# White paper, red paper, blue book, etc. ... what are they? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381 "2002-10-22T14:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/1 "2002-10-22T14:48:12Z")
Webster’s tells me that a white paper is a government report, usually less detailed than a blue book. Nowadays, anytime a corporation puts out a report of any kind, it’s called a white paper. But I also have heard people mention red papers, green papers, etc. etc. What is what? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/2 "2002-10-22T15:18:20Z")
> [@](#): > > A Green Paper is a consultative document. It is designed to pose the questions that need to be answered in order for Government to formulate policy. The Green Paper is not itself a statement of Government policy. A White Paper formulates Government policy. From the start of one such document. It seems to be used chiefly in Europe or former UK Dominions. I’ve never heard “red paper”, but the idea obviously invites people to coin color codings until they become ridiculous, and we wind up reading “azure papers”. “White paper” is common in engineering organizations as well, of course, for technical overview documents. I should be writing one instead of doing this, as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/3 "2002-10-22T15:25:07Z")
> [@](#): > > A Green Paper is a consultative document. It is designed to pose the questions that need to be answered in order for Government to formulate policy. The Green Paper is not itself a statement of Government policy. A White Paper formulates Government policy. From the start of one such document. It seems to be used chiefly in Europe or former UK Dominions. I’ve never heard “red paper”, but the idea obviously invites people to coin color codings until they become ridiculous, and we wind up reading “azure papers”. “White paper” is common in engineering organizations as well, of course, for technical overview documents. I should be writing one instead of doing this, as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/4 "2002-10-22T15:49:52Z")
**yabob** is right about Green Papers and White Papers in UK government. Predictably they used to be printed on those colours of paper although that’s no longer the case. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/5 "2002-10-22T17:06:43Z")
> [@](#): > > but the idea obviously invites people to coin color codings until they become ridiculous Undoubtedly. I had heard the term “red paper” in regards to, IIRC, the specific implementation of a computer engineering/IT solution (that is, I think it wasn’t so much of a “businesses can benefit greatly from the increased bandwidth of fiber optic cables…” but rather more like “connect trunk cable, marked B, to multiplexer 21-D …”) Thanks re: green papers, guys. ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/6 "2002-10-23T00:17:25Z")
FWIW, “Blue Book” refers to the “Kelley” (and other) price guides for new and user cars. “Blue Book Value” is whatever these guides say a certain car is worth. ---
**Author:** ![Zelmph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/46a35a/32.png) [@Zelmph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zelmph)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/7 "2002-10-23T00:38:50Z")
I think in the case toadspittle mentioned, “blue book” refers to (in Merriam-Webster’s words) “a book of specialized information often published under government auspices.” Maybe I’m just too close to college, but blue book still means “place your books under the table and get out a number-two pencil” to me. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/8 "2002-10-23T01:19:58Z")
There are also [red, yellow, white, and blue books](http://www.disctronics.co.uk/technology/cdbasics/cd_books.htm) that have the specs for audio CD’s and CD-ROM’s. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/9 "2002-10-23T04:12:29Z")
There’s also the Augustine blue book, which is a collection of national logos used by printers. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/10 "2002-10-23T04:24:19Z")
This all reminded me of Monsters Inc. “I don’t even know what colour “puce” is! _inspects folder_ Ohh…” ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/11 "2002-10-24T05:41:36Z")
Is it possible that all this affected the design of Myst? (“Bring me your red pages, please!” and “Blue pages, blue pages!!!”) ---
**Author:** ![RexKatWA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@RexKatWA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexKatWA)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/12 "2002-10-25T23:03:16Z")
There’s also the Blue Book that we used in college for writing essay exam questions on. Just a cheap bound set of blank lined pages you bought at the bookstore before you took an exam. I guess the idea was that it made them easier to stack when they collected them, kept the pages in order, etc. Never really understood the reason for it, and come to think of it, you could have used them to smuggle in cheat sheets for the exam, since they never checked them beforehand. (Darn, why didn’t I think of that?) ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/13 "2002-10-26T00:39:51Z")
Evidently, I went to a full-service university. Our blue books were provided _for free_ at each exam. It wasn’t until sometime later that I realized that this wasn’t the norm. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-paper-red-paper-blue-book-etc-what-are-they/133381/14 "2002-10-26T01:10:32Z")
I wonder what color paper was used to propose Project Blue Book.