As a waitress, I get asked a lot of questions, mostly about food, but I always get that inevitable question, "are you Chinese?" and I always answer with the truth, "no, I'm Hmong."

My answer typically leads to one of the following questions, "what's Hmong?" or "you don't look Hmong". As I do get slightly tired of explaining what being Hmong is, here are five signs you or someone you know are Hmong.

1. You own a Honda Civic, a Honda van, or just a Honda vehicle in general or a Toyota truck.

2. Your parents give you talismans to ward off spirits, accidents, sickness etc. to keep on your person or around your home.

3. You have a ginormous family (problems remembering names anyone?)

4. Your mother tends to over dramatize situations like you're in a Korean Drama.

And finally,

5. You tend to extend any and all exclamatory remarks that come out of your mouth, a la "ntuuuuuujjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssss" or "geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

This is in no way a comprehensive list of Hmongness, but if you can check three out of five of these, there's a good chance you (or someone you know) might just be Hmong.