Mistaken Identity...?

[Taco]

Well, maybe not so much identity, but mistaken character traits.(Or mistaken identities, if anyone wants to discuss those, too.)

In any case, I was just thinking today about a few times when people have thought I had certain character traits that I did not. For example, at work today, I was working with this fairly cool, friendly guy. We were having some exchange or another about what time it was (probably involving break, and leaving; work wasn't too fun today...) Anyhoo, he must've been talking about what time we were leaving, because he said "3:20, not 4:20! Y'know what that means, right?" And I was like "yeah," and he was like "yeah, you looked like the kinda guy who would! I don't do that, personally-well, not anymore. Not that there's anything wrong with that." I just kinda grinned, and responded "Yeah, I don't do that either, actually. Never have. I have drunk before, though." I didn't mind at all, really. I just wonder how he got that. Probably because I'm getting some shaggy hair, now, and some thick sideburns (I had to wear a beard net to "cover my beard," according to the people there. Even though I don't have a beard...)

Anyhoo, there was this other time when I was hanging out with my brother, my friend, and that dumb guy who hung out with us for a few weeks around the end of 2005/beginning of 2006 that I made a thread about before. My brother owns Dead or Alive: Extreme Volleyball, or whatever it's called, so we were playing that. In the midst of this, the dumb guy said "we should have Tom get on a computer and use a program to make some real-looking girls!" Yeah, because since I wear glasses and am kinda nerdy, that must mean I have awesome programming skills, right?

There was also this other occasion, back when I was working through Labor Ready with this cool old southern guy (he was from like Tenessee, I think he said. Or maybe from somewhere else; can't remember now.) Anyway, we were driving back, and I think I mentioned I lived in Albany all my life, and he asked, "So you aren't a farm boy, huh? You're a city slicker!" I'm a suburbanite, actually. Heh. This one doesn't really go that much with the other ones, but I just thought it was funny; everyone is either a farm boy/girl or a city slicker, I guess.

Anyhoo, there have also been numerous occasions online where people have initially thought I was a girl. I always find that amusing. Heh. I'm also not sure why they mistake me for a girl. According to one person, it was just the way I worded things, or something.

So, got any stories of mistaken identities/character traits, anyone? Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

EDIT: Smiley, typo

[CLOUD]

Dude, tell me about it...It happens all the time. It's just that people are too hasty when it comes to judging without actually knowing the person- in this case, me. It might not be fun to read, but it is worth it, i think.

Well, i'm from Sparta/Laconia, which is a region mostly based on agriculture. This way, when people hear that, they think: "Another redneck in Athens, the place is full of them...Why don't you just go harvest the fields?" But i am no redneck. I'm far better than the city boys. My family has lands with olive trees, like all old families do in the region- that doesn't mean that i cultivate them,' cause i don't. Being from Laconia probably makes me stupid too, retatrded, i don't know...

When i tell people that i got into the EMP university, they stare with amazement, wondering how a farmboy managed to get high grades & enter THIS university. Well, i did because i am way smarter than most of the people i know- but they judge a book by the cover. In June when we had the big entry exams, everyone expected the school's "perfects" to score the highest grades & let the rest of us eat their dust. I know that my friends & i weren't the children of doctors, advocates or politicians, but we outclassed them big time. For weeks they were talking behind my back, saying that i cheated, while a well-known doctor's daughter who screwd up didn't. Don't make me laugh.

There was the other half of mu school, the jerks, i still wonder how they managed to finish highschool...Just because i was wearing glasses too, they though of me as a nerd as well & said that i didn't even need to study to pass the exams. When some heard that i got into Computer Engineering school, some even told me to fix their PCs...as if getting into that uni makes me a full-fledged engineer.....Complete idiots.

<<This could go on forever.>>

I was one of the most "fearsome" boys at school. I always seemed angry & evil in the way i spoke & acted, I had only a few friends, the most isolated guys & all the younger kids avoided me unless they knew me from before. The girls, they'd turn around if they were to meet me in the hallway, let alone talk to me. We had some rather peculiar qualities as a "fellowship" which might justify that for the lightheaded. In the classrooms, we all sat in the desks in the rear end of the classroom & we all had glasses, so we were weird dorks...We used to play footcrick in the classroom during the breaks (i created it-long story), which was so dangerous & violent, that something had to be wrong with us. Another thing, because we didn't follow the latest trends with clothes & haircuts, becuase we didn't smoke & change cell phone devices twice a year, we weren't cool- we didn't get to go on dates with girls except for some that actually tried to look behind our exterior. They said that we'd never get any serious girls. When i got really close to someone i liked a lot, someone- i don't know who- must have goten way too jealous & started spreading rumors about me, so she dumped me, didn't talk to me for 4 months & then, around my birthday, she finally decided to clear things out. I didn't know anything about it until then & i was so angry that i didn't talk to her again. We just weren't the same.

