I actually mistook a coworker who was a mix of black, white, and native American for Mexican… When he found out, he responded with that, but more cursing before “Mexican.”
Since most Mexicans are of mixed European and and Native American heritage, and a sizable fraction have some African ancestry as well, it’s hardly the world’s most shocking mistake.
I know, right? And it doesn’t seem like a big deal to begin with. But shit, he flipped out. So as a result a group of us who were pals with him all started jokingly calling him Mexican at every chance we got.
And I, actually being of Mexican heritage, am often thought to be Philipina or Indian, usually by people who are either. My Mexican mix bag contains Native, Spanish, Berber/North African and Basque.
I saw a toddler in a store the other day and thought to myself “Cute kid. Looks Indian.” The I see his parents. Father African American, mother Asian, possibly Korean. It’s very interesting to me the was different traits blend. One if my kids looks straight Mexican, sort of on the Native side, one looks like he could be Mexican or Caucasian. My daughter looks straight Caucasian. She’s the only one with brown-red hair and ultra-light skin like their dad. None of them got his eye color. Shame too, even his eye dr thinks they’re awesome.
Never actually thought of those physical similarities, but now that you mention them… Well, we’re all from Cro-Magnons. Whites carrying just a little extra pinch of neanderthal, many Asians carrying some… Whatever that third species of human was called. So I guess it’s not too surprising that phenotype genetics mix and match like that. But it is neat.
negroid. caucasoid. mongaloid. is what i remember from school. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migrations
basically backs it up but clearly time has created more genetic diversity. 2 white europeans can have a child that is black and it has happened a quite a few times. google is your friend 😀
Well yeah, but when the two white people have a black kid it’s usually a case of a genetic mutation called hypermelanism, rather than dormant genes. Basically reverse albinism. (Sorry, bio dork/herpetoculturist.) And it’s nice to know negroid, caucasoid, and mongaloid are used outside of sociology, too. I’d incorrectly thought that they were field-specific terminology.
But just for the record, I was referring to how we now know that groups of humans contain genetics from two completely different species of intelligent hominids Cro-Magnons cohabitated Earth with thousands of years ago. It’s a neat little tidbit, so… We know that Cro-Mags intermingled with Neanderthals a bit in Europe and Asia, to what extent is debated… But almost 3% of the genome of your average white or Asian appears to come from the Neanderthals, and is not found in native Africans. We also interbred with the “Denisovans” in South Asia, which we didn’t even know existed until about 2010. To even further muddle it up, now that I do some more updated research today… There’s actually a FOURTH intelligent hominid we cohabitated with, as Homo erectus is now known to have continued to thrive in Indonesia hundreds of thousands of years beyond when we originally thought they went extinct. How much ya wanna bet we tapped them, too?
To sum it up: it is proven historical/biological fact that humans will fuck (with their penis) anything sapient they encounter. Prepare your anus (FAAAACES), aliens. Humanity is coming.
Filipina. Ph is only for the country. And I’m surprised that you get taken for Filipina or Indian, but then I always, always look at the eyes when I guess ethnicity, because eye shape + coloring + height usually get me to at least the right continent or area. Mostly, I just get so annoyed because when I say I’m not Mexican they don’t believe me; they have this look on their face, like “you’re not? WTF?”. It usually takes reciting the history of the Philippines, not to mention finding a map to show them that it exists, is a country, and is not in Mexico before they can wrap their minds around the idea that I’m not Hispanic. But like I said, I look at the eyes to guess, and maybe if the idiots would look me in the eyes, they could guess better too.
I always get confused on that one. I’ve spelled it both ways. Factor in that my first language is Spanish and the whole F/Ph thing gets ridiculous.
In jr high my best friend was Filipina. She originally approached me because I was the only other person who looked Filipina. It took me saying something about being Mexican, months after our first meeting, for her to realize I wasn’t. Many of my family members have been confused for Filipino.
Part of the problem with people guessing my ethnicity is that some Mexicans have eyes that can be confusing. I have a little epicanthic fold action going thanks to my Native ancestors. I have a cousin who, in his late teens, practically looked like Hirohito’s clone. That’s what I’m saying about traits combining in interesting ways. How much farther apart can you get than a Mexican American boy and a Japanese emperor? And yet the similarity in their appearance is pronounced.
Mostly I get mistaken for Indian when I’ve been out in the sun a lot.
This is sorta related, one of my friends didn’t believe me when I said that Filipinos look like a mix between Hispanics, Asians and Spaniards. I freaking went to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_people and she still didn’t believe me saying “The Filipinos I know don’t look like that.”
Accents are affected far more by peers than parents. I moved from the UK to the US as a kid, and picked up an American accent over time from my friends.
I also had a friend here whose father was English, but her attempt at a British accent of any sort was TERRIBLE.
That’s understandablely true, I also noticed that depending on your original accent and where you end up moving to, will determine whenever your accent will change or not.
eg: A man moving to Australia from the Scotish Highlands will continue to speak with that accent until they die but if an Australian moves to New York, their accent will change within a few years.
I agree. I live in an area with a lot of 1st and 2nd generation Americans (me being one of the former), and almost everyone has an American accent. Though I’ve been told that I have a slight Indian accent, due to my parents.
Billie was raised in southern Indiana, so there’s a likelihood a little southern accent in there, but not too much. Not enough for it to affect how I write her speech, anyway.
As a (southern) Hoosier, it is mandatory for her to leave the “g” off the –ing endings, and being so close to the Kentucky border, she’d drop a “y’all” here and there. Got to love our accent. Far up North and out West, we’re mistaken for the deep South. =P
Tootsi is a minor character from one of Willis’ previous strips, in an alternate universe. When he recycled her into Dumbing of Age to use as a background character, he changed her name to Sierra. I’m not sure if you’re being facetious or not, so maybe I’ll look dumb here, but they’re the same person, so we can cool it with the “Who’s on First” sthick now
I never knew I was doing the Who’s on First routine. Usually when I do that people never seem to get the joke. Then again, name one 19 year old Malaysian that has an interest in American humor since he is 5 years old.
I was in a dorm room next to someone as bad as Joyce in my freshmen year. Was really good friends with a nice guy from India, but assumed he was Mexican. Why? Because the guy was obviously not white or black, therefore Mexican is the default.
Mexican looks vary a lot, aside from the hair. It isn’t hugely surprising that almost any mixed race set of features could be mistaken for Mexican. If Joyce is actually familiar with the Mexican look, this could say something unusual about the texture of Billie’s hair, though.
YES THERE ARE, for one, no Australian would put up with elections that take up to two years to complete as we has less tolerance for political bullshit than Americans seem to.
Two, just about every creature in Australia wants to kill you, usually with some kind of super venom.
Three, Australians clearly don’t like Starbucks as they were forced to shut down two thirds of their cafes a few years ago.
The probem with your question is that “American” isn’t really an etnicity unless you are refferring to people of First Nations heritage, and even then there are dozens of different ethnicities that call this continent home.
I don’t care what race they belong to, if they sound like they have an American accent, they are all Yanks… unless they are white and sound like Southerners, then they are all Confederates.
The probem with your question is that “American” isn’t really an etnicity unless you are refferring to people of First Nations heritage, and even then there are dozens of different ethnicities that call this continent home.
See, that’s precisely the reason why I posted that. Mexican and Puerto Rican aren’t ethnicities either. 😉
Also, I submit that in a world where the Octo-Mom is possible, it apparently is possible to be a “little pregnant”. There would have to be a such a state since there’s clearly a “Holy SH*T! Way too pregnant” state.
“Soooo… were are you from?”
“Germany?”
“No, no your skin is so dark, you can’t be from Germany!”
“Oh, well my father is rom Mexico.”
“Ah, why didn’t you say you were from Mexico?”
“Because I ain’t I was born in Berlin, grew up in Berlin and more or less lived my hold live in Berlin. I speak way better German than Spanish and just overall do no feel as attached to Mexico as I feel towards Germany.”
“What do you have against Mexico? Are you some kind of racist?”
“No, as I said I love Mexico, I just do not feel as a citizen of it.”
“But your father comes from Mexico!”
“Um…yeah?”
“So you ARE MExican!”
*Cue facepalm from me and everybody who knew me at that party*
Yeah, I was mostly just saying it because of the Leslie avatar. Heteronormative seems like one of those words she would love. I didn’t have anything productive to add, sorry.
I’ve had so many conversations like that. Some barbatan guy crossed the ocean nine generations ago. I’m not from anywhere. Nothing but pure unadulterated Canadian in me going back to the eighteenth century.
Reminds me of something from my former job. I’m half Korean, half caucasian, and have lived in the U.S. pretty much all my life. Some customer comes up and says hello to my co-workers, then turns to me and says “I dunno how to say hello in your native language!” My co-worker says English is my native language, as I don’t speak anything else and the customer replied “No. It isn’t!”
😛
I’ve also been called various races throughout my life– Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Eskimo, Hispanic… every great now and then someone actually gets it right, though. Almost makes up for someone pointing and yelling “Jackie Chan!” or “You look like that dude from ‘Heroes!'”
“Where are you from?”
“England.”
“You don’t look British. Your skin is too dark. Where are your parents from?”
“England.”
“Where are you grandparents from?”
“England.”
“…So you’re adopted?”
Despite that fact that I could just be part some other ethnicity and still English for generations back, there IS such a thing as ethnically “white” people having tan-ish skin.
