NationStates Jolt Archive

I've always wondered who first called an African "black", a Causacian "white", an Asian "yellow", a Native American "red", and so on. The reason I wonder is because nobody has black skin, yellow skin, red skin, or white skin. Do you have any idea how weird humans would look if we actually had those skin colors? I'm "white" but my skin is a light/medium brown because I'm outside quite a bit. At its lightest "white" skin is like a really light peach. Do you see where I'm going with this? I know it is probably just easier to say "black" than "dark brown" but it would probably give someone who had never seen someone of that skin coloring an odd visual picture.

I've always wondered who first called an African "black", a Causacian "white", an Asian "yellow", a Native American "red", and so on. The reason I wonder is because nobody has black skin, yellow skin, red skin, or white skin. Do you have any idea how weird humans would look if we actually had those skin colors? I'm "white" but my skin is a light/medium brown because I'm outside quite a bit. At its lightest "white" skin is like a really light peach. Do you see where I'm going with this? I know it is probably just easier to say "black" than "dark brown" but it would probably give someone who had never seen someone of that skin coloring an odd visual picture.
I've got a couple fo relatives who are completely white. I mean pale semi-luminescent. Further, I know people who are almost completely black and a really fat guy who can go beet red if he starts laughing.
But, anyway, saying someone is "brown" sounds more offensive than "black" and announcing that someone is "Lightish Peach" makes you sound kind of . . . meh.
As far as yellow and red go, I would point out that the Europeans who first found them are the same people who thought manitees were mermaids.

What do you expect? Race is a cultural construct. You have a point, though. Even nerds still have some skin coloration.

I've always wondered who first called an African "black", a Causacian "white", an Asian "yellow", a Native American "red", and so on. The reason I wonder is because nobody has black skin, yellow skin, red skin, or white skin. Do you have any idea how weird humans would look if we actually had those skin colors? I'm "white" but my skin is a light/medium brown because I'm outside quite a bit. At its lightest "white" skin is like a really light peach. Do you see where I'm going with this? I know it is probably just easier to say "black" than "dark brown" but it would probably give someone who had never seen someone of that skin coloring an odd visual picture.
The romans used the word black when describing africans.

While most African "blacks" are brown or brownish in color, South American "blacks" can be substantially closer to true black.

The romans used the word black when describing africans.
No, the Romans used a Latin word, which, due to the translation into English, became "black". They did not use the same word for "black-skinned" and the actual color "black".

If youve seen 'pure' Africans, you would know why theyre called 'Black', or you could look at Hatai.

If youve seen 'pure' Africans, you would know why theyre called 'Black', or you could look at Hatai.They're so black they're navy blue.

I thought of them as more midnight purple, but hey.

The reason I wonder is because nobody has black skin,
He Hate Me, from the XML. I've seen darker, too, but not on anyone famous.
yellow skin,
Jaundice, my boy. It might be a disease, and it does look wierd, but I've never heard them called "yellow" outside of here.
red skin,
Go look up Barsoom. It might not be what you're looking for, but it's something everyone should know anyway.
or white skin.
Michael Jackson. He's the color of snow.

If you're really interested instead of just making a wry observation about skin colour and colour, they do have some long (and wierd) histories. Black refering to Africans goes back to the Romans at least, and there are infdications that it was used by the Egyptians to refer to those from further south in Africa - although the word 'black" is of Germanic (not French) origin through Old English / one of those wierd things is that the Old and Middle English forms of the word black also mean white the same word meaning dark and pale, black and bleach having same origin, and was not used until the 16th or 17th century in English usually in conjucntion with "moor", the terms preciously in common usage to refer to black-skinned individuals. The current form of usage of "black" in English to denote people of African ancestry owes most of its popularity to the rejection in the 1930s and 40s and into the 1970s by those of African descent of the terms prevously used, ****** and Coloured which they seemed to find offensive, so people started calling them "black" which they found inoffensive.

Red as a colour to refer to those of American descent dates from the 17th century - Red man probably predating redskin. It is important here to realize that before the advent of modern dying techniques the colour red was most often associated with the shades we would call "umber" these days. If the modern colour pallette were used to describe them, they would most likely be called umberskins. Traditionally the Hebrews (jews) were also considered to be red in the past.

I've never looked up the origin of yellow torefer to the races, I expect it will be interesting to see. Pewrhaps it is attributable to a resembellance between thier colouration and the colouring of people suffering from jaundice.

If you're really interested instead of just making a wry observation about skin colour and colour, they do have some long (and wierd) histories. Black refering to Africans goes back to the Romans at least, and there are infdications that it was used by the Egyptians to refer to those from further south in Africa - although the word 'black" is of Germanic (not French) origin through Old English / one of those wierd things is that the Old and Middle English forms of the word black also mean white the same word meaning dark and pale, black and bleach having same origin, and was not used until the 16th or 17th century in English usually in conjucntion with "moor", the terms preciously in common usage to refer to black-skinned individuals. The current form of usage of "black" in English to denote people of African ancestry owes most of its popularity to the rejection in the 1930s and 40s and into the 1970s by those of African descent of the terms prevously used, ****** and Coloured which they seemed to find offensive, so people started calling them "black" which they found inoffensive.

Red as a colour to refer to those of American descent dates from the 17th century - Red man probably predating redskin. It is important here to realize that before the advent of modern dying techniques the colour red was most often associated with the shades we would call "umber" these days. If the modern colour pallette were used to describe them, they would most likely be called umberskins. Traditionally the Hebrews (jews) were also considered to be red in the past.

I've never looked up the origin of yellow torefer to the races, I expect it will be interesting to see. Pewrhaps it is attributable to a resembellance between thier colouration and the colouring of people suffering from jaundice.

Cool, that's good to know.

If youve seen 'pure' Africans, you would know why theyre called 'Black', or you could look at Hatai.

Actually I have seen 'pure' Africans. In the last few years a lot of Sudanese people have moved into Nebraska, and they are really dark. I think that they look cool, though.