# What is Your Skin Color? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102 "2016-03-25T04:38:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/1 "2016-03-25T04:38:06Z")
This is a bit of a tricky question, if the Mods delete it I won’t argue. We have a lot of questions about age and sexual preferences but I can’t recall any about the ethnicity or skin color of Dopers. My skin would be describe as ‘Mediterranean’, and I’m often mistaken for being Egyptian, Italian, Arabian or Spanish. I’m from the UK, and have been shouted at in the street to “Go back home, you bloody foreigner!”. Poll to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/2 "2016-03-25T04:54:02Z")
Fishbelly white, except for where there’s freckles or perpetual flush. So very gaelic. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/3 "2016-03-25T04:54:14Z")
I ticked “Other” – I think my skin is best described as pink. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/4 "2016-03-25T04:55:10Z")
I’m naturally pretty white, but I’m not one of those people that never goes out in the sun and looks like Count Dracula. I have what most people would call a farmer’s tan I guess my parts that are regularly exposed to the sun seem to have a nice color though I do have some freckles but not on my face. My wife is Hispanic and has an olive skin tone or Mediterranean type skin tone whatever you call it. My son got lucky and got some of his Mom’s skin tone, I call him my golden boy because he has blonde hair and green eyes but he has beautiful bronzed skin that is sort of golden and this is with almost never going out in the sun, his stomach for example is darker than my arm that’s always getting sun on it. My daughter on the other hand is very pale, I think maybe even paler than I am, it’s funny how genetics play out I would have thought she would have at least got some of her Mom’s skin tone, but she did get the beauty. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/5 "2016-03-25T05:17:35Z")
I voted “fair”. I’m capable of getting darkly tanned, but almost never do. My usual state, like Giles, is “pink”. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/6 "2016-03-25T06:02:07Z")
Nicely tanned arms, everywhere else quite pale. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/7 "2016-03-25T06:03:50Z")
Cafe au lait. I look like the mutt I am. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/8 "2016-03-25T07:05:13Z")
I’m surprised this thread isn’t by Zeldar. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hey\_Hey\_Paula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_Hey_Paula)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/9 "2016-03-25T07:07:42Z")
“Complexioned”? Definition please. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/10 "2016-03-25T07:52:36Z")
Oh boy, can you pick “some of the above”? I have always considered myself multi-chromatic. Basically a pinkish beige, overlaid with light freckles, darker freckles (I understand these are the ones to watch out for but they’re none of them any good), white patches, white dots, and red dots. The red dots are not acne or rosacea. They’re kind of a subset of freckles, I think. Very small. Oh, and lots of blue veins which show through real well. Now many of the freckles (the brown ones) have turned into what I think are called age spots. Some of them are quite bit and blotchy. Yes. This is terrible skin. OTOH I have great hair. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/11 "2016-03-25T07:59:08Z")
It varies upon exposure to the sun. I am Maori on Dad’s side, and extremely white Caucasian on Mum’s side. The combination makes me look of vaguely European origin, but I tan easily and in a pleasing golden tone. However, I don’t like exposing my skin too much, so most of me is kept hidden and pale, while my arms, face, and neck are mildly tanned. The Australian sun agrees with me. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/12 "2016-03-25T08:00:36Z")
Talk about being different colors, if I put my hand on my chest it looks like a white girl being molested by an Indian. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/13 "2016-03-25T09:31:53Z")
Needs an option for “freckly”. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/14 "2016-03-25T10:09:52Z")
I picked Fair. Polish as far back as anyone knows. I burn easily, and in my old age (or perhaps with the wisdom of years… 😉 ) I do my best to avoid excess sun exposure. When I was younger, I could gradually build to a “healthy” tan, but I was never one for sunbathing - I’d get what I got while swimming or biking or whatever else we did outside as kids. At this stage, I’m growing a fine crop of liver spots, if that’s what they’re really called. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/15 "2016-03-25T10:22:06Z")
Fish-belly white, with a faint hint of Minty Green. I used to work in a photo darkroom, & now I’m in an office with no windows. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/16 "2016-03-25T12:51:40Z")
Pale, with a blazing red nose. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/17 "2016-03-25T13:06:12Z")
I picked brown but I’m really more caramel. I’ve always been unusually light-skinned for an Indian chick. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/18 "2016-03-25T15:18:00Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m surprised this thread isn’t by Zeldar. I bet you are. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/19 "2016-03-25T15:24:00Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’m surprised this thread isn’t by Zeldar. > [@Zeldar](#): > > I bet you are. You could start a matching sunburn thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/20 "2016-03-25T15:26:15Z")
Once upon a time, the puppets on Lambchop were discussing what color they were. Lambchop was white, Charley Horse was brown and Hush Puppy was grey. Shari came upon them and asked what color _she_ was, to which Lambchop made a puckered face and said “Mottled pink.” So there you go. I’m not Shari Lewis but I am mottled pink. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102.md?page=2)