^When I was in the 4th grade, a girl from another class heard me
   talk and decided I was from England. So as elementary school
   girls often do, she spreads the word. (lucky me, I was her
   target) So for an entire quarter (3 months), I was the boy from
   England.

   First couple of teases and fights about it (yes, kids will fight
   about anything ("Haha, you're from England" "You can't have
   America Back, England! you stupid. You lost, loser", "Redcoat!"
   - at least some loudmouths paid attention in history class), I
   defended myself, saying, "I'm NOT from England - I'm American!".
   But no matter how hard I tried to correct the mistake, I was
   still The Boy from England.

   After three weeks of this kind of spotlight, I remembered,
   "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt
   Me." So I really worked hard to apply it.

   So I learned at a young age, if the label doesn't impact your
   life in any significant way, you can accept it. Not accept it as
   true, but accept it as, "It doesn't matter." Untruths,
   especially being called names, usually simply don't matter.

   "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt
   Me."

   NOW there were other things to fight about - 4 eyes, you -girl-,
   teacher's pet, stupid - and the sticks-and-stones concept worked
   and didn't work to various degrees on some of the other name
   callings.

   But finally, the wrong idea - that I was from England, went away
   over time. The girl who was The Troublemaker moved on to other
   targets by the next quarter.

   The lesson?

   Often a snap judgement (You are from England) is a fiction. A
   fiction is, at its root, a lie. Lies spread quickly and take a
   life of their own (they become elaborate fictional tales and
   spread and grow like a cancer). Truths (No I'm not from England)
   don't spread. Truths are usually boring and few people care
   about truths.

   WHAT INSPIRED ME TO TALK ABOUT THIS: Last night, in a Google
   Hangout (video chat), a random women from another culture who
   was in the room with us - said, "KENNETH are you from England?"
   I told her where I was from. "No, you are from England, not
   America." I gave her a 2nd chance to get it right. "No, I can
   tell - you are from England. You are lying to me". So I started
   talking about something else and eventually, she went away. I
   was a pointless target for her odd behavior.

   "Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Names Will Never Hurt
   Me."^