# Humanities & Anthropology > Anthropology & Ethnography > Guess the Ethnicity >  Give this one a try

## unorigional

OK, sounds like a fun game. I want to test out something here then. I'd like to hear what anyone thinks of the ethnicity of this guy here. It's me in high school, so we are talking 14-17 years old at the time. And no worries, I won't take any of it too seriously. I'll tell you what my classmates nicknamed me later. I'll be interested to see if you and they agree  :Satisfied: 

IMG_0555.jpg

Yeah, sorry about the picture quality, taken out of my yearbooks.

IMG_3317.jpg

I'm the one dead center, just to the left and down from the guy in the red shirt.

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## Zanatis

You look very Spanish to me, but of course we need more pictures. I could see you fitting in Northern Spain perfectly.

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## Angela

You could be a lot of things, including Italian. You look just like one of my cousins. Spanish might work too. 

On the other hand, a lot of Irish/German Americans look like you too.

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## unorigional

Interesting. I hadn't thought of Spanish or Italian for that matter (neither did my classmates, apparently). But it does make sense. I will post a few other pics later today.

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## unorigional

So here are a few more pictures. 

Attachment 9538

Another from High School. Black and white again? Sorry, thought I had more color photos, but apparently not readily available.


Attachment 9540

And around 30 years old. Father and paternal grandfather in there too.

Though I don't want to lead anyone to conclusions, one hint I can say is that you don't need to feel constrained to Europe; my classmates didn't let that hold them back.

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## Zanatis

I cannot open the attachments.

If you're not originally from Europe, then Georgian is my next guess. I could have included the Levant but your nose makes it highly unlikely in my opinion.

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## unorigional

Sorry about that, I guess it's because I am not established enough here. Even I can't see my own uploaded pictures!

I'll try linking them from a URL:

First one from High School:
Attachment 9541

Second one from 30 years old with father and paternal grandfather:
Attachment 9542

The reality is I am mixed, so did not mean to imply that it was an either/or situation with regards to origin.

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## Jovialis

You should use a website like imgur to post embedded pictures. The attachments usually come up as invalid. I can't see anything except the initial pictures you posted.



> The reality is I am mixed, so did not mean to imply that it was an either/or situation with regards to origin.


Mixed ethnicity?

Irish-Italian. You look like one of my friends who was that mix.

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## unorigional

Oh that's ironic. I was using Imgur but I think the forum software tried downloading the files. I'll post links, but first I am a few posts short of the ten required to do so.

I'll contribute to a few threads and then get them posted.

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## unorigional

OK, Now I have enough posts, let me try this once again...

First, try posting the image:

Attachment 9543

Then the link: https://imgur.com/BPagfld

And the second:

Attachment 9544

The link: https://imgur.com/W3u4U0L

Sorry for the hassle here. Hopefully one of the two options will work!

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## davef

Actually after seeing those links, I'll guess British/Irish with a splash of something more south, like Spanish. I'm not that great at classification, I must warn.

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## AdeoF

I would say you would have a bit of Spanish in there. But i would say a mix of maybe Irish with southern European like Spanish or Italian

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## unorigional

I'm impressed! You all have pretty well calibrated eyes I guess. Here is my breakdown:

By family description, I am 1/2 French Canadian, 1/4 English (Yorkshire is that matters at all), 1/8 Irish and 1/8 Finnish. I have traced the family lines to vary degrees, so there is not 100% certainty in that mixture. In fact it's almost certain that it's incorrect in some aspects. My mtDNA haplogroup is H2a2a1, which my understanding does not originate in England (the maternal line). 

About the Southern that seems almost unanimous amongst those who commented. First, that was interesting because although I have had plenty of comments in my life about my look, nobody ever suggested Spanish or Italian. Spanish might be possible considering the Basque aren't too far from where most of the French settlers originated from. But that having been said, maybe you all were seeing some Southern in me from an entirely different source; I now know with a good deal of certainty that I have some ancestors from around Northern India/Pakistan. I'll just say this as a statement of fact, not making any judgement on whether I agree with it or not, but my schoolmates gave me an Indian nickname because they thought I looked part Indian.

