Things have changed so much since I went to high school. Anyone who wasn't Anglo in our school was a real rarity, we were nearly all kids of immigrants from England/Ireland/Scotland. But at the school my wife went to, they had a real mixed bag: Her parents were Dutch, and she had friends whose parents were Spanish, Italian, Greek, Macedonian, Hungarian etc, as well as English. But no Asian students at all... now, of course, it's different.

It's The Human Race.

Everything else is a question of Nationality and Ethnicity.

As to dating someone of another Nationality or Ethnicity... that's an odd question for me because I'm from New York, and everyone who lives there is from a different Ethnicity.

Jeez, I'm from 9 or ten different ethnicities.
_________________

Itazura ichiban wrote:

When I told my Mom that I was dating Toshi, she leaned close to me and whispered something about Pearl Harbor. But in time they became fast friends. Something like that, BMW?

Similar... More like the Japanese invasion of China.

Oddly, my parents bailed out of China when the Commies took over... It had nothing to do with Japan.

Geezer wrote:

It's The Human Race. Everything else is a question of Nationality and Ethnicity. As to dating someone of another Nationality or Ethnicity... that's an odd question for me because I'm from New York, and everyone who lives there is from a different Ethnicity. Jeez, I'm from 9 or ten different ethnicities.

True Geez!

Eve wrote:

Well I didnt leave my "race" but someone from Norway is more different than someone of Asian/Black/Hispanic extraction who was raised in AMerica. And he has definitely broadened my outlook! And my smile!

Awwww. >>giggle<<

Anime Dad wrote:

Things have changed so much since I went to high school. Anyone who wasn't Anglo in our school was a real rarity, we were nearly all kids of immigrants from England/Ireland/Scotland. But at the school my wife went to, they had a real mixed bag: Her parents were Dutch, and she had friends whose parents were Spanish, Italian, Greek, Macedonian, Hungarian etc, as well as English. But no Asian students at all... now, of course, it's different.

What about South Asians? My cousin is in Australia right now to do his masters and said they're a little racist against him. I took it with a grain of salt...

@Geez: I feel the same way.

The whole talk of race/ethnicity doesn't sit well with me.
_________________

Wanna trade? My Drama List (UPDATED: July, 2013)

Geezer wrote:

It's The Human Race.

Succinctly put.
_________________

Trade or Distro
It's all good!

Check out my drama trade list: http://www.freewebs.com/evendrama/

Wynter wrote:

The whole talk of race/ethnicity doesn't sit well with me.

It's unavoidable in this thread.

Besides, we're having a good discussion.

Wynter wrote:

The whole talk of race/ethnicity doesn't sit well with me. bmwracer wrote: It's unavoidable in this thread. Besides, we're having a good discussion.

I thought we were having a good discussion too bmw. Maybe we Americans are more comfortable talking about ethnicity and race here because our country is made up of so many different ones and our history has forced us to take a good long look at it.

Since I was having a slightly puzzling time wrapping my head around the word 'ethnicity' and what it meant exactly I found these definitions on the wikipedia site:

The modern usage definition of the Oxford English Dictionary' is:

a[djective]

2.a. Pertaining to race; peculiar to a race or nation; ethnological. Also, pertaining to or having common racial, cultural, religious, or linguistic characteristics, esp. designating a racial or other group within a larger system; hence (U.S. colloq.), foreign, exotic.
b ethnic minority (group), a group of people differentiated from the rest of the community by racial origins or cultural background, and usu. claiming or enjoying official recognition of their group identity. Also attrib.

n[oun]

3. A member of an ethnic group or minority. orig. U.S.

�\Oxford English Dictionary "ethnic, a. and n."[23]

Writing about the usage of the term "ethnic" in the ordinary language of Great Britain and the United States, Wallman notes that

The term 'ethnic' popularly connotes 'race' in Britain, only less precisely, and with a lighter value load. In North America, by contrast, 'race' most commonly means colour, and 'ethnics' are the descendents of relatively recent immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. 'Ethnic' is not a noun in Britain. In effect there are no 'ethnics'; there are only 'ethnic relations'.[24]

Thus, in today's everyday language, the words "ethnic" and "ethnicity" still have a ring of exotic peoples, minority issues and race relations.

__________________________________________

I thought the difference in definitions between Britain and North America was interesting.

Geezer wrote:

It's The Human Race. Everything else is a question of Nationality and Ethnicity. As to dating someone of another Nationality or Ethnicity... that's an odd question for me because I'm from New York, and everyone who lives there is from a different Ethnicity. Jeez, I'm from 9 or ten different ethnicities

@Geezer: While I agree with your statement in theory, I feel that even though I belong to The Human Race I also belong to a subgroup of the black (Negroid) race. And yes I also belong to the subgroup of the white (Caucasian) race. Those to me are not ethnicities but races. I know it seems they are one in the same, but to me there is a distinct difference. I view Hispanics as an ethnic group where a person could be either of the white, black or mixed race.

Since this thread is about dating a person of another ethnicity I asked myself this question.....If I placed a personal ad or my profile on a dating site would I state my preference of what race I wanted to date or would I be more specific and state what ethnic group I wanted? I have noticed in this type of situation that more people are specific about what race they want to date rather than what ethnicity. Anyway it may all be a matter of semantics.