Not even racial, but similar, from years ago when I worked at a truck stop:
Trucker: “I’m a long way from home, glad to be on my way back.”
my Co-worker: “Oh. Where are you from?”
Trucker: “Ontario.”
co-worker: “Where’s that?”
Trucker: “It’s up in Canada.”
co-worker: “Oh! Oh, see, here we call that ‘Montreal’.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Though you can’t legally renounce your nationality, i.e. citizenship, without another nation accepting you first. You have the right to a nationality, but you don’t have the right to not have a nationality.
Only if Billie was actually insulted by been called Mexican, but that look Billie is giving is more likely to be “How in the fuck did you come to THAT conclusion?” kind of look.
Uh, no, thelastnerd. Joyce is actually wrong in the last panel. Being offended that someone gets your ethnicity wrong is not the same as being racist against the group they identified you as.
And really, being falsely identified as Mexican is extremely common.
Try being SE asian with a Spanish last name. I’ve had people ask to see my green card before and compliment me on my american accent. Lucky bastards had one of those really heavy reception desks in front of them or I may have punched him. It’s incredibly infuriating.
As a biracial (half black, half white girl) I get mistaken for Puerto Rican pretty much all the time. Most of the time I cut people some slack because when I straighten my hair I guess I do look Puerto Rican. I guess I’ve just accepted that my race usually isn’t immediately identifiable it’s really in how people ask though and sometimes it is worse if they just assume for example I’ve also been mistaken for middle eastern on more than one occasion. The second time I was actually in a convenience store when a guy started chatting me up in line and then asked me if I was related to the kid working the cash register. I mean, honestly? I was standing in line and paying for a drink!
Is there a /good/ way to ask about someone’s race? I generally just avoid the topic unless the other person mentions it first. Otherwise I feel really rude, as though I had just asked someone “So… you’ve got teeth. WTF’s up with that?”
From my personal experience, there is no good way to do it. The very best possible result is an awkward moment. I’ve been on the receiving end of it more than once.
Then again, I’ve been on the asking end as well. The thing that made it less awkward was that I was flirting and I was almost right (I was off by less than 100 miles and a border dispute).
Hmmm….well honestly I think it depends on the person. Some people can get really offended so I would just recommend it not being the very first thing that comes out of your mouth when meeting someone, wait an appropriate amount of time and then if you’re really curious just ask and try to be polite about it. Usually by that point I will have offered the information (family discussion does come up). The most common way NOT to ask I would say is “So what are you?” which is what I get the most because, ya know, not a “what”.
Another good idea is to ask about a person’s name. “The name Billingsworth isn’t common around here, where does your family come from?” Not the best example if you are expecting a Mexican or Japanese name but it still works.
Yeah. People generally just assume I’m whatever they are. I’ll never understand how I can look white, middle eastern, hispanic, greek, really just about all I’ve never gotten is asian.
Mixed race really does seem to throw people off track. Even moreso in small towns where evidently a white man can’t have a little complexion. I imagine Joyce has a very stringent idea of what white looks like.
Judging by Billie’s reaction though I’d guess she doesn’t get this very often. Within universe is it assumed she looks blatantly asian?
One of my uncle gets people constantly adressing him in arabic. One of my friend has had people assume she was half-chinese and her husband, while in New-York, was confused for both an italian and jewish person. All three are as white as I am. My uncle used to look like Borat when he was younger and sported a big ‘stache :p
Joyce, please stop talking. When you’re in a hole, the correct procedure is to stop digging. Not to keep digging all the way to the other side of the planet.
But wouldn’t you reach the upper mantle when you are digging all the way to the other side of the planet? In other words if you keep digging, you’ll get burned.
It does seem like an overreaction on Billie’s part to me. I mean, my first reaction was “Hey, Joyce makes a good point”!
As a mixed race girl myself (half-Mexican!), I’ve actually gotten used to people guessing I’m just about everything EXCEPT Mexican. I’ve gotten Italian, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Spanish (which is at least closer)…but not often Mexican. I’m used to people getting my racial background wrong, even though I have a Mexican last name. English/Japanese doesn’t seem like it would be that common a combination, so you’d think Billie would also be used to people not guessing it correctly. Then again, she’s a lot more easily pissed off than I am. 🙂
I think she’s just dumbfounded at Joyce’s cluelessness. I mean, look how pale she is… Hispanic? Really? Not to mention if you’re just taking a stab at someone’s race “Hispanic” is probably a better guess than “Mexican”.
It’s okay. I am mexican and have been confused with asian or part asian. XD
And Billie does look exactly like one of my neighbors, who is part japanese, part white mexican except my friend is blonde… no really, I am serious she really is.
Sierra is pretty hot, assuming she’s the the black-haired chick in the final panel. If she’s actually the girl in the first panel, I’m going to go ahead and preemptively assume hotness anyway.
Though if Billie’s half English it explains the alcohol thing.
My bestest buddy in the whole wide world is half Scots, half Chinese. A lot of the patients think she’s from Italy. (And the Scots part means she likes a drink and the Chinese part means she can’t process it so well. It’s hilarious.)
Well we Irish have the Scotts beat in alcoholism, blind anger and arguably, even disgusting food. We make everything out of potatoes, whiskey and garbage meat
I have no animosity whatsoever toward haggis, with the exception of what North American health codes and wannabe pubs have done to this once fine dish.
Being from an island clan, though, I’m more partial to things like congee, the closest anyone now gets to porridge the way my ancestors ate it.
I’ll take them on a case by case, situation by situation, basis. While I have found some to be annoyingly arrogant on every subject under the sun, it’s possible that was not actual arrogance so much as it was a difference in communication. This has not been a universal experience; I’ve met more than my fair share of diplomatic and amiable English. Just as there isn’t just one American or Canadian culture, why would we assume there’s only one English (or Scottish) culture? Heck, a quarter of a million of them have Chinese ancestry!
Besides, even within any culture, some people are just jerks.
The UK has a more relaxed attitude toward alcohol – even ignoring the 18/21 thing, over there it’s not considered abnormal to have a few every evening, which is a HUGE red flag over here.
“Many are they who would profess a deep love of alcohol, but the ones who have earned any love in return are few and far between. Love that is mutual knows no bounds, and even in death or destruction it perseveres everlasting.
Ms Billingsworth is amongst the blessed few who have known the power of such emotion. That is why I trust her.”
“the love of alcohol persists through tears and burns and even annihilation. Utter destruction is not enough to keep it from longing to return to her side.
It goes to such lengths not only because she’s infused it with her life, but because it knows she’s willing to sacrifice everything for it.
… Everything in the world.
For that it is willing to remain by her side in the face of any difficulty she might encounter.”
Mistaking a half-Asian person for a Mexican isn’t all that crazy. Your typical Mexican is a mestizo, which means he or she is roughly half Native American, half Caucasian. Native Americans and East Asians have a relatively close common ancestry, so take that common ancestry, dilute it with some white genes, and you have something that blurs the line and can look like something their not.
I’m half Chinese myself, and I know that I look kind of like a Native American. More so than a Chinese person, to be honest.
I have to share a storie I heard.
A woman was talking about her cousin first enconter with a black man.
It happened in Quebec,in the Maritime,years ago.when there was no black people,at all in the area.
he was four waiting in line at a store with her,no idea how old she was, and there was a big black man in front of them,with necklase and rings.Just like in the movies we could see at the time.
She kew her cousin would say or do something and was afraid but he just looked at the man.She was glad.untill the man left and the kid ran after him and started to lick is hand…
He said the her”come,the chocolate man taste good.”
And the man was just laughing with her wanting to die.
Sometimes there are odd moments when I look around myself and I feel reminded of a medieval europe where everyone was living predominately in ignorance and in a permanent state of mild alcohol poisoning.
At times I wonder if perhaps there isn’t actually any reason to it all. Perhaps our world is comprised of madness and our attempts to make sense of it all is just another manifestation of the inherent absurdity of existence. Some manner of cosmic metahumor.
Racial debate tends to make me feel like those are the moments of clarity. There is a god, and she speaks to us through her laughter. The cackling laugh of the hyena. The deep and soulful laugh of a man who’s realized he has nothing left to lose. The shrill earpiercing laugh of an infant who knows not what has been seen. The stuttering, halting giggle of one who knows something that nobody else does.
There is but one God and her name is Pinkie Pie. Swear fealty to her and she will show you how to navigate the insanity that is space and time. Break past the fourth wall and free yourself from the confines of reality. Discard truth and accept her cloven embrace.
Yeah, treating eachother like human beings regardless of relative levels of skin pigmentation and regionally associated physical characteristics being a cause for celebration is half the problem.
This isn’t something cool that happened/happening, this is something uncool that’s stopped/stopping. No reason to go patting ourselves on the back over this.
Treating people as human beings means acknowledging differences, so that we might better address them. When we fail to do so, privilege forms.
The more we recognize diversity, the more we recognize that none of us are just one thing. I’m not just a Canadian, or a Newfoundlander (and unless you’re from the island, calling me a Newfie or Newf is not appropriate), or a Scot, or a left-handed Presbyterian Methodist with Congregationalist sympathies.
You didn’t spontaneously arise from nothing. You have history, and it matters. It doesn’t give anyone the right to assume you’re a drunk that lives for hockey (a game I won’t give the time of day), but it matters. The better we understand that, the better we can accept other people, rather than simply expecting them to automatically conform to our own standards.
