Can you tell where someone is from based on their physical appearance?

29 comments

1. Physical appearance? No

   Clothing? Yeah, to a certain extent.

   > It’s relatively easy to do this in European countries

   In various European countries I was mistaken for Irish, British, French, German, Danish, and Canadian. Maybe its easier for some than others.

2. I’d say yes to an extent. I think it’s more regional than state by state.

3. Not at all by just appearance, though you may be able to get region of US by clothes. Accent is way more of a tell.

4. Clothing can give you some clues but just based on physical appearance that is pretty much impossible.

5. Clothing and hair and makeup can provide some general clues (largely regional and urban vs. rural), but mostly no.

6. No, not at all. Every region in the US is home to a significant population of people from just about every ethnicity. There are pockets where you’ll find more Scandinavians, or Italians, or Black descendants of West Africans, or more Native Americans, but never to such a degree that you can look at a US citizen and tell by their body what part of the US they are from.

7. General appearance, no. Dress? Kinda. You can kinda narrow down regions though, but how someone’s dressed is partly dependent upon their subculture or at least ones that they’re adjacent to, and those tend to have at least *some* representation nationwide. Good for an educated guess, bad for a guaranteed result.

   Obviously there are exceptions for state branded clothing. And it sometimes goes the opposite of what you’d expect. My FloGrown shirt tells you I’m Floridian. Conversely, an I ❤️ NY shirt tells you that person ain’t a New Yorker, they’re a tourist.

8. Nope, I can’t tell where someone is from based on clothing or pyshical appearance. I live in NYC which is very multicultural, I just assume everyone is New Yorker or at least an American unless they say otherwise.

9. In DC if you see someone with a MAGA hat, you can tell they’re with a field trip from the Bible Belt

   Edit: bring on the downvotes, but I’m pretty sure I have never been wrong about this

10. In Michigan if someone has troll-like features, you know they’re from the Lower Peninsula

11. I can’t tell the difference between a Dane and a Swede. Similarly, it is hard to tell the difference between a Californian and a Texan.

12. >It’s relatively easy to do this in European countries

    bit of a contrarian response, but I see Europeans asserting this on social media all the time, and I really doubt that it’s true, especially when it comes to tourists from outside of Europe. I’m sure it’s easy to spot people who are acting in a stereotypical way, but a lot of people are pretty good at blending in.

    60% of Americans are white, 18% are Hispanic & Latino, 12% are black, 6% are Asian. 13% of Americans speak Spanish at home. (remember that the US doesn’t have an official language) sometimes looking at someone, or even speaking to someone, won’t be an indication of their nationality. it’s also pretty hard to tell the difference between a Canadian and an American on the fly.

    within the US, people move states all the time, and generally fashion translates from place to place. sometimes I can spot someone who is from a warmer climate based on the state of their outerwear/footwear in the upper midwestern winter, but other than that, no.

13. When trying to narrow down what part of the country someone is from, the best way is to listen to what term they use when ordering a soft drink.

14. Mostly no but there are some situations where you can.

    1. Colleges: International students stick out in many cases because they dress much nicer than us Americans. For example, when it is was cold most students were wearing sweats, leggings, and hoodies, while the few international students would wear overcoats and much less casual clothing.
    2. Rural vs urban: in many places in America, those in rural areas (particularly older men) dressed differently-> i.e. collared plaid shirt, jeans, boots type of look

    I would say these differences are generally disappearing. For example, I remember how wearing tennis shoes was a way to stick out like a sore thumb as an American but everyone wears them now.

15. No. It’s not possible in the US because we have a huge range of race and ethnicity. I remember visiting Belize with my teenage kids, and the guide there kept exclaiming “You don’t look like Americans. What are you really?” And we were like, “What on earth does an American look like?”

    Sometimes, you can guess by dress, particularly bathing suits, shorts, or footwear for men in particular. But not always, and this usually applies only in high tourist areas like NYC. In NYC I can usually look at someone and see they’re not American because of how they dress and move. And usually I can guess they’re not from NYC. But I cannot guess what part of America they’re from.

16. Many Americans, like many Europeans, can claim with confidence to be able to tell your ethnic background based on your appearance. But there is no physical difference or notable characteristics that distinguish among people from different US states. The closest I think we get is judging how tan someone is, and that will only really tell you if they’ve been to Florida, California, or Hawaii within the past month.

17. Physical appearance alone, no. Clothing – also kinda hard. If they have a regional accent, its super easy.

18. I can’t explain it but some people just look like they’re from Ohio

19. Not even a little bit. Even seemingly obvious things like sports jerseys/hats aren’t a great indicator since a lot of people are fans of teams that aren’t even in the same timezone as them.

20. I can sometimes tell people are from Europe, more specifically Scandinavia, when I see them over here. Four or five pasty white people standing together at the same time wearing slightly odd clothing is not a normal sight. The body language is often subtly different, too.

    But there is no way to tell people apart by state. At best you might be able to tell region and even that is probably not possible most of the time. We are well mixed.

21. Physical appearance no. We are far too mixed worldwide to make those kind of guesses.

    Fashion and accent can give it away though.

22. I mean, I know the answer is no based on like…physical features, but we can all tell if someone is from Jersey, right? 😂

23. I can almost immediately tell if a male is British or irish just based on haircut alone

24. Sometimes. That, or I am just good at guessing.

25. No that would be stereotyping

26. Clothing? Typically, yeah. Canadians and Americans are indistinguishable, but it’s pretty easy to spot a European. For whatever reason, Russians and Italians are pretty easy to pick out based on how they dress.

    Indians from India are easy to tell apart from US born Indians based on the brands and style. Same with Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans from those countries vs US born Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans.

    I’m Asian-American, so I can tell which Asian country someone is from based on physical appearance, but I think most non-Asian people from the US or Europe probably couldn’t.

27. I moved to SoCal last year and everyone looks like they’re wearing vintage clothing from the 70s lol. Also, a lot more guys with long(er) hair.

    When I drive to (west) LA, I swear everyone is dressed in Fashion Nova stuff lmao.

28. No

29. You can’t even tell if someone is American or not just by looking at them, because Americans look like everyone and have ancestry from everywhere.