# Are blue eyes better than say...Hazel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928 "2009-12-20T05:17:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/21 "2009-12-20T19:14:01Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > mistake mystique:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/22 "2009-12-20T21:17:05Z")
I’ve heard it about black eyes, grey eyes, “what color are your eyes” eyes (several of my relatives have eyes that change color depending on the light and their mood) and brown eyes. The most common compliment received by my bakers’ coffee-and-milk 2yo daughter is along the lines of “God in Heaven, will you look at those gorgeous eyes?” - very much brown. Acoording to a traditional song from Asturias, Ollos verdes son traidores, azules son mentideiros, os negros e acastañados bueños son e verdadeiros. Green eyes are traitors, blue ones are liars, black and brown ones are good and true. I suspect the writer had dark eyes 🙂 A friend of mine had green eyes when we were little, hazel eyes with a green inner ring in our teens, now you can’t see the green any more (we’re 41). ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/23 "2009-12-20T21:37:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Green eyes are traitors, > blue ones are liars, > black and brown ones > are good and true. > > I suspect the writer had dark eyes 🙂 That made me laugh, because Danish people have a (stupid IMO) saying that brown-eyed people are liars. Wonder why? ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/24 "2009-12-20T21:51:05Z")
Count me as another who’s eyes changed. I had blue eyes until 1st grade, then they turned brown. I remember very distinctly because my grandmother started disliking me because of brown eyes. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/25 "2009-12-20T22:20:24Z")
I had a friend who had different colored eyes. I forget the colors, but I think one of her eyes was green/blue and the other was hazel. It’s a condition known as [heterochromia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterochromia). Obligatory pic of cute [kittie with heterochromia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cat_Briciola_with_pretty_and_different_colour_of_eyes.jpg). I have black eyes. At least that’s what my driver license says. Years ago, when I went to the DMV to get my license for the first time, I had to fill out a form, one of the questions being “Eye Color?”. I paused, not really knowing because I’d never really examined them that closely. I thought they were black, so I wrote “Black”. The clerk at the counter didn’t blink or say anything. I go home and look in the mirror and see that they’re dark brown. Then I do some reading and learn that nobody in the world has black irides :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/26 "2009-12-20T23:02:16Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Oh, me too. I have blue eyes, but I’m a sucker for guys with dark brown eyes and even darker hair. 90% of the reason I married my husband is his deep dark brown eyes. I have blue eyes and I find them shallow looking and boring. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/27 "2009-12-21T00:08:05Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Blue-eyed people are fascinating because… they are MUTANTS! > > [Blue-Eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130170343.htm) I knew it! As if the milk-drinking and the skin colour weren’t enough of a giveaway… :: gestures to flashing dark-eyed women of the SDMB :: Let me lay my mutant love skills on you… ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/28 "2009-12-21T01:02:53Z")
I have two sons who both started out with quite blue eyes that slowly changed to a green hazel after the age of 2. Both of them have very beautiful eyes that get commented on ALL THE TIME, probably because they are also equipped with lashes that would make a mascara model jealous. Although they are definitely in the “hazel” family, they tend more to green and not muddy. I think eyes that are an unusual color get lots of comments. Blue is more unusual than brown, bright blue is more unusual than gray-blue, and green is kryptonite for women (at least this woman, you should see their dad’s eyes. I still get lost in them after 20 years) ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/29 "2009-12-21T02:20:09Z")
I had blonde hair and blue eyes up until about age three. My eyes gradually turned more greenish and my hair eventually ended up dark brown by the time I was an adult. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/30 "2009-12-21T02:57:58Z")
I used to have blue eyes back when I had blonde hair, too. Both went away sometime around first grade. (My hair was the type that changed colors in the seasons. One summer, it didn’t change back.) My eyes are now green/hazel with golden brown streaks, although, if I wear all blue, they’ll take on a blue-green tint. I like 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/31 "2009-12-21T03:10:29Z")