Why should they, when our history shows just how good our ancestors have been at screwing up things?
I refuse to trust anyone who hyphenates themselves.
I am NOT an Atheist-American, or a Fiscally Conservative-American, or a Socially Liberal-American, or a Scots-German-Irish-English-Welsh-Polish-Iroquois-American.
I’m an American who happens to be those other things, and I make wee-wee on stereotypes.
“I refuse to trust anyone who hyphenates themselves.”
If you have a low opinion of anyone that chooses to view an African or Asian heritage as important as the American, as indicated by your refusal to trust them, then what you really are is a bigot.
I dislike using such an ugly word, but when you discriminate against others based on how they identify themselves, it’s the most appropriate.
I apologize for coming off much more hostile than I intend. My issue with the words, which might not match the intent, was with the refusal. The gap between refusal to trust and mistrust is measured by the possibility of cooperation.
We as individuals have history. This is true without grouping people together.
One of the founding principles of our democracy is that everybody has a voice. Our culture is comprised of all the parts. Whether someone’s voice draws upon a cultural history they identify with or whether it’s just their own personal history is insignificant. No voice is ever invalid. Making cultural history a factor in that is to imply that it could validate or invalidate a voice. Neither should ever be true.
Either way I never said anything about not acknowledging differences. I’m not talking about ignoring differences or pretending like we don’t have diversity. We do. It’s just not a cause for celebration. Lava Lamps utilize hot wax and cheap light bulbs, Ontario draws a lot of power from the Niagra Damn, and we’re a culturally diverse society. Just a fact. It’s something that is. Celebrating it is just demeaning to everyone though. It’s demeaning to those we’re saying are cool because of their cultural background rather than the views and opinions they bring to the table. It’s demeaning to us as a nation to pat ourselves on the back for such a basic level of decency.
More than that it separates more than it joins. Of course they don’t have to conform to our cultural norms. No one does. Many people without another culture to draw upon still don’t conform to some norms. Despite this it’s through those who break the trends that new trends are developed and that we grow as a culture. This is the same if the new ideas you bring in are from another country or because you just don’t agree with a commonly held viewpoint. Separating between their culture and ours denies the very nature of a democracy designed to be the sum of its’ parts.
We’re a nation that allows enough freedom that one can defy a norm. This isn’t new shit here, it’s just being extended to some people who have been unfairly denied that in the past, and still are in multiple ways.
So yeah. People are different from eachother. Let’s not go celebrating our ability to accept this most basic truth. It’s congratulations for a job that shouldn’t have needed doing in the first place and still isn’t done.
When you think constructively, nothing is “just a fact”.
We celebrate what has worth, even when we might otherwise fail to recognize that worth. If we don’t, are we more likely to fail to recognize that… or less? It’s not a matter of self congratulations, though that is a problem.
But we don’t enable people to defy a norm by refusing to acknowledge all of the norms our society contains. LGBT efforts, for example, suffer for a lack of non-white (and sometimes non-male) voices for reasons like that.
Being a Canadian makes me no better than being anything else. Being willing to acknowledge that’s not all I am shows willing to accept that it’s not all anyone else has to be either.
In other words, it’s support for a willingness to defy the norm that is being Canadian.
Once again, never said anything about refusing to acknowledge cultural norms. We have them, not everyone follows them. More people have that privilege now than used to.
We as a nation should be capable of at least that much. We as a nation should be capable of more.
However I’m unwilling to say more than that on the issue since your remarks about it not being about self congratulation have me suspecting I don’t actually know what “Celebrate” means in this sense, and that kind of fubars my entire stance on the notion. I’ll just add that I’m not in anyway stating that people shouldn’t fight for the rights and acceptance of themselves and others. Not talking about shoving the issue under a rug at all.
But pat yourselves on the back for such a basic level of decency makes you look better than Americans (especially the ones south of the Mason-Dixon) in the eye of the world.
No one is an island onto themselves. Humans are social creatures, we survive as a collective not as an individual, that is why the family is the fundemental unit of society.
Look, I get that you’re all upset about ethnicity or something, but does no one else care that Joyce is not wearing footwear in the shower?! Athlete’s foot-town, here you come!
A highly contagious skin disease that’s most commonly found among pre-school children. That doesn’t mean older people are immune to it.
One summer camp I attended in my teen years lost about an eighth to a quarter (depending on the program) of its attendees, though it turned out a fair number of them were falsely diagnosed. We spent the day disinfecting everything in our quarters, which was a real pain when it came to washing those fifteen foot high ceilings.
I’m going to cut Joyce some slack here, since she never brought her assumption up until Billie stated her heritage. Likewise, the situation with Sarah arose from a matter of thinking she might have accidentally crossed boundary lines.
Better to open your mouth and be thought a fool than to keep it shut and remain one.
i’m amazed that there are 180-odd posts here and only three contain the word “Hispanic”. isn’t it preferable to use “Hispanic” and “Asian” instead of “Mexican” and “Chinese”? that’s what i try to teach my kids, because those are the generalizations that seem to be made around here…
As mexican I can tell you that most of the people I know don’t like the term “hispanic” or do not care about it. Specially as it is used as an indicator of race when it only makes a classification of the language we speak. Given the diversity of people there is among all latin america and spain I do find it anoying such a term for lumping all people. But that is my personal opinion.
I am mexican, I do not mind being refered as that, hispanic I do mind.
I mean, I think most of the posts made were talking about Mexicans specifically, as in, people from Mexico. “Hispanic”, like Romanticide said, is just a lump term for Latin Americans, no? So it makes sense people wouldn’t say Hispanic. If they’re talking about Mexican. Doesn’t really have anything to do with how politically correct they were being. Same goes for “Chinese” versus “Asian” in this context, I think.
No it isn’t actually. My Chinese professor flipped shit when someone called her Asian.
Same way with some Spanish foreign exchange students who went to my old high school. A teacher made the mistake of calling them Latinos. Needless to say there was a lot of apologizing.
wow. here i thought i was being PC (not that PC doesn’t suck or anything). i just thought it was better to use the more general term “Hispanic” when you don’t actually know if the person is Mexican or Puerto Rican or Dominican or descended from another Spanish-speaking country. Obviously the best thing to do would be to just ask the person… but if I haven’t had that opportunity, I’d hate to refer to someone as “the Mexican girl we met yesterday” when in fact she was from Peru or Spain. I always thought “Hispanic” was best in that situation.
Having heard from folks who’ve been there, though, I will now be more careful about generalizing like that.
I’m not saying that everyone is like that, some people will be like “Oh I’m from Mexico” if you call them hispanic, but then you have to call them Mexican.
It’s in my experience though that I have seen most people get bent out of shape over it.
It’s just safer to refer to them as people or “You know that guy we met”
I guess it’s easy to mistake people for Mexicans. I dated a girl for a while and It wasn’t til 3 dates in that I discovered she was actually descended from Slavic Jews. Not Mexican at all.
I’m just wondering why everybody’s making a big deal about this. This is just supposed to show that Joyce is a super, super small town girl, and Billie is highly reactive, not unlike plutonium. In fact, as we’ve seen aspects of them just like this before, why is everybody focusing on this and going on about various degrees of offensiveness? Why is everybody sharing stories and taking offense to other commente–
Oh wait, it’s about race. Never mind then.
Carry on the bongoing.
What shit has been stirred up? I think overall the discussion has been quite civil. There’s been little to no “OMG JOYCE IS A STUPID RACIST!” Or “BILLIE IS AN OVERSENSITIVE BABY!” and some people who have had genuine questions about how to deal with a situation like this have been allowed to ask questions they would have most likely been to self conscious to ask in person but because it’s about race we’re not allowed to talk about it? Honestly I think for a lot of people once in awhile actually talking about real world issues for a little bit is a nice break from the constant silly chatter just like the lighthearted discussions are a break for people who may have too much going on in their real lives. Politics, sex, race and religion are interesting things to discuss which is why when given the chance people like to discuss them. if we don’t attack each other and learn from each other what’s the problem? A balance doesn’t hurt anyone.
Have we offended you with our sudden interest in analyzing the characters’ personalities and backgrounds while comparing them to real world anecdotes? Has the unprecedented liberal social commentary left a sour taste? Are you disturbed that we are focusing so much on something as unworthy of thought and mental energy as race/racism when the strip’s title has nothing to do with that at all?
On behalf of the entire comment section, I apologize for not meeting the daily quota of penisFAAAAAAAACE. We will try not to get too far off topic in the future.
Jeff Schuetze of Jefbot fame is half Japanese himself, and did a whole story arc about how he kept getting mistaken for a Mexican, thus earning Spanish language McDonalds commercial acting jobs.
To Whites Hispanics are “Mexicans.”
To Mexicans Asians are “Chinos” (Chinese).
To Chinese whites are “Americans”
(sometimes “white devils” just as blacks are “black devils”).
Some call it ignorance: poets call it “synechdoche”–the part stands for the whole.
Got a Brazilian friend who resents being called “Hispanic”; he suggests “Portugalic” instead.
I’ve heard a story about two six-year-old girls meeting for the first time at a playground with their families in tow, and playing teaparty, on the swings, etc. for about two hours before they realized they were both adopted from China by white parents. At what age do we become Joyce-aware about “race?”
