# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/61 "2016-03-26T15:18:45Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Seriously, I think as long as you stay away with from loaded words like “blue black” and “high yellow”, you’d be fine with the vast majority of strangers too. I usually stick with “light-skinned black person”, “medium brown black person”, and “very dark black person”. It seems to work OK. Of course, “dark skinned white guy” is a different color than “dark skinned black guy”. We probably could have better words for describing skin color but I work with what we’ve got. > [@](#): > > Once I had to meet with a real estate agent. We’d never met before and I was going to pick me up in front of my office. I described myself on the phone as a “tall, slender, light-skinned African American”. Her daughter–my coworker–was within earshot and let out a big gasp. “WHY DID YOU HAVE TO ADD THE RACE PART!” she demanded to know after I’d hung up. “Because it helps to paint a picture, goddammit!” I playfully screamed at her. But I was actually kinda pissed off that she thinks its reasonable for me to leave out the most obvious distinguishing feature about myself, as if there’s something wrong with it. Yeah, your race is one of your identifying features. Once worked in a place where I was the “white [name]” as opposed to “black [name]”. It _was_ the easiest way to distinguish between us for those who didn’t know us personally. Given I live in a city that’s 85% black, it’s not unknown for me to be referred to as “the white girl” in a group of people. 99% of the time it’s not offensive, it just is. Being unbiased doesn’t mean ignoring race, it means race/skin color/whatever is just another trait, like hair color/texture, height, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/62 "2016-03-26T19:03:41Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Extremely pallid. People are forever asking me if I feel okay. > > This is my normal skin color, folks. This. I picked ‘‘bloodless.’’ There are existing photographs of me that look like some kind of ghostly apparition more than living, breathing, human. I’m allergic to the sun. ---
**Author:** ![TheChileanBlob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thechileanblob/32/435_2.png) [@TheChileanBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheChileanBlob)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/63 "2016-03-26T20:51:17Z")
I checked both “fair” and “ruddy,” by which I mean: > [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Fishbelly white, except for where there’s freckles or perpetual flush. > > So very gaelic. ---
**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 27, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/64 "2016-03-27T23:26:27Z")
I went with pallid and ruddy…think it better describes the whiteness of the white parts. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/65 "2016-03-28T00:13:49Z")
Mostly fair with a ruddy, pinkish flush. Generations of British ancestors intermarrying with Irish, Huguenots and Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/66 "2016-03-28T16:21:01Z")
Make-up color is ivory. I burn in five minutes, and it doesn’t turn into a tan. I’m relieved that my children all have hard-to-burn skin ranging from olive to light brown, thanks to their paternal genes. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/67 "2016-03-28T19:30:48Z")
I chose “bronzed”, but I’m not sure that is completely right. I have a good bit of American Indian in me, but the European influences leave me looking pretty darn Mexican/Latin American. Many people are surprised when they find that there is none of that in my heritage. And yes, people do occasionally approach me and speak Spanish. I speak a little, but not nearly enough to carry on a conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/68 "2016-03-28T19:41:17Z")
I’m half Filipino, but I look like a mid-toned white guy. However, for some reason, I appear to burn faster than other, whiter-skinned people. The rest of my friends are in the water while I’m still changing into my long-sleeved hooded swimming top and applying sunscreen to every square mm of my exposed hide. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/69 "2016-03-28T20:34:46Z")
I’m more tan than brown, but for the purposes of this poll brown will do. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/70 "2016-03-28T22:13:38Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Just curious, but why do you think you’d have any reaction? Talk about skin coloring may be “triggering” to some black people. But it typically doesn’t carry any baggage for white people–Jewish or not. Right? > > Describing someone’s skin color should be no more offensive than describing their hair color, as long as the descriptors are neutral. If someone noticed that one Jewish kid had red hair and the other brown hair, would your jaw hit the ground? I know a Jewish guy with red-hair who is REALLY, REALLY tired of hearing how no one ever met a read-haired Jew before, isn’t it unusual for Jews to have red-hair, you look like Kyle from _South Park_, etc., etc. People can’t seem to think of anything else to talk about. Even Jews feel compelled to talk about his hair, which is only unusual, because it’s usually gentiles who feel compelled to comment on Jewish people’s appearance. Gentiles seem to be unable to resist commenting on the degree to which you do or do not look Jewish, and many of them proudly exclaim “I knew it!” or “You really look it,” when I tell them I’m Jewish. I don’t know that commenting on relative skin tone carries more baggage than any other comment on our appearance, but I hear so many comments from how (when I was younger) I was “Pretty for a Jewish girl,” to how I wouldn’t have lasted 10 seconds in Germany in 1939, because they could spot me three blocks away. In the summer, when I’m tanned, I get asked if I’m Israeli. If I’m wearing a dress, I get asked if I’m Orthodox (Yeah, if I could choose any wig at all, this is what I’d choose). Of course, that’s people who have heard of Judaism. Everyone else still thinks I’m Hispanic. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/71 "2016-03-28T22:36:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Gentiles seem to be unable to resist commenting on the degree to which you do or do not look Jewish, and many of them proudly exclaim “I knew it!” or “You really look it,” when I tell them I’m Jewish. Yeah, I get that and I’m vampire white and only half Jewish. In accordance with that half the time I get “I knew it! You look Jewish!” and the other half “Really? You don’t look Jewish…” And… also a version of red-haired. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/72 "2016-03-28T22:39:10Z")
Is translucent a color? Seriously, I’m pale. Not so much back in the day when I played softball 24/7, but now I’m sure I scare small children when I wear shorts. However, I’m usually set in advance for Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/73 "2016-03-29T14:06:34Z")
Olive, tending to copper on the most-tanned bits. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/74 "2016-03-29T21:57:52Z")
[Pantone 473.](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/10/8f/bc/108fbcfee8de3f37e4eb80c2ef7b0d63.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Moris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moris/32/2846_2.png) [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/75 "2016-03-30T05:43:29Z")
Somewhere in between olive and fair, actually yellowish skin. Bushy black eyebrows, honey blond hair, and hazel…no, _yellow_ eyes, God help me. Thanks genetics for the manly jaw line, otherwise I’d look horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Abner\_Ravenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@Abner\_Ravenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abner_Ravenwood)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/76 "2016-03-30T13:21:48Z")
Subtle off-white coloring with a watermark. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/77 "2016-03-30T15:05:39Z")
I’ll vote when someone can explain the difference between “olive” “swarthy” and “dusky”. I’m another one whose nationality / ethnicity people constantly question (I don’t know myself, though I and Uncle Sam consider me caucasion). ---
**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:** [March 30, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/78 "2016-03-30T15:22:16Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > [Pantone 473.](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/10/8f/bc/108fbcfee8de3f37e4eb80c2ef7b0d63.jpg) Love it! My PMS color is 4635c. ---
**Author:** ![grayhairedmomma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@grayhairedmomma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grayhairedmomma)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/79 "2016-03-30T15:45:05Z")
I’m “[light, bright, damn near white](http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Am-Black-Or-Mixed-But-Look-White/855560)”. Most people think I’m Latina - except the guy who runs my local dollar store. He thinks I’m Egyptian, like him. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102/80 "2016-03-30T18:06:16Z")
According to Crayola, I am something like “Banana Mania” in the winter, but in the summer, I’m somewhere between “Antique Brass,” and “Tumbleweed.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-skin-color/750102.md?page=5)