Lots of people have posted a story along the lines of:
"When I was wee I saw a black person for the first time and said [insert childish casual racism]".

Does this happen in reverse in countries where white people are in the minority? Do the children there, on seeing a white bloke for the first time, say "Look mummy, a ghost" or "Look mummy, that man's hair is made of straw"?

As for my own anecdote of this type, when I was little my mum bought me Duplo people of all colours. Apparently I saw a black man, pointed him out to my mum and loudly said, "Look mummy, he's got knobbly hair like my Duplo man!"
( Bob Todd whee, Tue 22 Apr 2008, 21:29, 8 replies)

In answer to your question,
yes.
( LordManley twitter.com/LordManley, Tue 22 Apr 2008, 21:39, closed)

yes
aye - I got called ghost all the time in China
(magic the cat will someone please think of the kittens, Tue 22 Apr 2008, 21:54, closed)

Fuck that, what I want to know is...
In countries that are mostly desert, do kids have grass pits like we have sand pits.
( Furness, Tue 22 Apr 2008, 21:55, closed)

Desert people tend not to live in the actual barren sandy bits.
They usually live in the oases.
( Bob Todd whee, Tue 22 Apr 2008, 21:56, closed)

good question
But what about mermaids?

Do they have dry pits?

(Insert deodorant advert here)
(magic the cat will someone please think of the kittens, Tue 22 Apr 2008, 23:07, closed)

Late, but yes
In the exciting* travels of Clan Osok over the decades, Mumsie Osok made a trip into the bush in rural Nigeria in the late 60s (Grandfather Osok was laying pipelines) and was very much the centre of attention (as the females used to stay in town sipping gin while the blokes went and got sweaty in those days). Oh, and someone shot at them, but they didn't realise this at the time. She also made the mistake of drinking the local arrack and being violently sick at dinner. Score one for diplomacy.

Osok Senior was also one of the first Westerners to be invited into North Korea, and was followed by hordes of people wondering who the shivering blue bloke was. He also got a severe kicking from Security at Shanghai Airport on that trip, but that's for another day.



*may not be that exciting
(osok Rebel without a clue, Wed 23 Apr 2008, 10:20, closed)

Skin
I live in East Africa where children and even adults always shout "Mzungu" at me. It means white man.
In a Maasai village I once visited, the children were fascinated by my colouring. One girl reached out and touched my arm, and shrieked. Turns out she said "ugh! it feels just like SKIN!"
(mzungu, Wed 23 Apr 2008, 11:21, closed)

I'm pretty happy around babies and infants
and not used to them crying or becoming traumatised in my prescence.

However, when I wasliving in Japan I learned that i had to be really carefully around babies there - even smiling at one on a train could lead to tears and terror. They weren't used to scary white gaijin, and a lot of them weren't that used to men either (dads leaving for work beofre they wake up and getting back after they've gone to bed mean that many Japanese children don't really get to know their fathers until their older).
(massively_optimistic that's terrific!, Wed 23 Apr 2008, 14:19, closed)