I do like the idea of calling shipping pairs combos. “Hi. I’ll take some Billie with a side of Joyce. And could you supersize that? I’d like a shake with those fries.”
Bring it on, Old Gods. I got Old Man Henderson on speed dial, a laundry list of favors he owes me, and a truckload of equipment (that’ll get blown up anyway – better it than me).
One summoned god? Meaningless – it’ll be over in a jiff.
Two? Meh. He’ll see the namblies what stole his gnomes.
The whole damn pantheon? A lazy Sunday afternoon.
…also.
Where exactly did this divergence from the topic come from?
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She not use to diversity.
Oh Joyce…
Well, she maybe the best socialized in her home school class but she still the purehearted naive girl at heart.
I now want to see what the other kids would be like in this situation.
Actually, so would I.
I’d pay a nickel to see that, but I already spent that nickel on your mom.
“I AM NOT A MEXICAN”
[/Clueless]
I AM A HUMAN BEING!
I AM A MAN! *punches wall*
Potato, female potato who gives ah funk.
I am a real american, fight for the rights of every man, I am a real american, fight for your rights, fight for your LIFE!
I am the warrior. Well I am the warrior, and heart to heart you’ll win, if you survive the warrior. The Warrior!
I may be decended from Normans, but I’m no Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey.
After four years hell any sane person would surrender.
Except for a masochists.
I am the walrus.
…. Are you a conspiracy nut?
Nope, I’m just plain nuts.
So, how are you holding up?
Because I’m a potato!
Wrong avatar for that.
I actually mistook a coworker who was a mix of black, white, and native American for Mexican… When he found out, he responded with that, but more cursing before “Mexican.”
Since most Mexicans are of mixed European and and Native American heritage, and a sizable fraction have some African ancestry as well, it’s hardly the world’s most shocking mistake.
Were all connected deep down in our blood and even moreso in our deep unease and hatred of eachothers blood
I know, right? And it doesn’t seem like a big deal to begin with. But shit, he flipped out. So as a result a group of us who were pals with him all started jokingly calling him Mexican at every chance we got.
And I, actually being of Mexican heritage, am often thought to be Philipina or Indian, usually by people who are either. My Mexican mix bag contains Native, Spanish, Berber/North African and Basque.
I saw a toddler in a store the other day and thought to myself “Cute kid. Looks Indian.” The I see his parents. Father African American, mother Asian, possibly Korean. It’s very interesting to me the was different traits blend. One if my kids looks straight Mexican, sort of on the Native side, one looks like he could be Mexican or Caucasian. My daughter looks straight Caucasian. She’s the only one with brown-red hair and ultra-light skin like their dad. None of them got his eye color. Shame too, even his eye dr thinks they’re awesome.
Never actually thought of those physical similarities, but now that you mention them… Well, we’re all from Cro-Magnons. Whites carrying just a little extra pinch of neanderthal, many Asians carrying some… Whatever that third species of human was called. So I guess it’s not too surprising that phenotype genetics mix and match like that. But it is neat.
negroid. caucasoid. mongaloid. is what i remember from school. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migrations
basically backs it up but clearly time has created more genetic diversity. 2 white europeans can have a child that is black and it has happened a quite a few times. google is your friend 😀
Well yeah, but when the two white people have a black kid it’s usually a case of a genetic mutation called hypermelanism, rather than dormant genes. Basically reverse albinism. (Sorry, bio dork/herpetoculturist.) And it’s nice to know negroid, caucasoid, and mongaloid are used outside of sociology, too. I’d incorrectly thought that they were field-specific terminology.
But just for the record, I was referring to how we now know that groups of humans contain genetics from two completely different species of intelligent hominids Cro-Magnons cohabitated Earth with thousands of years ago. It’s a neat little tidbit, so… We know that Cro-Mags intermingled with Neanderthals a bit in Europe and Asia, to what extent is debated… But almost 3% of the genome of your average white or Asian appears to come from the Neanderthals, and is not found in native Africans. We also interbred with the “Denisovans” in South Asia, which we didn’t even know existed until about 2010. To even further muddle it up, now that I do some more updated research today… There’s actually a FOURTH intelligent hominid we cohabitated with, as Homo erectus is now known to have continued to thrive in Indonesia hundreds of thousands of years beyond when we originally thought they went extinct. How much ya wanna bet we tapped them, too?
Take that intelligent design. :b
The lesson here is that if it has two legs and a body temp somewhere in the 90s we will try to breed with it.
Take that creationism. 😛
To sum it up: it is proven historical/biological fact that humans will fuck (with their penis) anything sapient they encounter. Prepare your anus (FAAAACES), aliens. Humanity is coming.
Filipina. Ph is only for the country. And I’m surprised that you get taken for Filipina or Indian, but then I always, always look at the eyes when I guess ethnicity, because eye shape + coloring + height usually get me to at least the right continent or area. Mostly, I just get so annoyed because when I say I’m not Mexican they don’t believe me; they have this look on their face, like “you’re not? WTF?”. It usually takes reciting the history of the Philippines, not to mention finding a map to show them that it exists, is a country, and is not in Mexico before they can wrap their minds around the idea that I’m not Hispanic. But like I said, I look at the eyes to guess, and maybe if the idiots would look me in the eyes, they could guess better too.
I always get confused on that one. I’ve spelled it both ways. Factor in that my first language is Spanish and the whole F/Ph thing gets ridiculous.
In jr high my best friend was Filipina. She originally approached me because I was the only other person who looked Filipina. It took me saying something about being Mexican, months after our first meeting, for her to realize I wasn’t. Many of my family members have been confused for Filipino.
Part of the problem with people guessing my ethnicity is that some Mexicans have eyes that can be confusing. I have a little epicanthic fold action going thanks to my Native ancestors. I have a cousin who, in his late teens, practically looked like Hirohito’s clone. That’s what I’m saying about traits combining in interesting ways. How much farther apart can you get than a Mexican American boy and a Japanese emperor? And yet the similarity in their appearance is pronounced.
Mostly I get mistaken for Indian when I’ve been out in the sun a lot.
This is sorta related, one of my friends didn’t believe me when I said that Filipinos look like a mix between Hispanics, Asians and Spaniards. I freaking went to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filipino_people and she still didn’t believe me saying “The Filipinos I know don’t look like that.”
British + Chinese = Mexican???
Half British and half Chinese? Rrrrrowwww..
I was doing Joyce maths.
Yeah and I was doing my hot girl math.
Just kidding about the hot girl math. Just that Billie just start getting hotter and hotter or it could be the heat in my country
She does become more appealing when she isn’t acting like a drunken jerk.
Come to think of it, you’re right.
You avatar makes that sound so Tsun.
Tsun but no dere?
Nein, that we gotta leave to Billie in her Walky scenes.
Agreed!
Half British. Half Chinese. All American!
It’s best to just not thing about.
You’ll give yourself a headache. 🙁
I’m just wondering whether Billie has an accent.
Yeah, an American accent. 😛
Accents are affected far more by peers than parents. I moved from the UK to the US as a kid, and picked up an American accent over time from my friends.
I also had a friend here whose father was English, but her attempt at a British accent of any sort was TERRIBLE.
That’s understandablely true, I also noticed that depending on your original accent and where you end up moving to, will determine whenever your accent will change or not.
eg: A man moving to Australia from the Scotish Highlands will continue to speak with that accent until they die but if an Australian moves to New York, their accent will change within a few years.
I agree. I live in an area with a lot of 1st and 2nd generation Americans (me being one of the former), and almost everyone has an American accent. Though I’ve been told that I have a slight Indian accent, due to my parents.
I always imagined her with a Southern accent…
Billie was raised in southern Indiana, so there’s a likelihood a little southern accent in there, but not too much. Not enough for it to affect how I write her speech, anyway.
As a (southern) Hoosier, it is mandatory for her to leave the “g” off the –ing endings, and being so close to the Kentucky border, she’d drop a “y’all” here and there. Got to love our accent. Far up North and out West, we’re mistaken for the deep South. =P
See, I’m from northern Indiana, near Indianapolis, so I always read her as a typical midwesterner.
I always imagine Joyce speaking in that bizzare faux-midwestern accent that everyone in Fargo had.
Wait, new character approaching: Sierra? Did I just forget her?
She’s the one right behind Dorothy, right?
You mean Tootsi?
Who’s Tootsi?
One of Mandy’s bisexual friends.
If Tootsi is standing behind Joyce, where is Sierra?
Who?
Tootsi is a minor character from one of Willis’ previous strips, in an alternate universe. When he recycled her into Dumbing of Age to use as a background character, he changed her name to Sierra. I’m not sure if you’re being facetious or not, so maybe I’ll look dumb here, but they’re the same person, so we can cool it with the “Who’s on First” sthick now
We would but Who is dead. ;(
Thank you for clearing that up.
Oh God when I saw that comment I checked the news for recent deaths of former Doctors…
No HE already died. I was talking about the basball player Who.
R.I.P. David Tennant :*(
R.I.P. Captain Jack :'(
I never knew I was doing the Who’s on First routine. Usually when I do that people never seem to get the joke. Then again, name one 19 year old Malaysian that has an interest in American humor since he is 5 years old.
Joyce can’t tell apart a Mexican from an Asian? Joyce never went outside of her comfort zone a lot, does she?
Or county for that matter.
I was in a dorm room next to someone as bad as Joyce in my freshmen year. Was really good friends with a nice guy from India, but assumed he was Mexican. Why? Because the guy was obviously not white or black, therefore Mexican is the default.
