Reply #84: They're LOTS of 'em!

[Karenina]

If you have a sharp eye, ear and plenty of exposure they're as PLAIN AS THE NOSE ON YOUR FACE. I can now spot someone from the former east in a nanosecond and am myself rarely mistaken for African. For fun and games go to alllooksame.com and see how you do. I scored better than the mean for Asians, but throughout my life I never got twins mixed up either, even ones I just met.

Japanese handwriting in English is also easy to spot. When the eyes fail keep the ears open. Native Spanish speakers' German... nearly incomprehensible but distictly identifiable. Got broadsided once on a train sitting across from a guy I thought was Turkish cuz of the garbled tongue he was blabbering into his cell phone. Then came the giveaway. When he hung up I asked him about his tossed salad verbiage. He laughed roundly, amused that I'd picked up on it.

David threw me for a loop one day though. We were walking to the Pub when he noticed 2 guys coming toward us. "Protestants," he said. As we approached the door I just asked them in a goofy girl kind of way. When David and I sat down I demanded, "How'd you KNOW that so far away? ALL Y'ALL be pasty and white." He just grinned, rolled his eyes at me and bought me a pint o' Guinness...