Cadaverous.
+1
Well, brace yourself because I have on occasion called myself “high yellow”. Because I think throwback terms can be funny sometimes…like “negress”.
Most modern users of the term do not realize that the “high” references the higher social status historically conferred by light skin. Instead, they think it’s just a qualifier meaning a “a lot of”. It’s not a word you hear every day, but I certainly grew up hearing it on a regular basis in the Dirty Souf.
I noticed the same thing that MOL did when I entered the thread, but I didn’t have the ovaries to say anything. Actually, it’s funny because I rarely ever think of white people having different skin tones other than “pinkish” and “DayGlo white.” But black people? The descriptors are endless. Dark chocolate, brown chocolate, honey-brown, reddish-brown, red, caramel, tawny, yellow, damn-near-white. So I could see myself same oversight that JustinC did, just in the other direction.
I picked fair because it seemed the closest to what I have, which is average white person skin color.
Olive tones. I get brown in the summertime. I feel that I am lighter right now than I’ve ever been. Living in the Pacific NW in an area where it rains a lot doesn’t give me much exposure to sun. Bleh.
Oh, I see black people as being all different colors, in fact, I know a guy who identifies as black, who is lighter-skinned than I am in mid-summer. I think I just don’t know what terms are current, and I’d be afraid that calling someone “high yaller,” or some other term I learned from Zora Neale Hurston might come out sounding as enlightened as “colored people.” I’ve never had to give the police a description of anyone, and I realize now, that if I had to describe a Caucasian person, I’d have no trouble saying “ruddy,” or “sallow,” or “olive-skinned,” but if I had to describe an African or African American, I’d be stuck saying “light,” “dark,” or “very” something.
I guess my jaw hit the ground because this thing was said in earshot of these two little boys. I honestly don’t know how I’d react if someone said something similar about two Jewish kids-- my brother is a lot paler than I am, and I guess I wouldn’t care if someone pointed it out.
Of the offered choices, I selected “fair”. There’s a bit of a farmer’s tan working on me, but I’ve never been much of one to set out deliberately to soak up sun. That being said, when I returned from a one year tour at a LORAN station in the Bahamas, I had a pretty good tan for December. I didn’t realize it until I was at a Exmas party at a friend’s and noticed the back of my hands and arms were darker than those of the light skinned black woman I was sitting next to.
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate
This. (Forearms, that is.)
Either fishbelly white or lobster red - I don’t really tan, although after awhile I’ll burn less readily.
Once had a medical professional turn to my spouse and ask “Is she always that color?”
He said “Vampire pale? Yes.”
Beige. I’m beige. In the winter, I’m a pale beige, almost ivory. In the summer, I’m darker beige. But it’s all still beige.
GB, Average White Girl
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?
The secretary in my office has twin nephews. Both are shades of brown, but one is browner than the other. She calls them Chocolate and Vanilla. I inwardly roll my eyes because they are really more like dark chocolate and milk chocolate. But the descriptors aren’t offensive to anyone except someone who is looking to be offended.
Norwegian Vampire listening to an NPR podcast on my Apple device while shopping at Whole Foods and dancing poorly levels of white-ness.
I say “high yellow” all the time, but with none of the archaic racism attached to it, sort of like when I refer to myself as a “negress” or use the horribly outdated term “Negro.”
Same, really. If I were describing someone to, say, my sister, I’d automatically list his skin tone as one of the descriptors, would have a million ways to describe it, and she’d know exactly what I mean. If the person were white, however, I’d just say he was white and would only mention his skin tone if he were particularly pale or dark.
Anyway, if you really want to know my skin color, my Makeup Forever HD foundation color is 178 in the summer and 177 in the winter, and I mix them between seasons. My birthday is coming up…
Naaah – too few choices for one of yours. 
A former coworker said to me once “You know, I don’t think it’s possible to be any paler than you are and not literally be an albino.” So, you know, extremely fair, which isn’t exactly atypical in redheads.
Aren’t they petechiae? I have a few on my arms and my chest of all places - apparently I’ve been strangled by my bra.
True, it shouldn’t be offensive to describe a person’s skin color in neutral terms but, as you noted, some people are, shall we say, hypersensitive or have a chip on their shoulder. Problem is, I’m not a mind reader… I don’t know which people are like that until I get to know them.
Black people I know well, and who I know aren’t like that, I’ll happily discuss various skin tones and shades. Strangers? Not so much.
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.
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.
Extremely pallid. People are forever asking me if I feel okay.
This is my normal skin color, folks.