So I must be Mexican! xD
Nothing wrong with been ‘Mexican’ is there? 😛
Nope! 🙂 But I’m not Mexican. 🙁
I’m not black nor am I white and I’m not a Mexican.
GASP! THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE! *mind explodes*
its like some great unfathomable riddle of the universe. God help you if your an Eskimo because your local spacetime might just disintegrate
You’re human.
Mexican looks vary a lot, aside from the hair. It isn’t hugely surprising that almost any mixed race set of features could be mistaken for Mexican. If Joyce is actually familiar with the Mexican look, this could say something unusual about the texture of Billie’s hair, though.
Billie’s becoming somewhat tolerable now. Great!
🙂
In bed.
with your penis.
(inb4 for a nickel)
It is best to use your own penis instead of borrowing someone elses.
Joyce should have said that she thought billie was Puerto Rician instead of Mexican.
Is there all that much difference between Puerto Rician and Mexican?
Other than one is a US citizen by birth and one isn’t, no. There is also no difference w.a.s.p. and a mexican either.
Danke!
I’m White-ish but not Anglo-Saxon or Protestant.
It is just an example. 🙁
Damn it, wrong emot.
Don’t fret over it.
psst we do have of those here in Mexico you know 😉
Is there all that much difference between Australians and Americans?
-airfox
No there isn’t. 😀
YES THERE ARE, for one, no Australian would put up with elections that take up to two years to complete as we has less tolerance for political bullshit than Americans seem to.
Two, just about every creature in Australia wants to kill you, usually with some kind of super venom.
Three, Australians clearly don’t like Starbucks as they were forced to shut down two thirds of their cafes a few years ago.
And yet you can’t stop the annual japanese violation of the Australian Economic Exclusion Zone. 😐
Whale Meat: It’s the beef of the sea. 😀
No that’s manatee. 😐
I know they are known as sea cows but I was refering to this ad HERE.
Oooooohhhhhh.
Ha, oh… Jack jumper ants. Anyway, aren’t you guys pretty adamantly anti-nuke, too?
I know New Zealand is, that’s for sure.
The probem with your question is that “American” isn’t really an etnicity unless you are refferring to people of First Nations heritage, and even then there are dozens of different ethnicities that call this continent home.
I don’t care what race they belong to, if they sound like they have an American accent, they are all Yanks… unless they are white and sound like Southerners, then they are all Confederates.
See, that’s precisely the reason why I posted that. Mexican and Puerto Rican aren’t ethnicities either. 😉
-airfox
Remember, everyone, Joyce is the best socialized in her home school group.
Which doesn’t bode well for the rest of her group.
Could be worse.
Yeah, they could be there with her.
-Mary- could be from her school group.
Imagine her shock.
You mean the nudist??
She would be the second-best socialized. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
Could be dead.
“How?” “Could be raining.”
That’s like saying one is “slightly pregnant.”
Slightly pregnant is how it starts off as, later on, the pregnancy increases.
To be fair, “heavily pregnant” IS a common phrase.
Also, I submit that in a world where the Octo-Mom is possible, it apparently is possible to be a “little pregnant”. There would have to be a such a state since there’s clearly a “Holy SH*T! Way too pregnant” state.
mmm. yes. A compelling argument.
*draws from a pipe*
I am so glad I finished my drink before I read that statement.
If not necessarily a term one would wish to use around a pregnant woman (at least, and survive).
An unfortunate turn of phrase, used with the wrong pregnant woman.
Ha ha, I’ve gotten that! One of my grandmothers was born in Puerto Rico, you see.
Person: “So you’re Mexican?”
Me: “No, not at all. grandma is from Puerto Rico.”
Person: “mexico?”
Me: “Puerto Rico. it’s not Mexico.”
Person: “But that’s Mexican!”
Me: “She’s ethnically Spanish, as in, from Spain.”
Person: “Yeah, like I said, Mexico!”
Me: “Spain is in Europe.”
Person: “Yeah, Mexico!”
This was an actual conversation.
“Soooo… were are you from?”
“Germany?”
“No, no your skin is so dark, you can’t be from Germany!”
“Oh, well my father is rom Mexico.”
“Ah, why didn’t you say you were from Mexico?”
“Because I ain’t I was born in Berlin, grew up in Berlin and more or less lived my hold live in Berlin. I speak way better German than Spanish and just overall do no feel as attached to Mexico as I feel towards Germany.”
“What do you have against Mexico? Are you some kind of racist?”
“No, as I said I love Mexico, I just do not feel as a citizen of it.”
“But your father comes from Mexico!”
“Um…yeah?”
“So you ARE MExican!”
*Cue facepalm from me and everybody who knew me at that party*
I blame ethnocentrism.
You have earned 5000 Anthro-points!
Heteronormative! I can use big words too! 😛
Do know ethnocentrism means?
Yeah, I was mostly just saying it because of the Leslie avatar. Heteronormative seems like one of those words she would love. I didn’t have anything productive to add, sorry.
It’s okay. 🙂
Besides were talking about ethnicity.
One issue at time please.
I think he just wanted points.
I’ve had so many conversations like that. Some barbatan guy crossed the ocean nine generations ago. I’m not from anywhere. Nothing but pure unadulterated Canadian in me going back to the eighteenth century.
“If I’m going to have a past, I’d prefer it to be multiple choice!”
Am I contradicting myself?
No, that’s my response. If you do contradict yourself sometime, however, it helps to remember Walt Whitman’s observation about containing multitudes.
Sometimes, “I am that I am,” just isn’t enough, you know? 😉
Ah, nice. I like that^^
Thought you were referencing the trope.
Reminds me of something from my former job. I’m half Korean, half caucasian, and have lived in the U.S. pretty much all my life. Some customer comes up and says hello to my co-workers, then turns to me and says “I dunno how to say hello in your native language!” My co-worker says English is my native language, as I don’t speak anything else and the customer replied “No. It isn’t!”
😛
I’ve also been called various races throughout my life– Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Eskimo, Hispanic… every great now and then someone actually gets it right, though. Almost makes up for someone pointing and yelling “Jackie Chan!” or “You look like that dude from ‘Heroes!'”
Almost.
But…but Jackie Chan wasn’t on “Heroes”!
Seriously, though, sorry about the grief. I know I’m luckier that way. The closest I’ve been was during this conversation with someone from Poland:
“You’re Irish, right?”
“Scottish.”
“Same thing.”
“You Hungarians would assume so, yes.”
“…I see your point.”
Well the Scots did originaly come from Éire.
But weren’t they Picts back then?
The Scoti replaced them.
Ahaha. I’ve had a similar version of this too:
“Where are you from?”
“England.”
“You don’t look British. Your skin is too dark. Where are your parents from?”
“England.”
“Where are you grandparents from?”
“England.”
“…So you’re adopted?”
Despite that fact that I could just be part some other ethnicity and still English for generations back, there IS such a thing as ethnically “white” people having tan-ish skin.
Not even racial, but similar, from years ago when I worked at a truck stop:
Trucker: “I’m a long way from home, glad to be on my way back.”
my Co-worker: “Oh. Where are you from?”
Trucker: “Ontario.”
co-worker: “Where’s that?”
Trucker: “It’s up in Canada.”
co-worker: “Oh! Oh, see, here we call that ‘Montreal’.”
That actually sounds like it might have been cute.
Joyce’s racial identification problems notwithstanding, I have to say, I think she’s technically right in the last panel.
P.S. “Relax” doesn’t have an e at the end (first panel.)
Um, no. That really is not how it works. This is an issue of an individual’s self identification.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Article 15.
(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
No-one is being deprived their nationality or self-identification, though. It’s not racist, but it is a bizarre overreaction on Billie’s part.
It never hurts to learn about your rights.
And knowing is half the battle.
Cue rainbow.
“And knowing is half the battle”
The other half is violence, pure, unadulterated violence.
Not it isn’t and you know it. 😐
The other half is standing up for your human rights and demand that society recognize them. The price of remain silent is far too high.
Though you can’t legally renounce your nationality, i.e. citizenship, without another nation accepting you first. You have the right to a nationality, but you don’t have the right to not have a nationality.
But in a red state Mexican also means Illegal immagrent/anchor baby/foriegner/drug dealer/communist.
Are they in a red state? o_o where is the Dumbingverse, anyway?
IU. Sadly, yes, Indiana is a red state.
Only if Billie was actually insulted by been called Mexican, but that look Billie is giving is more likely to be “How in the fuck did you come to THAT conclusion?” kind of look.
Yes. Joyce’s statement isn’t completely wrong. The fact that she assumed it was relevant, however, is.
Uh, no, thelastnerd. Joyce is actually wrong in the last panel. Being offended that someone gets your ethnicity wrong is not the same as being racist against the group they identified you as.
And really, being falsely identified as Mexican is extremely common.
Joyce really should just relaxe.
She probably would, if you’d put the axe down. It’s hard when you’re being threatened.
…actually I KNOW a Mexican guy who looks more Asian then Mexican. So, it’s not totally unreasonable to get the two confused :/
Ooh, me too! I know a Mexican who everyone mistakes for Filipino.
Hapa!
Oh, Joyce. xD
I have known one half-Asian person who looked Mexican…but that’s only one out of a lot of half-Asians that I know…
Let me guess, the other half was indeed Mexican?
