Assuming Ignorance or Stupidity based on Ethnics
Nov 29, 2023 10:00:51 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Nov 29, 2023 10:00:51 GMT -5
Assumption of English Language Ignorance
What I'm referring to is how some people will assume that a person is basically ignorant of very common things simply because he or she is a member of an ethic group. In my case, it is being a Latino. You see, based on my physical appearance, most non Latinos in the USA assume that I either can't speak English, and if I do speak it, then it must be with a strong Latino accent and limited by a very rudimentary vocabulary.
For example, I had one Anglo American woman at a farmer's market explaining what the word peach meant, and an African American woman explain to me what the term tissue-paper meant.
Another lady kept gesturing as if opening and closing an umbrella and making signs of raining with her fingers as she uttered these words in order to assure that I understood. Yet another kept telling me that I did not mean rice, when I said rice in English, that I really meant was Arroz. That I didn't mean plantain, but that I meant platano. That I didn''t really mean eggs when I said eggs, that I really meant huevos.
Well, unbeknown to them, my English proficiency college entrance exam results has my English ability up in the doctoral level. I also an poet a and novelist and have given public talks in English both in college and at church. No big deal since I consider English it my main language. I also speak it with a typical New York accent, and not with the broken ill-pronounced, shot-to-hell with grammatical mistakes, Latino accent they imagine.
Assumption Of Cultural Ignorance
Yep! This is another annoying phenomenon that I have had to patiently endure in order to avoid a heated confrontation. Strangely, the one assuming the cultural ignorance was a recent Asian immigrant. You see, instead of charging me $4.75 for a regular can of Chef Boyardee, Spaghetti and Meatball, of which I bought twenty, he charged me six dollars per can.
When I confronted him with the exorbitant price discrepancy, he claimed that the cans he had sold me were the larger versions. Now, I have been dealing with those cans of Chef Boyardee spaghetti since a child, and know for a certainty that those cans were the regular ones.
When I confronted him with the exorbitant price discrepancy, he claimed that the cans he had sold me were the larger versions. Now, I have been dealing with those cans of Chef Boyardee spaghetti since a child, and know for a certainty that those cans were the regular ones.
But he, of course, had assumed that since I am Latino, I must be tonally ignorant of the difference between a larger can and the regular can. Now, that cost me an additional 20 dollars for the twenty cans I bought. Result? He lost a customer.
Same thing happened in the store across the street from the post off icve at Market street across the street from his store. I bought a 69 dollar watch, the wrist satrap flew off . Took it back and the Asian immigrant assumes that I am ignorant about how such watches are put together. Claim I was to blame for the wrist strap flying apart. I knew he was lying because I had had other watches and knew that the strap was defective. But to avoid heated arguments, I kept it. Then it suddenly stopped working. He claimed the rapidly batteries run out.
All this based on his assumption that I, as an ignorant Latino, must surely be unfamiliar with how long a wrist-watch battery is supposed to last. Took the watch back, and he became infuriated and seemed as if he wanted to throw hands. I managed to leave the store without being forced to brain him. Which is good.
All this based on his assumption that I, as an ignorant Latino, must surely be unfamiliar with how long a wrist-watch battery is supposed to last. Took the watch back, and he became infuriated and seemed as if he wanted to throw hands. I managed to leave the store without being forced to brain him. Which is good.