Originally Posted by
Vixen
Definitely. I know a couple of Finns who got very angry at being mistaken for Russian. One of them, who attended Kingston Polytechnic for a year, got really pissed off at being called 'Merger' (her name is Merja' [soft 'j']). When I first made acquaintance with her, she introduced herself as 'Merger' which I called her for a long time because she assumed I was another ignorant Brit, so she saved me the trouble of anglicising her name.
I do think it is racist for other people to tell you what you are based on their own ignorance. So if you are not Chinese, who is anyone to tell you that you are?
AIUI the Vietnamese like to be buried in their home village when dead, so they could have been buried in a far away country by accident.
Really. Mistaking a Canadian for an American is racist. Mistaking a Belgian for a Luxembourgian is racist. Mistaking a San Marinoan for an Italian is racist.
Does it only apply to national boundaries? If a South Carolinian is mistaken for a North Carolinian is it racist?