No, actually the other half was Jewish. O.o
Hmm… I’m trying to keep on topic, but I can’t help but wonder if this is the first time we’ve heard Sierra’s real name…
Same character design different name.
Try being SE asian with a Spanish last name. I’ve had people ask to see my green card before and compliment me on my american accent. Lucky bastards had one of those really heavy reception desks in front of them or I may have punched him. It’s incredibly infuriating.
As a biracial (half black, half white girl) I get mistaken for Puerto Rican pretty much all the time. Most of the time I cut people some slack because when I straighten my hair I guess I do look Puerto Rican. I guess I’ve just accepted that my race usually isn’t immediately identifiable it’s really in how people ask though and sometimes it is worse if they just assume for example I’ve also been mistaken for middle eastern on more than one occasion. The second time I was actually in a convenience store when a guy started chatting me up in line and then asked me if I was related to the kid working the cash register. I mean, honestly? I was standing in line and paying for a drink!
Is there a /good/ way to ask about someone’s race? I generally just avoid the topic unless the other person mentions it first. Otherwise I feel really rude, as though I had just asked someone “So… you’ve got teeth. WTF’s up with that?”
From my personal experience, there is no good way to do it. The very best possible result is an awkward moment. I’ve been on the receiving end of it more than once.
Then again, I’ve been on the asking end as well. The thing that made it less awkward was that I was flirting and I was almost right (I was off by less than 100 miles and a border dispute).
Hmmm….well honestly I think it depends on the person. Some people can get really offended so I would just recommend it not being the very first thing that comes out of your mouth when meeting someone, wait an appropriate amount of time and then if you’re really curious just ask and try to be polite about it. Usually by that point I will have offered the information (family discussion does come up). The most common way NOT to ask I would say is “So what are you?” which is what I get the most because, ya know, not a “what”.
Another good idea is to ask about a person’s name. “The name Billingsworth isn’t common around here, where does your family come from?” Not the best example if you are expecting a Mexican or Japanese name but it still works.
Awesome screen name btw! <3 Freakazoid.
What if their last name is Hugbees?
Then they win the award for cutest last name ever.
Blob Marley: If they got an accent different from yours, you can ask them about that.
It has worked for me many times before.
Used to know a gentleman who when asked about his accent would respond with “Excuse me? I speak the queens English. It is you who have the accent.”
Still don’t know where he came from though. Fun guy 🙂
If he said Queens English, he was very likely to be British.
Yeah. People generally just assume I’m whatever they are. I’ll never understand how I can look white, middle eastern, hispanic, greek, really just about all I’ve never gotten is asian.
Mixed race really does seem to throw people off track. Even moreso in small towns where evidently a white man can’t have a little complexion. I imagine Joyce has a very stringent idea of what white looks like.
Judging by Billie’s reaction though I’d guess she doesn’t get this very often. Within universe is it assumed she looks blatantly asian?
One of my uncle gets people constantly adressing him in arabic. One of my friend has had people assume she was half-chinese and her husband, while in New-York, was confused for both an italian and jewish person. All three are as white as I am. My uncle used to look like Borat when he was younger and sported a big ‘stache :p
To be fair to Joyce, I thought Billie was just white suffering from a case of Alcoholic Jaundice before I learnt the truth.
That is one of the most awesomely funny things I’ve read all night.
TY TY *takes a bow*
Joyce, please stop talking. When you’re in a hole, the correct procedure is to stop digging. Not to keep digging all the way to the other side of the planet.
Then it stops being a deep hole and it becomes a handy-dandy tunnel.
Don’t you mean volcano. 😐
A double volcano no less.
That’s Yellowstone. 😐
Not quite, it would be a volcano at the opposite sides of the world.
You would have to dig through the Earth’s molten iron core, which is not possible.
Science, Schimence! 😛
Don’t Doubt My Scienceness!
SCIENCE!
No, it’s “DON’T DOUBT MY SCIENCENESS!”
But wouldn’t you reach the upper mantle when you are digging all the way to the other side of the planet? In other words if you keep digging, you’ll get burned.
I’m sure that Joyce’s FAAAAITH will protect her. 😀
Yeah, armor of faith is like the first spell you learn as a devout.
And yet it doesn’t protect against bullets, bombs, abuse, and rape…….odd. 😐
You only gain those Protects Against Spells at Lvl 10.
Which several years and thousands, if not millions, of dollars. And a gaint let down.
God is a harsh Dungeon Master.
You two are thinking of L. Ron, for that DM. 😀
L.Ron was a writer whose wife was a literal Mary-Sue, make out of that fact what you will.
Thank you guys for boldly taking my words where no metaphor has gone before. 😀
Kern, it’s what we do best. *_*
Why is “Relax” misspelled? It’s not relAXE.
Relaxe, he’ll fix it soon.
he fixed it. 😐
has not!
ah, now he has, sorry had to reload the image.
Holy- he really did fix it.
Anyone else think that Joyce should really be wearing a pair of flip-flops while in the public showers?
Fhtagn?
Ia! Ia!
Cthuhlu Fhtagn!
R’lyeh sleeps!
I was thinking foot fungus, but sure that too.
She’ having trouble identifying her RAAAAAAACE!
A new meme? Awesome.
Not awesome. >:(
Sorry.
We have enough memes as is.
New memes are totally babies.
Literally.
Uuugghh….. Why do even bother. 😐
No memes please, we’re half British. 😛
(I hope that reference isn’t too old.)
At the rate Joyce is going, in a month there will not be anyone left on campus who she has not at least mildly offended.
Except Mike. Because of your mom.
It does seem like an overreaction on Billie’s part to me. I mean, my first reaction was “Hey, Joyce makes a good point”!
As a mixed race girl myself (half-Mexican!), I’ve actually gotten used to people guessing I’m just about everything EXCEPT Mexican. I’ve gotten Italian, Jewish, Middle Eastern, Spanish (which is at least closer)…but not often Mexican. I’m used to people getting my racial background wrong, even though I have a Mexican last name. English/Japanese doesn’t seem like it would be that common a combination, so you’d think Billie would also be used to people not guessing it correctly. Then again, she’s a lot more easily pissed off than I am. 🙂
I think she’s just dumbfounded at Joyce’s cluelessness. I mean, look how pale she is… Hispanic? Really? Not to mention if you’re just taking a stab at someone’s race “Hispanic” is probably a better guess than “Mexican”.
Wait till Joyce meets a Philipino with a hispanic name. That’ll REALLY get her confused.
But isn’t it fairly common for Philipinos to have Spanish, Italian and other Mediterranean based names?
I know a lot of Filipinos who have Hispanic names. :/
It’s okay. I am mexican and have been confused with asian or part asian. XD
And Billie does look exactly like one of my neighbors, who is part japanese, part white mexican except my friend is blonde… no really, I am serious she really is.
I believe you.
Doesn’t Joyce watch any PBS specials? The term is “Hapa” (I think that’s the right spelling).
Oh, right… PBS… the work of the Devil.
I’m going to be honest. When I met my Peruvian roommate, my first thought was that he must be Chinese.
That’s probably cause Peru has had a huge influx of Chinese and Japanese people over the past couple of decades or more (my mum’s from Peru).
Woah, wait, full stop. Does this mean Billy has a sexy English accent?
Nah, I think if she did that would have been mentioned already. I’m betting she grew up in this country. Shame though.
Sierra is pretty hot, assuming she’s the the black-haired chick in the final panel. If she’s actually the girl in the first panel, I’m going to go ahead and preemptively assume hotness anyway.
I thought the girl in the first panel is Sal but since her name is not in the tag, I just thought it could be another girl with long brown hair.
I think they’re the same girl…
Though if Billie’s half English it explains the alcohol thing.
My bestest buddy in the whole wide world is half Scots, half Chinese. A lot of the patients think she’s from Italy. (And the Scots part means she likes a drink and the Chinese part means she can’t process it so well. It’s hilarious.)
But English is not the same as Scottish. 😐
As a Scot who never touches alcohol, I’d rather you not tell me what being a Scot means.
It means animosity toward the English and haggis.
Well we Irish have the Scotts beat in alcoholism, blind anger and arguably, even disgusting food. We make everything out of potatoes, whiskey and garbage meat
I have no animosity whatsoever toward haggis, with the exception of what North American health codes and wannabe pubs have done to this once fine dish.
Being from an island clan, though, I’m more partial to things like congee, the closest anyone now gets to porridge the way my ancestors ate it.
And the English?
I’ll take them on a case by case, situation by situation, basis. While I have found some to be annoyingly arrogant on every subject under the sun, it’s possible that was not actual arrogance so much as it was a difference in communication. This has not been a universal experience; I’ve met more than my fair share of diplomatic and amiable English. Just as there isn’t just one American or Canadian culture, why would we assume there’s only one English (or Scottish) culture? Heck, a quarter of a million of them have Chinese ancestry!
Besides, even within any culture, some people are just jerks.
Fair enough.
I thought it had something to do with being the richest duck in the world…
The UK has a more relaxed attitude toward alcohol – even ignoring the 18/21 thing, over there it’s not considered abnormal to have a few every evening, which is a HUGE red flag over here.
That’s because they sent most of their alcoholics over here. 🙁
Actually, we keep most of them bottled up (hah!) until there’s some sort of international sporting event, then unleash them like an invading army.
You get the ones that aren’t violent or tough enough to make the cut.
