I'm sensitive to minor differences in northern Californian accents and
speech patterns.
I was chatting with a young man whose speech screamed "San Francisco" to
me, so I asked him where he was from.
He asked me if I was asking where he was /really/ from.
I was horrified, and clarified that I thought he sounded like he grew up
in San Francisco. Close; he was from the north part of the Peninsula.
The question "Where are you /really/ from?" could be an interesting one
if it wasn't overlaid with xenophobia. Many people move around a lot as
kids, and their birthplaces or early childhood homes might not feel like
home to them. Or they might have multiple places that feel like home.
Rajesh Kasturirangan via Silklist wrote on 10/9/24 10:08 AM:
I don’t mind the ‘what do you do’ question. I make up an answer that’s
both true and contextually relevant. What bugs me a lot more is ‘where
are you from?’ - often with the connotation of ‘where are you
/really/ from.’ To which I give a nonsensical response - these days it’s
Alpha Centauri.
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