We're trying to re-decorate two downstairs rooms and hall for the first time in years and at the weekend we went shopping for paint. Armed with a 15% off voucher for Homebase we pulled up outside to see they were also doing a 'Buy 2 get one Free' offer on Crown paint.
After some debate about what colours went with what, we rolled up to the check-out with 9 tins of paint (spot the arithmetic), only to discover 'computer says no' to our third free tin. This also puzzled the Homebase staff, and as there were very few other customers in, several of them, including the manager, gathered round to try and find out what the problem was.
Eventually we worked it out. The offer was on Crown coloured paint, and we had one tin of white. It appears white is not a colour. According to Crown at any rate. In the end, at the insistence of the manager, we got another, tenth, tin free.
This made me think about the term 'people of colour' which I hear a lot to describe people who are not white, often used by those very people. To me this term implies that white is not a colour, and therefore the default by which everything else is measured. But surely the whole point is that white IS just another colour, like any other.
After some debate about what colours went with what, we rolled up to the check-out with 9 tins of paint (spot the arithmetic), only to discover 'computer says no' to our third free tin. This also puzzled the Homebase staff, and as there were very few other customers in, several of them, including the manager, gathered round to try and find out what the problem was.
Eventually we worked it out. The offer was on Crown coloured paint, and we had one tin of white. It appears white is not a colour. According to Crown at any rate. In the end, at the insistence of the manager, we got another, tenth, tin free.
This made me think about the term 'people of colour' which I hear a lot to describe people who are not white, often used by those very people. To me this term implies that white is not a colour, and therefore the default by which everything else is measured. But surely the whole point is that white IS just another colour, like any other.
1 comment:
Feel a little daft responding to a post that's over a year old, but...
White is not a colour. In reflective light (printed materials) it is the absence of colour. In translucent light (your monitor) it is all clours at 100%.
Just thought you might be interested.
xxx.
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