She’s half British, half Japanese, and has an addictive personality…
Holy shit! So that’s where Yumiko Readman went!
My headcanon is decided. Billie has booze-master powers.
“Many are they who would profess a deep love of alcohol, but the ones who have earned any love in return are few and far between. Love that is mutual knows no bounds, and even in death or destruction it perseveres everlasting.
Ms Billingsworth is amongst the blessed few who have known the power of such emotion. That is why I trust her.”
God I want to see that fanfic.
“the love of alcohol persists through tears and burns and even annihilation. Utter destruction is not enough to keep it from longing to return to her side.
It goes to such lengths not only because she’s infused it with her life, but because it knows she’s willing to sacrifice everything for it.
… Everything in the world.
For that it is willing to remain by her side in the face of any difficulty she might encounter.”
Except liver failure. 😀
Well at that point Alcohol remaining by her side is really the problem isn’t it? 😛
You mean Zui Quan ( Drunken Fist, also known as Drunken Boxing).
Alcokinetic is still cooler.
Booze-bending.
It is Alcokinetics.
I… have had to explain the difference between Hispanic and Asian to a friend of mine. She’d never seen any Hispanic people before that point in time.
Mistaking a half-Asian person for a Mexican isn’t all that crazy. Your typical Mexican is a mestizo, which means he or she is roughly half Native American, half Caucasian. Native Americans and East Asians have a relatively close common ancestry, so take that common ancestry, dilute it with some white genes, and you have something that blurs the line and can look like something their not.
I’m half Chinese myself, and I know that I look kind of like a Native American. More so than a Chinese person, to be honest.
Don’t tell that to the mormons.
Ohsnap! There’s a mormon walking over. Quick! Pretend like we’re talking about something else!
I have to share a storie I heard.
A woman was talking about her cousin first enconter with a black man.
It happened in Quebec,in the Maritime,years ago.when there was no black people,at all in the area.
he was four waiting in line at a store with her,no idea how old she was, and there was a big black man in front of them,with necklase and rings.Just like in the movies we could see at the time.
She kew her cousin would say or do something and was afraid but he just looked at the man.She was glad.untill the man left and the kid ran after him and started to lick is hand…
He said the her”come,the chocolate man taste good.”
And the man was just laughing with her wanting to die.
I LOL’d
Quebec isn’t part of the Maritimes.
go far enough east and it might as well be.
By that reasoning, Newfoundland is part of the Maritimes. 😉
Is it? Or is it its own region?
It’s the only one of the Atlantic provinces that isn’t a Maritime province: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.
I know how weird that sounds, but the latecomer wasn’t added to the club when it became part of the dominion.
There are half Japanese in America? I thought they were a story. Like, um…A fad or something?
Zem, you are truly outrageous. ^_^
What’s with americans and the races? Where I live people pretty much don’t care, and I think is the right approach.
Sometimes there are odd moments when I look around myself and I feel reminded of a medieval europe where everyone was living predominately in ignorance and in a permanent state of mild alcohol poisoning.
At times I wonder if perhaps there isn’t actually any reason to it all. Perhaps our world is comprised of madness and our attempts to make sense of it all is just another manifestation of the inherent absurdity of existence. Some manner of cosmic metahumor.
Racial debate tends to make me feel like those are the moments of clarity. There is a god, and she speaks to us through her laughter. The cackling laugh of the hyena. The deep and soulful laugh of a man who’s realized he has nothing left to lose. The shrill earpiercing laugh of an infant who knows not what has been seen. The stuttering, halting giggle of one who knows something that nobody else does.
There is but one God and her name is Pinkie Pie. Swear fealty to her and she will show you how to navigate the insanity that is space and time. Break past the fourth wall and free yourself from the confines of reality. Discard truth and accept her cloven embrace.
Are we discussing Spider-Man here?
Am I to understand that Spiderman is a disciple of the great and powerful Pinkie as well?
Spider-Man does have a history with this sort of thing.
http://www.eatliver.com/i.php?n=4720
Everyone know’s spiderman’s half asian.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15738800@N07/3191356014/
We can’t celebrate diversity if we can’t acknowledge it.
Yeah, treating eachother like human beings regardless of relative levels of skin pigmentation and regionally associated physical characteristics being a cause for celebration is half the problem.
This isn’t something cool that happened/happening, this is something uncool that’s stopped/stopping. No reason to go patting ourselves on the back over this.
Treating people as human beings means acknowledging differences, so that we might better address them. When we fail to do so, privilege forms.
The more we recognize diversity, the more we recognize that none of us are just one thing. I’m not just a Canadian, or a Newfoundlander (and unless you’re from the island, calling me a Newfie or Newf is not appropriate), or a Scot, or a left-handed Presbyterian Methodist with Congregationalist sympathies.
You didn’t spontaneously arise from nothing. You have history, and it matters. It doesn’t give anyone the right to assume you’re a drunk that lives for hockey (a game I won’t give the time of day), but it matters. The better we understand that, the better we can accept other people, rather than simply expecting them to automatically conform to our own standards.
Why should they, when our history shows just how good our ancestors have been at screwing up things?
I refuse to trust anyone who hyphenates themselves.
I am NOT an Atheist-American, or a Fiscally Conservative-American, or a Socially Liberal-American, or a Scots-German-Irish-English-Welsh-Polish-Iroquois-American.
I’m an American who happens to be those other things, and I make wee-wee on stereotypes.
I applaud this policy.
I don’t, in fact I think it is a horrendously bad policy. >:(
The light of day and the clarity of wakefulness reveals it to be so.
“I refuse to trust anyone who hyphenates themselves.”
If you have a low opinion of anyone that chooses to view an African or Asian heritage as important as the American, as indicated by your refusal to trust them, then what you really are is a bigot.
I dislike using such an ugly word, but when you discriminate against others based on how they identify themselves, it’s the most appropriate.
Well sure, if you say it like that then any discrimination based on race or creed sounds like bigotry 😛
Seriously though, hadn’t quite thought out all of what that statement implied before voicing my approval… 🙁
I apologize for coming off much more hostile than I intend. My issue with the words, which might not match the intent, was with the refusal. The gap between refusal to trust and mistrust is measured by the possibility of cooperation.
Besides, they all sound like rejected superhero names.
We as individuals have history. This is true without grouping people together.
One of the founding principles of our democracy is that everybody has a voice. Our culture is comprised of all the parts. Whether someone’s voice draws upon a cultural history they identify with or whether it’s just their own personal history is insignificant. No voice is ever invalid. Making cultural history a factor in that is to imply that it could validate or invalidate a voice. Neither should ever be true.
Either way I never said anything about not acknowledging differences. I’m not talking about ignoring differences or pretending like we don’t have diversity. We do. It’s just not a cause for celebration. Lava Lamps utilize hot wax and cheap light bulbs, Ontario draws a lot of power from the Niagra Damn, and we’re a culturally diverse society. Just a fact. It’s something that is. Celebrating it is just demeaning to everyone though. It’s demeaning to those we’re saying are cool because of their cultural background rather than the views and opinions they bring to the table. It’s demeaning to us as a nation to pat ourselves on the back for such a basic level of decency.
More than that it separates more than it joins. Of course they don’t have to conform to our cultural norms. No one does. Many people without another culture to draw upon still don’t conform to some norms. Despite this it’s through those who break the trends that new trends are developed and that we grow as a culture. This is the same if the new ideas you bring in are from another country or because you just don’t agree with a commonly held viewpoint. Separating between their culture and ours denies the very nature of a democracy designed to be the sum of its’ parts.
We’re a nation that allows enough freedom that one can defy a norm. This isn’t new shit here, it’s just being extended to some people who have been unfairly denied that in the past, and still are in multiple ways.
So yeah. People are different from eachother. Let’s not go celebrating our ability to accept this most basic truth. It’s congratulations for a job that shouldn’t have needed doing in the first place and still isn’t done.
When you think constructively, nothing is “just a fact”.
We celebrate what has worth, even when we might otherwise fail to recognize that worth. If we don’t, are we more likely to fail to recognize that… or less? It’s not a matter of self congratulations, though that is a problem.
But we don’t enable people to defy a norm by refusing to acknowledge all of the norms our society contains. LGBT efforts, for example, suffer for a lack of non-white (and sometimes non-male) voices for reasons like that.
Being a Canadian makes me no better than being anything else. Being willing to acknowledge that’s not all I am shows willing to accept that it’s not all anyone else has to be either.
In other words, it’s support for a willingness to defy the norm that is being Canadian.
Luck barstool, as an American all I have to be proud of is rape, pillaging, murder, and bomb people back to the stone age. 🙁 🙁 :,( :,( :,(
Once again, never said anything about refusing to acknowledge cultural norms. We have them, not everyone follows them. More people have that privilege now than used to.
We as a nation should be capable of at least that much. We as a nation should be capable of more.
However I’m unwilling to say more than that on the issue since your remarks about it not being about self congratulation have me suspecting I don’t actually know what “Celebrate” means in this sense, and that kind of fubars my entire stance on the notion. I’ll just add that I’m not in anyway stating that people shouldn’t fight for the rights and acceptance of themselves and others. Not talking about shoving the issue under a rug at all.
But pat yourselves on the back for such a basic level of decency makes you look better than Americans (especially the ones south of the Mason-Dixon) in the eye of the world.
