My wife will describe me to friends and co-workers who have never met me and they just dont see her being married to the description of me. She always ends the description with "he cleans up well."
I remember in my college days when I was home for the summer I was a member of En-Joie Golf Club, where they play the BC Open on the PGA Tour. I would show up in the morning and have the starter hook me up with a group that needed a 3rd or 4th. There i was, earrings, colored long hair, giant tribal tattoo on my calf and the people i got paired with would just look at me strange. Then I would go out and kick their ass by shooting between 68 and 75. They couldnt believe it. They were always like, 'where did you come from?"
Same with professors and classmates in college. They saw a 'freak' who most assuradly had to be a liberal. Then I opened my mouth. They didnt know what to think.