I know one thing and that is it takes courage to date a person of another ethnicity or race, especially if your family is opposed to it.

bmwracer wrote:

It's unavoidable in this thread. Besides, we're having a good discussion.

O no no, I didn't mean it in a negative way. I just meant it's hard for me to relate to the term "ethnicity" or even race when you're a mutt like me.

When people ask me what my background is, I say I'm "Canadian", but because of the colour of my skin, that's never quite true. But I can't say I'm Pakistani, since my link to that country and culture is minimal if not non-existent. And I'm not just Pakistani.... I'm not even the same religion as the nation. If I say I'm a Christian, then they ask what my "original" religion is, because apparently brown people can't just be Christian. They don't understand that we don't just convert. Some of us are mixed due to colonization.

This is why the term race/ethnicity doesn't sit well with me. I never know how to answer.

I didn't mean for you and Enna to think I thought the conversation was bad. I'm from a multicultural part of the world and I teach at a school where only 6% of the population is Caucasian. I don't feel uncomfortable talking about this subject.
_________________

Wanna trade? My Drama List (UPDATED: July, 2013)

Who's the one person that voted "no"? or did I miss that conversation.

Enna wrote:

I know one thing and that is it takes courage to date a person of another ethnicity or race, especially if your family is opposed to it.

It does: one of my best friends really liked this Hispanic girl and went out with her several times on the sly, but he realized his parents/family (Chinese) would object, so he broke it off, despite my telling him to live his own life... He ended up marrying a Chinese girl.

I don't think he was really happy about it, but resigned himself to the circumstances...

Jav_sol wrote:

Who's the one person that voted "no"? or did I miss that conversation.

We'll never know unless that person steps out from the shadows.

I wouldn't mind dating someone of a different ethnicity or race. I'm just used to being around different ethnicities and races that I don't think much about that and think more about having things in common, things I can enjoy with the person. Thankfully my parents aren't opposed to it.

Enna wrote:

Anyway it may all be a matter of semantics. I know one thing and that is it takes courage to date a person of another ethnicity or race, especially if your family is opposed to it.

I thought the difference in the two definitions was interesting as well.
Hurly Burly said everything was a matter of semantics.

And dating someone your family is opposed to might even be liberating if you dont want to see much of your family.

I think a lot of us Americans and Canadians are Heinz 57 models. I am Russian and Swedish stock myself back a little ways.
_________________

Trade or Distro
It's all good!

Check out my drama trade list: http://www.freewebs.com/evendrama/

Eve wrote:

I think a lot of us Americans and Canadians are Heinz 57 models.

I'm an American and I'm not a Heinz 57, Evie.

What does Heinz 57 mean?
_________________

Heinz 57 = Mutt, mixed ethnicities.

My father doesn't say "race", he says "flavor", as in, "So you're dating a new girl, what flavor is she?"
_________________

Jav_sol wrote:

In your case, someone African, Caucasian or Hispanic, would be outside your ethnicity, right?

Yah you can say so...

But i think i was answering based on me being a Singaporean. Singapore is a multi-racial and multi-religious country. There are four main 'races' in Singapore. Namely Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others (which includes Eurasians and other minority groups) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore#Population

So here in Singapore when such a question is asked, i get confused (for a while ONLY though, HAHAHA) But i think for me personally, personality is more important. I mean if you just base it on ethnicity or race, its like lumping big groups of people together. I am an individual and i get irritated at times when people assume things about me. Though sometimes its not their fault cos who has the time to consider each and every individual, right? So people use heuristics to figure people out.

Truth is i have never dated or been in a relationship before even though you can say i am quite old already. Hehe. But really, i'm open to the idea of getting to know people who are not of the same ethnicity. I still think that what's inside that matters. And also being able to be on the same wavelength/frequency is very important to me.

If you are talking about marriage, then i think religion would definitely come into the picture for me. Just my 2 cents.

PS: I love jdorama for having such threads to discuss topics with others around the world!

Itazura ichiban wrote:

Anyway, having any kind of relations with a person from another culture can really broaden your outlook. Sometimes people go to other cultures to escape the restrictions of their own culture.

Interesting point! I guess its about exploring what the world has to offer. Different perspectives etc etc.

Geezer wrote:

It's The Human Race. Everything else is a question of Nationality and Ethnicity.

Very true. *nods*

Enna wrote:

Anyway it may all be a matter of semantics.

Yes its a matter of defining these terms.

Wynter wrote:

This is why the term race/ethnicity doesn't sit well with me. I never know how to answer.

Seems that many here are 'mixed up' people So we seem to be more open to the idea of not basing things on race/ethnicity.

Jav_sol wrote:

Who's the one person that voted "no"? or did I miss that conversation.

I guess not all that voted leave comments in the thread to elaborate. Only people with too much free time and are long-winded elaborates. Talking about myself actually.

Eve wrote:

And dating someone your family is opposed to might even be liberating if you dont want to see much of your family.

I sense a rebel amongst us.

totally
_________________