Polite disagreement is the entire point of discussion, as far as I'm concerned. By all means, please continue to disagree.

Here's the thing: the last time I asked someone where they were from, I was in college, they had an extremely thick accent, and they were taking notes in something that looked like Amharic, but wasn't. That was when I found out that one side of the room wasn't talking to the other because they were literally at war. Somewhat awkward.

And you're right - the Asian kids in the class didn't care. None of us did, really. Beyond frat and non-frat it simply wasn't an issue. But then I come down to LA and everybody cares.

And here's where I take issue with the article: it's a bunch of Facebook quotes informing me that everything I've ever done is wrong and that there's a right way and a wrong way to ask the same question and minorities are allowed to be offended by me if I use the wrong syntax.

I would prefer, however, being asked more specific questions—where did you grow up? Were you born there? Do your parents still live there? Where did you live before you moved here? These queries are more transparent to me, and permit me to give more concise, nuanced answers.

Fuck that. If you want to give a specific answer, give a specific answer. Don't lay out a mental minefield for me such that you can choose to be offended no matter what I do.