I really appreciate everyone's comments.

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## Angela

I don't think there's anything "Indian" in you whatsoever...

I guess you guys were too young for Happy Days even in re-runs? Scott Baio...



Luca Toni...a quintessentially northern Italian face, imo.


When he was young...


Louis Zamperini, subject of the book and movie "Unbroken"...


Very few Indians actually look like the actors in Bollywood films...they pick extremely a-typical, more European ones, in my opinion. Turkish films are the same...the actors and actresses often have Balkan ancestry or they come from previously Greek areas. Although, I don't know where your friends would have seen Bollywood films. Indian-American people don't look anything like them, or like Europeans.

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## unorigional

Mmmm can't speak for why they thought that either. 

This was '88-'92, so probably we were between the end of the original run ('84) and when reruns of it came out. It's funny that what you point out only makes me wonder why nobody ever asked me if I was Italian before.

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## Angela

> Mmmm can't speak for why they thought that either. 
> 
> This was '88-'92, so probably we were between the end of the original run ('84) and when reruns of it came out. It's funny that what you point out only makes me wonder why nobody ever asked me if I was Italian before.


Gosh, I don't know. That's an interesting question. 

Maybe, if you lived in an area without a lot of Italian Americans, they got their "images" from Hollywood, and so they think all Italians look like this?





I just tried to think of some Indian Americans they might have seen on tv, and they wouldn't come to mind if I were looking at you...

Bobby Jindal...



Sanjay Gupta: well, he has a long face, at least...


Fareed Zakaria...

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## davef

Happy Days, it was that Nick at Night show that I vaguely remember since I was a kid back then when nickelodeon was airing it

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## davef

> You should use a website like imgur to post embedded pictures. The attachments usually come up as invalid. I can't see anything except the initial pictures you posted.
> 
> 
> Mixed ethnicity?
> 
> Irish-Italian. You look like one of my friends who was that mix.


Could the downvoter explain to us why this post deserved a downvote?

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## Jovialis

> Could the downvoter explain to us why this post deserved a downvote?


I'm not obsessed with down votes. It doesn't matter.

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## unorigional

> Gosh, I don't know. That's an interesting question. 
> 
> Maybe, if you lived in an area without a lot of Italian Americans, they got their "images" from Hollywood, and so they think all Italians look like this?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I just tried to think of some Indian Americans they might have seen on tv, and they wouldn't come to mind if I were looking at you...
> ...


Yeah, if that was their general impression of Italians, then I'd agree. Though we did have a few Italian-American kids and teachers, so not sure.

Well, again, I won't try to psychoanalyze my classmates, but I would point out that they were not suggesting I looked fully Indian. If that had ben the case, I'd have started to suspect someone had spiked the town's water supply! They were implying only part Indian.

But, for proper context, Punjabi would be the better point of reference. I believe most of who you gave as examples are more southern. Here is an example of what a Punjabi could look like:

Attachment 9551

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## Jovialis

> Yeah, if that was their general impression of Italians, then I'd agree. Though we did have a few Italian-American kids and teachers, so not sure.


There's lot's of phenotype variation across Italy, so I guess they didn't match up with the Hollywood portrayal either. Even in the south, not everyone looks the same despite being fairly genetically homogeneous.

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## unorigional

> Could the downvoter explain to us why this post deserved a downvote?


Being new to this forum; how can you tell if a post was downvoted?

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## davef

> Being new to this forum; how can you tell if a post was downvoted?


If the number of users who voted a post exceeds the number of those users who upvoted it.

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## unorigional

> If the number of users who voted a post exceeds the number of those users who upvoted it.


Which someone helpfully demonstrated on this post!

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