No it’s not a typo.

I find it sad yet oddly amusing that people who I’ve never had a formal introduction with, refer to me as Wong. I often question whether or not they realise my real name is John (surprise!).

Just the other day, when we had the COMP exam, this guy by the name of “Raneel”(spelling?) mistook me for somebody else (whose name just happened to be John).

Him: Whoa! You’re not John
Me: err…
Him: Wait…yes you are…
Me: yeah…
Him: Just not the John I’m referring to

The following chain of events occurred also inside the “Dota Lab”

Tommy: Hey John!
Me: Huh?
Tommy: Not you…
Me: oh right…
Tommy: You’re Wong.

Also today, there was a slightly awkward conversation.

Han: Hey Wong, can you help me with this question…blahblahblah
*5 minutes later
Me: Han! Shouldn’t you be pro at this?! You’re Asian!
Han: *In fob accent* You’re more Asian than me!
Me: What?! No I’m not!
Sam: *laughs and attempts (and fails) to immitate what Han said with a fob accent*

It was slightly awkward. Reason being…people with accents know that they have accents, they don’t pretend they don’t, they know! And when people make fun of it or tries to patronise them with some comment or rather, it does get relatively offensive. I just felt bad that I wasn’t at the receiving end.

Side note: Can people please STOP interpreting FOB as “fresh off the boat” when asked to define fob? It’s come to an extent where the acronym has transformed into another meaning.

E.g.

Person A: What does FOB meaning?
Person B: *think he’s all cool* Fresh off the boat
Person A: *pretends to understand* Ahhhhhh

Damn n00bs.