Have you met a North Korean before?

[Ericthegreat]

Actually here's a funny story. A part of my family lives in Switzerland and they have for a long while. A few of my family members ***allegedly*** went to the same school as Kim Jong-Un himself at the same time he did! If you don't believe this, well I don't really either. I mean, it's a little bit of legend passed around in the family nowadays.

Very possible, if they went to like the nicest school on Switzerland.

 

[DinohScene]

I am genuinely confused over the strong negative reaction you have here. First time I have seen such a thing, and I dare say similar things would apply to most of those that quoted you on it. I could possibly understand if you were mischaracterised it might get tiring for some, and a further failure of geography ("I'm from the UK" "oh I once went to Sweden" sort of thing) can also not help matters, but the mere question asked because the person is curious is never something I would have considered any kind of poor form to ask. Equally I can't see the mere question belay any desire or notion that someone intends to treat someone other than as a person.

There are questions and lines of conversation that have implications; I think I joked before that if someone asks me about my job then it is as big a clue as any that I am speaking to an American, and similarly if someone is telling me about their kids then I only really care if I know said kids in and of themselves. Again though a simple "where are you from?" is plenty innocuous as these things go, and actually a useful question.

To further answer the question of "why would someone's country of origin matter?" then if I am seeking common ground (fairly common in conversations with new people or people you are attempting to get to know better) then one's country of origin tends to provide a starting point for all the various forms of media and entertainment, geography, history, food, language, industry, politics/current events, sports, science and if I must be British about it then even the weather. It gets even better if your general hobbies are a bit obscure to begin with; I can't say I meet many ROM hackers or people interested in the maths and manufacturing of old school heavy engineering*, some like old machines but the approach there is quite often radically different, and if I start talking about anything that with a completely random person it tends to go nowhere and makes me look very strange.

*choice video
*snip*

It's far from negative.
No clue why you people perceive it as such, but it isn't.

 

[gameboy]

its like asking if youve ever met a Wakandan... anything North Korea is fake news

 

[FAST6191]

It's far from negative.
No clue why you people perceive it as such, but it isn't.

Met all sorts of Asian people.
I don't ask them where they're from, I just talk/interact with them like any other person.

Asking Asian people if they're North Korean...
How dare you people!
You're all racist!

In all honesty, unless the topic is brought up, I wouldn't ask.
Why would I care where you're from? (aside possible international trading)
Basically, you're just another human being in me eyes.
I'll treat you the same way as you treat me, regardless of skin colour/race or sexual orientation.
I mean, why would someones country of origin matter?

Unless my sarcasm detector is on the blink again that sounds like you discourage such behaviour and view it as less than ideal. I however consider it a general part of getting to know someone and both utterly innocuous and actually going so far as to be quite useful, as do most people I have ever met, certainly all the ones that are worth knowing. Similarly most people seem to appreciate the attempt rather than assuming them some kind of homogenous blob. Various avenues may well not pan out (for instance anyone that even vaguely follows English football will know far more than I do about anything to do with anything there, someone tries talking to me about it and nothing much will happen) but that can be dismissed easily enough and focus shifted to something that can be talked about.