# Religious question: What color is a banana? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464 "2012-06-27T14:49:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/1 "2012-06-27T14:49:26Z")
Believe it or not, this is a genuine question that relates to another debate in this thread. Please give your real answer. What color is a banana? How did you come to your conclusion? Is there anyone who could convince you to believe otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/2 "2012-06-27T14:52:21Z")
It what way is this a religious question? ---
**Author:** ![Victor\_Charlie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7ea924/32.png) [@Victor\_Charlie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victor_Charlie)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/3 "2012-06-27T14:54:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It what way is this a religious question? Please just go with it. I don’t want to skew the results with any explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/4 "2012-06-27T14:55:07Z")
Oh, I’ll play. Ripe bananas are yellow. Unripe bananas are green. Spoiled bananas are black, mostly. I know this because I was taught from infancy that bananas (generally referring to ripe bananas) and things that are the same color as ripe bananas are ‘yellow.’ If I had been taught that they were “purple” I would unhesitatingly call them “purple.” You would have a lot of difficulty persuading me that bananas are not yellow otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/5 "2012-06-27T14:57:10Z")
Odd question, but okay. A banana is yellow. I came to that conclusion because I was taught that the particular shade of the color spectrum we call yellow corresponded with the color of a banana. In order for someone to convince me that a banana was not yellow, they would have to solidly prove that the human perception of bananas were somehow skewed with reality. This is unlikely to happen. Of course, sometimes bananas are green, and sometimes they’re brown, but that’s probably not what you’re getting at. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/6 "2012-06-27T15:00:18Z")
Banana Yellow ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/7 "2012-06-27T15:00:52Z")
The inside or the outside? ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/8 "2012-06-27T15:01:28Z")
So, all, if you suddenly were presented with a bright blue ripe banana, with all characteristics matching the canonical banana, except color, would you think it was not a banana? Or would you question all you’d previously been taught? (there’s the religious part) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/9 "2012-06-27T15:01:48Z")
Even if there is some point to tis question that could be argued, as presented it is a poll. Off to IMHO. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/10 "2012-06-27T15:01:54Z")
Bananas are all sorts of colours, depending on species and ripeness. I come to this conclusion by buying and eating a lot of them. The red ones aren’t as good as the yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/11 "2012-06-27T15:04:40Z")
If you want to know what this is all about, see [this post in a current GD thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15211937&postcount=34), in which the banana-color question was brought up as a reference to a discussion in a linked thread from over a year ago. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/12 "2012-06-27T15:05:34Z")
> [@medicated](#): > > Bananas are all sorts of colours, depending on species and ripeness. I come to this conclusion by buying and eating a lot of them. > > The red ones aren’t as good as the yellow. You’re the freshman the professor would just like to throw out of philosophy class. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/13 "2012-06-27T15:05:36Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > So, all, if you suddenly were presented with a bright blue ripe banana, with all characteristics matching the canonical banana, except color, would you think it was not a banana? > > Would you question all you’d previously been taught? I’d say that it was a previously-unknown (to me) strain of blue bananas. My reaction would be, “Hey, a blue banana. Cool.” Can we have a link to what this thread is actually about? Edit: thanks, **Kimstu**. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/14 "2012-06-27T15:06:11Z")
Unripe bananas are green because they are born of original sin. Ripe bananas are yellow because they have accepted Jesus into their firm rubbery skin. Old bananas are black because Satan has possessed them. But if you want a banana to be blue, just pray really hard and it might happen for you… but not necessarily for the billions of other people on the planet. I think I answered the question correctly. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/15 "2012-06-27T15:07:04Z")
They are yellow. Bananas are yellow. When they were designing the colours for Bananaman they did not use any sort of bruised green colour, they used yellow (and some blue for contrast). Bananas are yellow. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/16 "2012-06-27T15:07:30Z")
@ ravenman I’m having a banana right now. How about I share it with you? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/17 "2012-06-27T15:08:15Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I think I answered the question correctly. What do I win? Like the real reason for this thread, it’s a seekrit. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/18 "2012-06-27T15:09:44Z")
Bananas are oranges. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/19 "2012-06-27T15:09:53Z")
Presented with a blue banana, I would ask where it came from - did someone dye it, or was it genetically altered, or is there a newly discovered rare form of blue banana growing in the depths of the Amazon? I’m still not sure how this is tied to religious beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/20 "2012-06-27T15:11:25Z")
It’s a cultural and language question. People name colors according to how their culture sees and divides color. Same with objects. If you think religion is simply about “what you are taught to think”, you clearly aren’t a religious person, so this conversation is by necessity going to be shallow and obvious except to the non-religious. But since there are plenty of those on this board, go at it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464.md?page=2)