to turkish friends. have you been asked strange questions about your cultures by strangers?
Image by Marji Beach
Maya and Zarriah are royal palm turkey hens being raised on a free-range farm for slaughter. They escaped from the farm and were rescued. Maya is 2 and Zarriah is 10 (she came to the sanctuary in 2000!)
Maya passed away on 6/30/2012.
Question by Tolga,,,,: to turkish friends. have you been asked strange questions about your cultures by strangers?
i ve been asked many strange questions from strangers:
-Is it difficult to write in latin letter for you because it is not your main letters ? ( it is from someone who has been in turkey )
-OMG a blonde turk how come it be? It is impossible you re not a turk.
– turks re what arabs or persian? some time they assume that i speak french or arabic.
My mind always buggle with them. Dont they teach them geography?
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
14 Responses to to turkish friends. have you been asked strange questions about your cultures by strangers?
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Many bored children, bored teenagers and bored adults do indeed ask many strange questions here…including questions about different cultures.
A lot of people have problems with basic spelling, are unable to formulate a question, and have never heard of a map.
It’s all down to ignorance really.
magidge
July 23, 2013 at 8:56 am
Yes..
Living in an Arabic country and carrying a Turkish passport- which states the religion-, how come I don’t speak fluent Arabic, since I am Muslim, why don’t I cover up ( that question is from an American; not an Arab), how did I learn English in a Muslim country and again from a few Americans ” Do you have TV in Turkey? Does your family live in a big house altogether? Do you eat with your hands? Are there really sea’s bordering Turkey aaaand what is it like to live in the desert”…….
bla bla blaaaa
🙂
Ipek K
July 23, 2013 at 9:14 am
Turks are Mongols that were converted to islam 1.000 years ago when the Arabs invaded Central Asia and Mongolia
the Turkish flag!!!
July 23, 2013 at 9:16 am
Yeah oh my god, they do.
I’m like really tired of these kinds of questions.
Now when they ask me stuff like that I say, “Hey look at me, this is who I am, so stop asking questions like that.”
Seriously sometimes I think that they do it on purpose.
My best friend is french, and even after 9 years of friendship she still asks me how can you drink that bla bla etc…anyways I’m used to it now, really.:D
Charmed
July 23, 2013 at 9:43 am
– do u have dishwasher in Turkey
– do u speak arabic
– oh u are white are u sure u are from Turkey?
– do u know how to cook hard boil egg
– why do u use your right hand for eating?
– is somalia close to u?
– if i steal something in Turkey are they gonna cut my hand
:))))))))))))) they are soooo funny. all those questions are real. people asked me:) i live in America and they dont have any idea about us. It means they dont know History, Geography and cultures
femmefatale
July 23, 2013 at 10:10 am
I guess there is nothing wrong asking these questions, except they are asked dishonestly.
When I get a dumb question where the question itself is considered basic or obvious, or I don’t have the experience to answer, I understand that the asker is just trying to learn about Turkey and the culture then I am extremely tolerant.
When I get an ignorant question either I have no right to know the answer or because the asker has already known the answer, or simply it is so easy to find out the answer, I don’t have the tolerance for that kind of questions and I don’t answer them.
Simply because asker is telling me with his or her question my time isn’t worth wasting on making the effort to find out the answer so I’m going to waste your time.
For instance, once I was on the train traveling in one of the most developed countries in the world and the train delayed. During this time passengers started getting friendly with one another and I remember the lady sitting in the front row asking me if I had a jewel in my belly button when she found out I was from Turkey!
This happened years ago. I don’t get ignorant questions such this one. In fact this was the only one I still remember. I have met many curious people until know that they wanted to know more about Turkey and its culture genuinely.
Eclectic Mind
July 23, 2013 at 10:46 am
Go to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and take the shortest path to the Egyptian Bazaar. If you did this, you wouldn’t blame these foreigners.
I took that path with my Swedish ex-girlfriend once, who was in Istanbul the very first time. We saw some tourists on our way but very few.
There was not one single Turkish woman there without a tĂĽrban. A small part wore even chaddors. It was like in an Arabic country.
After that and after having seen the Egyptian Bazaar, I took her to a very exclusive place. A drive of 5-10 minutes only, and we were sitting in a bar drinking a nicely prepared cocktail, with beautiful young ladies and latin-lover-lookalike men.
The purpose of this shock therapy was that I wanted to show her the extreme differences within the Turkish society. Of course, there is also a lot of people who are “in between”.
Now, back to your question.
Particularly abroad, people who don’t fit into that stereotype (I’m talking about those who we saw on the path to the Egyptian Bazaar), are not even recognized as Turkish people. When Europeans ask me where I come from I want them to guess. “Italian?”… “No!”… “Spanish?”… “No!”… “Greek?”… “No!” After that, I usually tell them, that I’m from Denmark, raised by a single mother who went to Sicily once for vacation, got pregnant by a guy she didn’t know and I was the result… People are usually shocked when I tell them this story and after that, I tell them that I’m Turkish. They are astonished hearing that as well…
A person who doesn’t fit into that famous stereotype is not considered as a Turk by Europeans and other Westerners who have never visited Turkey. What they see in the West makes them think that all Turkish people are like that.
I think we shouldn’t blame them.
Bix
July 23, 2013 at 11:27 am
Bazan, evet
Gul V
July 23, 2013 at 11:39 am
sometimes
deborahvaral
July 23, 2013 at 11:46 am
Mine is worse..When I first came to Y!A, I asked ‘What do you think of Turkish people?’. One of the answers was ‘They don’t use toilet paper, they are dirty!’ I know this isn’t a question but they know us like that.
Maybe it’s about we can’t make a sound in the world. I mean, we can’t express ourselves. Or they just believe in what they want.
Irmak
July 23, 2013 at 12:25 pm
The silliest question I have ever been asked was when I had some visitors from Germany and I was showing them around in the European side of Istanbul. And they said they wanted to see the Anatolian side so that they could see the actual Turks (thinking that just because it’s called the “Anatolian” side, people who live there would be like Arabians)
readylaura
July 23, 2013 at 1:12 pm
*In a survey it was stated that out of every 10 adults 6 can not find the country of Finland.
* In a another survey it was stated that out of every 10 adults 4 believe that china is India when they are told it is.
-the top it of people do not think there is any other Muslim people but Arabs and Persian which is totally wrong as there are 14 major races that accept Islam.
-Some are just undereducated or trolls
-some are just small and are not sure what they are saying
-people are weird as they do not think races get mixed up in time so if there is a brunet Russian there is a blond turk:D
Daniel
July 23, 2013 at 2:06 pm
How can I buy Islamic clothes and veil from Ankara?
Are there really camels and slaves walking around in the streets in Istanbul?
imdat.imdat.imdat!!!
Ä°layda E
July 23, 2013 at 2:24 pm
This happens 2 every one i am sure
Sarah S
July 23, 2013 at 2:43 pm