What, all of them? Every last person who lives south of the Mason-Dixon lacks a basic level of decency?
Gosh.
Wow, thanks for that.
No one is an island onto themselves. Humans are social creatures, we survive as a collective not as an individual, that is why the family is the fundemental unit of society.
Personally, I think there are plenty of human islands that are all connected by the continental shelf.
But they still rely one each other for survival. Survival is more than just that your physical needs are met, but also your emotional needs as well.
Look, I get that you’re all upset about ethnicity or something, but does no one else care that Joyce is not wearing footwear in the shower?! Athlete’s foot-town, here you come!
Only the foot fetish shippers care.
I never wore footwear in the shower, and always thought my friends were weird for telling me I should. So far, no athlete’s foot.
The power of Christ protects her. And compels you.
Also I think that Joyce’s experience with communal showers is likely to be rather minimal – ignorance of protocol is to be expected.
Not if she had to share one bathroom with her five brothers. 😐
We used to care about athlete’s foot in the public showers, right up until the impetigo outbreak hit.
Imprtigo?
Cruse your dysgraphia!
Impetigo?
A highly contagious skin disease that’s most commonly found among pre-school children. That doesn’t mean older people are immune to it.
One summer camp I attended in my teen years lost about an eighth to a quarter (depending on the program) of its attendees, though it turned out a fair number of them were falsely diagnosed. We spent the day disinfecting everything in our quarters, which was a real pain when it came to washing those fifteen foot high ceilings.
I caught it as a teenager, VERY contagious and not fun at all. had it all over my arm and side.
Is it like trench foot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impetigo
It’s nasty. I caught it on a band trip, back in high school. Luckily, I only got one lesion on my underarm.
I noticed as well, wearing a pair of thongs makes sense when you use a public shower, you never know who was in there beforehand.
I felt offended by that, I´m mexican. u.u
But let’s think about it. In *some way*, aren’t we *all* Mexican–at least deep down?
Isn’t that a quote from Machete?
Half British, half Japanese… Britjas incoming?
God, I hope not.
of perhaps Japish…. wait, was that offensive? GASP!
Britjas, now that name sounds like a Mexican or Indian dish.
I’m going to cut Joyce some slack here, since she never brought her assumption up until Billie stated her heritage. Likewise, the situation with Sarah arose from a matter of thinking she might have accidentally crossed boundary lines.
Better to open your mouth and be thought a fool than to keep it shut and remain one.
some might say it’s better to keep your mouth shut and look a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt of it.
either way, I <3 Joyce and her social ineptitude 🙂
Yeah, that’s the original version. It’s also been the cause of so many accidents that could have been avoided over the years.
Education doesn’t happen without communication. It’s better to get ingnorant misconceptions out in the open early, before they can cause real trouble.
well said, point ceded. 🙂
i’m amazed that there are 180-odd posts here and only three contain the word “Hispanic”. isn’t it preferable to use “Hispanic” and “Asian” instead of “Mexican” and “Chinese”? that’s what i try to teach my kids, because those are the generalizations that seem to be made around here…
or am i overthinking this?
oh, and yay for shower time. 😀
As mexican I can tell you that most of the people I know don’t like the term “hispanic” or do not care about it. Specially as it is used as an indicator of race when it only makes a classification of the language we speak. Given the diversity of people there is among all latin america and spain I do find it anoying such a term for lumping all people. But that is my personal opinion.
I am mexican, I do not mind being refered as that, hispanic I do mind.
I mean, I think most of the posts made were talking about Mexicans specifically, as in, people from Mexico. “Hispanic”, like Romanticide said, is just a lump term for Latin Americans, no? So it makes sense people wouldn’t say Hispanic. If they’re talking about Mexican. Doesn’t really have anything to do with how politically correct they were being. Same goes for “Chinese” versus “Asian” in this context, I think.
No it isn’t actually. My Chinese professor flipped shit when someone called her Asian.
Same way with some Spanish foreign exchange students who went to my old high school. A teacher made the mistake of calling them Latinos. Needless to say there was a lot of apologizing.
wow. here i thought i was being PC (not that PC doesn’t suck or anything). i just thought it was better to use the more general term “Hispanic” when you don’t actually know if the person is Mexican or Puerto Rican or Dominican or descended from another Spanish-speaking country. Obviously the best thing to do would be to just ask the person… but if I haven’t had that opportunity, I’d hate to refer to someone as “the Mexican girl we met yesterday” when in fact she was from Peru or Spain. I always thought “Hispanic” was best in that situation.
Having heard from folks who’ve been there, though, I will now be more careful about generalizing like that.
I’m not saying that everyone is like that, some people will be like “Oh I’m from Mexico” if you call them hispanic, but then you have to call them Mexican.
It’s in my experience though that I have seen most people get bent out of shape over it.
It’s just safer to refer to them as people or “You know that guy we met”
🙂
I guess it’s easy to mistake people for Mexicans. I dated a girl for a while and It wasn’t til 3 dates in that I discovered she was actually descended from Slavic Jews. Not Mexican at all.
I’m just wondering why everybody’s making a big deal about this. This is just supposed to show that Joyce is a super, super small town girl, and Billie is highly reactive, not unlike plutonium. In fact, as we’ve seen aspects of them just like this before, why is everybody focusing on this and going on about various degrees of offensiveness? Why is everybody sharing stories and taking offense to other commente–
Oh wait, it’s about race. Never mind then.
Carry on the bongoing.
Mentioning anything to do with politics, sex, race or religion is bound to stir some shit up.
What shit has been stirred up? I think overall the discussion has been quite civil. There’s been little to no “OMG JOYCE IS A STUPID RACIST!” Or “BILLIE IS AN OVERSENSITIVE BABY!” and some people who have had genuine questions about how to deal with a situation like this have been allowed to ask questions they would have most likely been to self conscious to ask in person but because it’s about race we’re not allowed to talk about it? Honestly I think for a lot of people once in awhile actually talking about real world issues for a little bit is a nice break from the constant silly chatter just like the lighthearted discussions are a break for people who may have too much going on in their real lives. Politics, sex, race and religion are interesting things to discuss which is why when given the chance people like to discuss them. if we don’t attack each other and learn from each other what’s the problem? A balance doesn’t hurt anyone.
It’s nice to know that we as a group have kept the shit from floating up at least.
Have we offended you with our sudden interest in analyzing the characters’ personalities and backgrounds while comparing them to real world anecdotes? Has the unprecedented liberal social commentary left a sour taste? Are you disturbed that we are focusing so much on something as unworthy of thought and mental energy as race/racism when the strip’s title has nothing to do with that at all?
On behalf of the entire comment section, I apologize for not meeting the daily quota of penisFAAAAAAAACE. We will try not to get too far off topic in the future.
Jeff Schuetze of Jefbot fame is half Japanese himself, and did a whole story arc about how he kept getting mistaken for a Mexican, thus earning Spanish language McDonalds commercial acting jobs.
For those of you who missed it, Billie has displaced Dorothy in the title graphic. Will she pass Joe? They are currently tied for second.
Joyce needn’t worry, as she is 30 comics ahead of either of them.
Poor Dina. 🙁 She can’t even beat Mary.
🙁 🙁
DINAAA 🙁
You know, I get the feeling that Joyce is a bit high-strung…
You know, it’s never occurred to me but I think you’re right.
I say this without a hint of sarcasm.
She must have done a few tracts before waking up Billie.
Oh dear. Billie, IT’S A TRACT!
This is one of the reasons I like living in Texas. If asked where I am from, I say Texas, and people usually leave it at that.
There are several very good reasons for that. 😐
To Whites Hispanics are “Mexicans.”
To Mexicans Asians are “Chinos” (Chinese).
To Chinese whites are “Americans”
(sometimes “white devils” just as blacks are “black devils”).
Some call it ignorance: poets call it “synechdoche”–the part stands for the whole.
Got a Brazilian friend who resents being called “Hispanic”; he suggests “Portugalic” instead.
To Indians, whites are “Americans” too!
I’ve heard a story about two six-year-old girls meeting for the first time at a playground with their families in tow, and playing teaparty, on the swings, etc. for about two hours before they realized they were both adopted from China by white parents. At what age do we become Joyce-aware about “race?”
No freaking idea. 😀
Best. Combo. EVER.
Are you referring to Billie’s racial combo or the Billie-and-Joyce shower buddy combo? I think both could fit that description.
Also, either way, Joe being your avatar just makes it more hilarious.
I do like the idea of calling shipping pairs combos. “Hi. I’ll take some Billie with a side of Joyce. And could you supersize that? I’d like a shake with those fries.”
The extra large Billie milkshakes sounds quite appetizing to me. ^_^
Mmmm, Billie-shake. 😛
I follow the lord Cthulhu. In him, all races are equally edible, for we shall all be eaten when the Old Ones return.
PRAY THAT YOU ARE EATEN FIRST!
LOL 😀 😀 😀 😀
Or just ram a ship into his head.
Bring it on, Old Gods. I got Old Man Henderson on speed dial, a laundry list of favors he owes me, and a truckload of equipment (that’ll get blown up anyway – better it than me).
One summoned god? Meaningless – it’ll be over in a jiff.
Two? Meh. He’ll see the namblies what stole his gnomes.
The whole damn pantheon? A lazy Sunday afternoon.
…also.
Where exactly did this divergence from the topic come from?
My cousins are (technically) Mexican,I take offense to that