican patients are no dirtier than anyone else. Maybe construction workers in general are dirty.

[Incognito]

Hey, I can only go by what I've seen. Have I met some pretty upstanding Mexicans? Yes, but that was in Houston where there are tons of them. On the east coast (specifically the upper and middle portions) there seem to be a lot of the stereotypical dirty ones. I have had quite a few people from other countries say that no one had better call them Mexican because it was considered an insult, so I hardly think its silly.

I will say that construction workers are dirtier in general because of the nature of the work, but that has nothing to do with the fact that they shitted in boxes (and other things), and pissed everywhere. I'm not saying that I hate Mexicans, or that ALL of them are dirty, I'm just saying that to specifically call someone Mexican is usually offensive because because of the stigma associated with Mexico/Mexicans.

[misombra]

seriously? i can't even hang in this thread because it's just so offensive.

[vashti]

Ignorance abounds.

[Petit Papillon]

In Europe we don't have a bad opinion about latinos . I have some friends from Columbia and Argentina and they are cool And not dirty at all ... If someone would mistake me with latino - I wouldn't mind Hell, I don't like some nations (no I will not say loud which ones :p ) and if someone tells me I must be from one of those countries , I tell them they are wrong, I'm proud Polish and forget about it lol

[Incognito]

That's right I'm ignorant for speaking specifically about what I saw and about the opinions that others have about being called Mexican

I forgot that political correctness abounds everywhere, so we are all obligated to avoid voicing any opinion (or factual personal experience) that even remotely might offend anyone anywhere.

[Incognito]

Anyway, to avoid more hurt feeling over lack of political correctness I won't mention any more about my experiences or others opinions regarding Mexicans. Since your husband messes with you about the Lil Kim thing though, I suggest you call him George Lopez every time he brings her up, lol. That will burn his biscuits.