# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/61 "2012-06-27T16:55:54Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > This post has been Bananaed by the Bananaist. Didn’t count on the Celeryist, didja? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/62 "2012-06-27T17:23:02Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > What color is a banana is a nonsense question. Which banana are you talking about? > > This is like asking “what color is a house” or “what color is a cat” > > Silly. Oh my fucking god… ---
**Author:** ![Tad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/63 "2012-06-27T17:31:55Z")
The question is a bit simplistic though, isn’t it? Religious questions tend to ask/to take a general road more than a specific one. I only glossed over the other responses (sorry about that), so I’m not sure if this has been said already, but… Bananas are yellow, or green, or brown, depending on whether or not it has its skin on. And if it doesn’t, then it’s a number of other hues of cream or brown or yellow. Or it may have some deeper browns or black. Or it may have mould, so it may have blues and greens and whites and orange and a bunch of other colours on it. Which is to say, depending on what the banana looks like it can be any number of colours. It also may be that the person looking at the banana is colour-blind and so colours have a kind of relative meaning. And it may be that the thing looking at the banana isn’t necessarily human, so it might look like something else entirely. Someone may have spray painted the banana silver for all I know–or any other colour in the world. Someone may have pained a picture of the banana and done something else with it. It isn’t (and can’t be) _just_ yellow. I say that from experience, probability, decay, possibility, and some other stuff that doesn’t require belief. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/64 "2012-06-27T17:37:37Z")
> [@Tad](#): > > Bananas are yellow, or green, or brown, depending on whether or not it has its skin on. And if it doesn’t, then it’s a number of other hues of cream or brown or yellow. Or it may have some deeper browns or black. Or it may have mould, so it may have blues and greens and whites and orange and a bunch of other colours on it. Which is to say, depending on what the banana looks like it can be any number of colours. It also may be that the person looking at the banana is colour-blind and so colours have a kind of relative meaning. And it may be that the thing looking at the banana isn’t necessarily human, so it might look like something else entirely. Someone may have spray painted the banana silver for all I know–or any other colour in the world. Someone may have pained a picture of the banana and done something else with it. It isn’t (and can’t be) _just_ yellow. I’ll take “Ways to know you’re reading the Dope” for a thousand Alex. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/65 "2012-06-27T17:57:43Z")
Color labels are a human construct. They correlate loosely with wavelengths of light, but they are more closely tied to the tristimulus response of the cones in the human eye. So when I say “bananas are yellow” what that really means is “I have learned to associate the term ‘yellow’ with a particular pattern of stimulus. When I look at a banana I experience that pattern of stimulus.” This doesn’t mean that bananas ARE yellow, merely that “yellow” is a convenient culturally constructed shorthand for how the light reflected off bananas affects the human visual system. How we dice up our tristimulus responses is somewhat arbitrary, and color terms vary from culture to culture. What I mean when I say “yellow” may be subtly different that what a German speaker means when he says “gelb”. It might even be subtly different that what you mean when you say “yellow”. It all depends on what tristimulus responses we’ve learn to attach that label to. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/66 "2012-06-27T18:06:14Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’ll take “Ways to know you’re reading the Dope” for a thousand Alex. 😉 Define “banana”, genetically. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/67 "2012-06-27T18:16:02Z")
It’s yellow. I mean, it’s not actually yellow in the technical sense, but it’s yellow in the sense that we say such things. Not sure, even after seeing the other thread, how this is a meaningful metaphor for religion. All religions are true to the extent that you believe in them, within the context of the domain of belief, which is the imagination, and to a smaller extent social interaction. And the imagination can influence the physical realm to some extent, but generally speaking facts about the physical world tend to be immutable, mutually consistent, and independently verifiable. It would take an awful lot of specific brainwashing to make someone not only see a banana as seeming the same color as the sky, but also change what reading they see on a colorimeter, or whatever device takes color readings to match the readings on other blue things. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/68 "2012-06-27T19:08:35Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Let’s stop this needling behavior right now. **Vinyl Turnip** , particularly, you know that we do not allow changing people’s quotes, even in the service of comedy and poking one another with sticks. Heh. Oops. That was actually inadvertent. I apologize, and so does Greasemonkey. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/69 "2012-06-27T19:23:35Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Eve was the first carpenter. She made Adam’s Banana Stand. And on the first day…there was always money in the banana stand! ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/70 "2012-06-27T21:24:57Z")
Ask the Banana what color it is. It’s the only one who knows for sure… ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/71 "2012-06-27T21:47:40Z")