Around Christmas, i was invited to a party a girl had at her house. There i met some girls. They are 3 years younger. I spent most of the night with this girl who obviously liked me. But,with my sort of long hair & my beard(check the post your picture thread) she thought i was with the EAAK. They are a college political party,the one responsible for the univesities being shut down the last 3 months & the street fights between students & the police. They're the "rebels without a cause"...Since i resembled to them, she though i was one of them- i hate those guys for some reasons//.Later on, when the thing started getting more serious,she started talking to me about sex, that she wouldn't have sex yet because there would be nothing left to do later on & stuff...Just because i am older & don't have a girlfriend at the moment, she thought that i am sex-hungry & when i hook up with her, i'll throw her on a bed. I'm not, or at least not when i look at her. If i were, i'd save myself from the pain & either masturbate 5 times in a row, or pay some ho' down at Syggrou avenue, get laid & let of some steam. WTF???

Do you see any other resemblences Taco? People are crazy. I hate the way they act when it comes to me, when they don't know me at all. Don't judge a book by it's philthy cover.

[Angantyr]

I apologize if this is not only a bit of a delayed reply but also suited for the ID forum, but this is something of interest to me and I often thought about. I think the reason somebody would say such a thing is due to stereotypes, and whilst people are put off at the thought, most stereotypes do have some truth to it, however they are partly flawed in such a way in which they bring forth a negative view of it. If people understand how people worked rather than trying to convert them to their morals and ideals it would be much easier for people to get along.

To get a better understand I would say it is based on genes and on race in a much larger scale. Most people tend to mention the physical attributes we gain off our parents but avoid the mental sides of things, however like it or not part of our personality is based on the characteristics we receive from our parents, thus when they pass on their genes to us they pass down both our mental and physical parts. Now if this is to happen on a large scale such as 4 million people who look similar, they will also have a similar personality thus when people see a person that looks such a way, they will pin point the personality with them eventually forming stereotypes.

Because Blondes are the coolest people, yet often hated for being being themselves and enjoying life, I will use them as an example: The origin of the "Dumb Bimbo" Blonde actually started in America with Business men to describe the women and within time with people like Marilyn Monroe and the like, forming the stereotype. People assume if you attractive then you are dumb (a very flawed stereotype, however does make sense to a few people as they rely on their looks), blondes being very attractive it started to form. However after observing and talking to several Blondes (this goes for both male and female) in particular Scandinavians, they have somewhat of a Child like personality, HOWEVER they are far from dumb, in fact quite the opposite as one of the most intelligent people I have ever met was blonde. Also one of the Creators of Linux was from Finland, and they call blondes stupid? Pfft...

As I was saying, stereotypes do have some truth to it but at the same time the environment around us effects our way of thinking, plus we different type of people mix like say you are Italian-Irish (not a bad mix, might I add), you might get the Irish personality and the Italian appearance, which in this case it somewhat falls apart and you end up in such a situation. I personally think in terms of Eugenics, so that mixing should only occur if it leads to positive results rather than negative results, otherwise you should stick to your own people for the sake of your children as they can end up rather confused. However that is another subject all together.

As for myself, I always thought of myself as being a typical Celtic/Nord however I have many flaws which makes getting a clear accurate picture quite hard. I for one see myself as ugly however I find it rather odd that people see me as the type that can get all the very attractive females (which is faaar from true, why would I waste my time here if that were true). Also people see me as tempermental which may have had some truth to it but as many people try and test my limits I learnt to deal with it and I am somewhat more mellow from what I used to be. Also because of the long hair, people see me as some kind of stoner hippie which is again far from true. Also I am seen as the quiet type so people tend to ignore me and not pay attention so I try to keep quiet but then we all have our opinions don't we. Another weird one is that when people talk to me on a personal level they see me as this "real nice guy", sorry but I only come off that way to females because I want something and my low self-esteem makes me not the type to act like an asshole.

[Yuki-onna]

My hair is now blonde, my IQ dropped fifty points.

Hmm. Oooh, yeah, I get things like that a lot. Mostly people think I'm cute and innocent because I almost never open up to people very quickly. Oh my, she's such a quiet little girl. How sweet.

