So, based on what I’ve learned guessing someone’s origin based on their appearance or speech can often be interpreted as racism. So, would a better way to ask such a question be for example: “What is your ancestral background?”, or “Where are your ancestors from?” be a better way to ask such a question?
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No given how long forms of continental and intercontinental travel has existed.
My ancestors on my dad’s side are German, on my mom’s they’re Scandinavian, but they were both born and raised in the UK, as was I for most of my life but now live in Canada
That is a very unusual and straight up weird question that forces the mind to go ‘you want to know ‘where I’m really from’, don’t you?’ It’s just a BS way for you to feel slightly better about asking the racist question.
Far more importantly, ask yourself WHY you need to ask this question in the first place. If you’re already friends with the person, you can just ask them directly what their ancestry is, and if you’re not friends yet, none of your business, don’t ask.🤷