Uh, bananas are banana-colored, I always thought. Houses are house-colored, and cats are cat-colored. So whatever color bananas are, they’re yellow. You can have your banana any color you want, as long as it’s yellow. Consider the proposition: “All bananas are yellow”. By contraposition, this is logically equivalent to the statement “All not-yellow objects are not-bananas.” Any confirming instance of either of these statements is a confirming instance of the other. So we can easily find lots of evidence. Just look around you. Here, for example I have a green towel laying nearby. I have a blue ball-point pen. I see a red kitchen timer (styled to resemble a tomato). I am wearing a pale reddish-purple shirt. Etc. Each of these items is a confirming instance of a not-yellow object being a not-banana, which therefore is also a confirming instance of the equivalent proposition that all banana-objects are yellow. There so vastly many such objects all around, I think **it can be concluded, at least empirically, that all bananas are yellow.** Q.E.D. This is LOGIC, people, not religion! A bit of logical clarification: To be sure, there are also some NOT-banana objects around that ARE yellow (for example, there’s a sheet of yellow note-pad paper here), and some people are confused by this. To be clear: This is NOT an instance of “banana object that is yellow” NOR is it an instance of “not-yellow object that is not-banana” so it isn’t actually relevant at all. Now, all’s we need to decide is the proper spelling for Bananaed and Bananaist. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/72 "2012-06-27T22:04:02Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Ask the Banana what color it is. It’s the only one who knows for sure… Link to the ‘Ask a banana’ thread? ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/73 "2012-06-27T22:17:48Z")
Ripe ones are yellow, unripe ones are green, spoiled ones are black. Because God made 'em that way. ---
**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, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/74 "2012-06-27T22:21:00Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Ripe ones are yellow, unripe ones are green, spoiled ones are black. > > Because God made 'em that way. Ok, let me get this straight. God makes things in his image. So are you saying, God, is a banana? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/75 "2012-06-27T22:21:58Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Oh my fucking god… Haven’t you ever seen a red banana? Or a green one? Or a black one? Or a yellow one? Haven’t you ever seen a red house? Or a green one? Or a black one? Or a yellow one? Haven’t you ever seen an orange cat? Or a grey one? Or a black one? Or a white one? What’s so confusing about this? ---
**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, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/76 "2012-06-27T22:22:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Uh, bananas are banana-colored, I always thought. > > Houses are house-colored, and cats are cat-colored. > > So whatever color bananas are, they’re yellow. You can have your banana any color you want, as long as it’s yellow. > > Consider the proposition: “All bananas are yellow”. > By contraposition, this is logically equivalent to the statement “All not-yellow objects are not-bananas.” > Any confirming instance of either of these statements is a confirming instance of the other. > So we can easily find lots of evidence. Just look around you. > > Here, for example I have a green towel laying nearby. > I have a blue ball-point pen. > I see a red kitchen timer (styled to resemble a tomato). > I am wearing a pale reddish-purple shirt. > Etc. > Each of these items is a confirming instance of a not-yellow object being a not-banana, which therefore is also a confirming instance of the equivalent proposition that all banana-objects are yellow. > There so vastly many such objects all around, I think **it can be concluded, at least empirically, that all bananas are yellow.** Q.E.D. > > This is LOGIC, people, not religion! > > A bit of logical clarification: To be sure, there are also some NOT-banana objects around that ARE yellow (for example, there’s a sheet of yellow note-pad paper here), and some people are confused by this. To be clear: This is NOT an instance of “banana object that is yellow” NOR is it an instance of “not-yellow object that is not-banana” so it isn’t actually relevant at all. > > Now, all’s we need to decide is the proper spelling for Bananaed and Bananaist. Here. here! That was certainly satisfying! I raise a banana liqueur to you. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/77 "2012-06-27T22:26:57Z")
Cats, in my experience, are without exception cat-colored. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/78 "2012-06-27T22:39:00Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Heh. Oops. That was actually inadvertent. I apologize, and so does Greasemonkey. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Awesome. Oh, and bananas are yellow, not that “yellow” has any particular meaning beyond being a label for a certain range of visible light, which, if we started referring to it as “flork” tomorrow, wouldn’t substantively change anything in the least. This is in marked contrast to phrases that convey, say, differing theories of the origin of the universe. Now, to whom should I return the Captain Obvious costume? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/79 "2012-06-28T00:52:31Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Haven’t you ever seen a red banana? Or a green one? Or a black one? Or a yellow one? > > Haven’t you ever seen a red house? Or a green one? Or a black one? Or a yellow one? > > Haven’t you ever seen an orange cat? Or a grey one? Or a black one? Or a white one? > > What’s so confusing about this? Yes, dingus, I’ve seen green bananas and orange cats. But for fuck’s sake, “What color is a banana?” could not be more straightforward of a question. The answer is, pretty much, yellow. To pretend that’s as vague of a question as what color is a house or a tee shirt is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464/80 "2012-06-28T01:03:05Z")
Red bananas are the tastiest! > **[Red banana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_banana)** > > Red bananas are a group of varieties of banana with reddish-purple skin. Some are smaller and plumper than the common Cavendish banana, others much larger. When ripe, raw red bananas have a flesh that is cream to light pink in color. They are also softer and sweeter than the yellow Cavendish varieties, some with a slight raspberry flavor and others with an earthy one. Many red bananas are exported by producers in East Africa, Asia, South America and the United Arab Emirates. They are a favorite i... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/religious-question-what-color-is-a-banana/626464.md?page=5)