> [@Palo\_Verde](#): > > 90% of the reason I married my husband is his deep dark brown eyes. Ditto. He thinks his brown eyes are plain and boring, while my green eyes are beautiful. His family has mostly brown eyed people, exceot for his mom, who has blue: in my family, the men had blue eyes and the women had green eyes. So my eye color is unusual to him, and vice versa. Our son has green eyes like I do, and our daughter has his beautiful brown eyes. On both of them, it’s gorgeous. Our son had blue eyes up until a couple of years ago, and people used to squee over his eyes. Now they don’t. But they’re still beautiful. Of course, I’m just a wee bit biased. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/32 "2009-12-21T03:49:22Z")
I used to wish I had brown or green or hazel eyes because that’s more fun, but apparently people seem to like brown eyes judging from this thread. This is reminding me of the book the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/33 "2009-12-21T04:09:52Z")
My daughter’s eyes are ice blue, although her mother and I both have eyes that more closely resemble mud. I’m glad (for me) that she otherwise resembles me to a “T,” and (for her) that her eyes are much more striking than she has any natural right to. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/34 "2009-12-21T04:21:42Z")
I have blue eyes with a spot of gold in one eye, so I support any “research” that concludes that I’m smarter than everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/35 "2009-12-21T04:33:36Z")
Everyone in my family has blue eyes, ranging in shade from a deep, cornflower blue (my mum and my grandad), to a very bright, pale blue (my grandma and my uncles and cousins), to blue-green (me), so they’re not unusual to me. My husband has the drakest brown eyes, with amazing lashes, and while I think they’re beautiful (they’re the first bit of him I fell in love with), I am slightly annoyed that when we have kids his brown-eyed genes will trample all over my pretty blus ones! ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/36 "2009-12-21T04:44:07Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Back to the OP, brown eyes have also been the subject of praise in Western popular culture. Although blue eyes are more commonly referenced, there are a number of well-known songs about dark-eyed people, such as Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Chuck Berry’s much covered “Brown Eyed Handsome Man”. In early rock and blues songs, describing an attractive person as having brown eyes was often a way of suggesting that this person was black without being explicit enough to make white listeners uncomfortable. I’ve heard that Brown Eyed Girl was originally mean to be brown skinned girl but people were uncomfortable at that–do you know if there’s any truth to that? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/37 "2009-12-21T06:01:18Z")
> [@Jennyrosity](#): > > My husband has the drakest brown eyes, with amazing lashes, and while I think they’re beautiful (they’re the first bit of him I fell in love with), I am slightly annoyed that when we have kids his brown-eyed genes will trample all over my pretty blus ones! Brown-eyed people can carry recessive genes for blue eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/38 "2009-12-21T13:49:14Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Blue-eyed people are fascinating because… they are MUTANTS! > > [Blue-Eyed Humans Have A Single, Common Ancestor](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080130170343.htm) _Way back in history three thousand years In fact ever since the world began There’s been a whole lot of good women shedding tears Over a brown eyed handsome man_ ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/39 "2009-12-21T16:34:00Z")
I have ice-blue, no color eyes. Usually they’re a greyish light blue, but sometimes, they’re a brilliant, icy blue that even impresses me (and I see them all the time!). However, I prefer brown eyes. Not sure if my husband prefers blue eyes - I guess I should ask him sometime. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Urban_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928/40 "2009-12-21T18:57:12Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I’ve heard that Brown Eyed Girl was originally mean to be brown skinned girl but people were uncomfortable at that–do you know if there’s any truth to that? “Originally, it was called ‘Brown-Skinned Girl’ when I wrote the song. I just thought ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ sounded better or something… After we’d recorded it, I looked at the tape box and didn’t even notice that I’d changed the title. That’s how spaced out it was. I looked at the box where I laid it down with my guitar and it said ‘Brown-Eyed Girl’ on the tape box. It’s just one of those things that happen.” – Van Morrison [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-blue-eyes-better-than-say-hazel/521928.md?page=3)