I'm an ex stripper with an attitude, I've burned a man's house down, been arrested three times, and had my share of barroom brawls. I drink, I smoke, I do drugs.
So bite me.

Squee!

[Storm]

Interesting topic.

I'm a 5'2'' petite brunette, and have a femanine appearence. I rememer 2 years ago, I was talking to one of my male friends (we didn't know eachother that well at the time), and we were talking about videogames. I was saying about how I often slay guys at Tekken, Smash Bros and various fighting games, yet he didn't believe me. About a week later, we went to the arcade, and yup, I slayed him at Tekken and nearly beat him at air hockey. He later said that I looked to femanine to be good at videogames! I also get looked at a lot when I go into Game or Gamestation, or go into a sports shop to look at sparring equipment. Seriously, do you have to be obsessed with shoe-shopping and hate games to be a girl? Ironically, its the other way around on forums. People think i'm a guy rather than a girl.

The funniest has to be getting called an emo. Thing is, I wear a balance of dark and brigh colours, rarely wear make-up, and smile a lot.

[Maridia]

I've sorta been mistaken before. With the way I am unless I've known someone a while I usually stay very quiet or really don't speak a whole lot then unless they ask me something first. Well anywho years ago I was in school kinda just like myself. Quiet to most people unless I knew the person well, for the most part. Well long story short I leave school and was hanging out with a friend of mine at the mall. The kid remembered me from school and asked what happened. After I said that I had dropped out I got the reaction "WHAT!?!?" he said how since I was so quiet I was assumed to be alot smarter than them and did my own work and kept to myself. But pretty much it was a bunch of questions like "So you didn't switch to a private school, or get bumped up a grade?" Haha apparently my haircut, quietness and glasses made some assume that. Wow I hate people sometimes.

[OmniTense]

Oh. I've been mistaken for too many things.

I've been mistaken for being:

Female(Must have been the long hair)

Gay(I'm not gay, nor am I heterosexual. I'm just me.)

Actor(Must be all the make-up)

Vampire(I am more serious about this than you might think. I think that it is a joke, but I'm not entirely sure. I dress in black as most Goths do. I hate garlic [because I once ordered a plate of garlic shrimp at an Olive Garden. One bite killed my love of Garlic then and there, and it forced me to run to a bathroom so that I didn't throw-up across our table.] And...I used to live kind of a night shift type thing.)

Tom Petty's Son(Don't you dare laugh at this you bastards!)

Conservative(My mother and father immediately assume that I've got their back on every political issue. I do live in Kentucky and after all it's illegal to live in KY and not be a conservative, right?)

Buddhist(You've got me on this one. Someone doesn't know the difference between philosophical Taoist and Buddhism. Someone in my general location needs to take a Comparative Religion course)

Satan worshipper(It's all the make-up and the black straight jackets. I'm used to it by now. I usually just get awkward stares but I've been preached to before. When this happens I usually wind up in a theological debate with whomever does this.)

A thirteen yr old(That witch at the Capitol Phoenix theatre would'nt let me see an R-rated movie! For christ sake it Dawn of the Dead! My favorite movie!)

Someone who speaks chinese(this one happens frequently everytime my friends or parents meet a chinese person; I speak Japanese. I have no idea how to even pronounce a single word in chinese)

Botanist (Horticulturist, it's really quite different. I wouldn't mind having a botanist degree though. That's something for me to think about in the future)

[Neo Necron]

Yeah... this is something I seriously hate, being mistaken.

For me the biggest one is being mistaken for being a grumpy uptight little bastard. People say often that I don't look like I'm enjoying myself, when I actually really am. It's just my face... it naturally looks somewhere between grumpy and normal. I really dislike it :/
And also, when I'm joking around, my tone of voice often comes as being serious. This is a serious problem when being sarcastic/dead pan (which is very often, seing as my sense of humour is very much a satirical one) because people sometimes think that I'm insulting them from the bottom of my heart, when it's just meant to be a bit of friendly banter.

I joking once told a friend something "was her fault", meant to come across in a humourous tone. I then noticed she was sulking, because she genuinely thought I was blaming her and was having a go at her... oops.
Then just just week, a friend phones me and asks me for a lift. I said "say please", again, meant to be ion a humourous tone. When I pick him up, later on, he asks me why I'm always so uptight.

It's s habit I seriously wish to kill. It actually takles a lot of piss me off, even though I seem to appear pissed off quite a lot.

Maybe reconstructive surgery is the answer..... hmm..................