In my many dealings with the museum and the activities
therein, I run into a few things that are pet peeves. These items are not
worthy of mention but what is the very point of blogging other than to moan
about the mundane.
I am often asked to run 350 copies of flyers or forms for
the local Waynesburg Chamber of Commerce’s Monthly newsletter. The issue is that when it is requested, I am
asked for it to be on “colored” paper. When I hear the term “colored” paper all
sorts of things come to mind. Do they want colored paper, as in with a crayon
or marker? Do they want a myriad of colors, to which a borderline racially
biased term is appropriate? Of course they mean plain old color copier paper. But what is the right term for it? If you do a
Google search, you get the same results for both “Colored” and “Color” copier
paper. So to explore the matter further,
I investigated each term in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Colored
Adjective:
having a color or colors, especially as opposed to being
black, white, or neutral:
“Brightly colored
birds are easier to see.”
[in combination]:
“A peach-colored sofa”
imbued with an
emotive or exaggerated quality:
highly colored
examples were used by both sides
(also Colored) dated or offensive wholly or
partly of non-white descent.
South African used as
an ethnic label for people of mixed ethnic origin, including Khoisan, African,
Malay, Chinese, and white:
“There was a drive to
recruit colored, black, and Indian members”
Noun:
(also Colored) dated
or offensive a person who is wholly or partly of non-white descent.
South African a person of mixed descent usually speaking
Afrikaans or English as their mother tongue:
“The ANC was not making much progress among Indians or
mixed-race coloreds”
(coloreds) clothes, sheets, etc. that are any color
but white:
“She wouldn’t mix her
whites with her coloreds on washday”
Historical Note:
Colored
referring to skin color is first recorded in the early 17th century and was
adopted in the US by emancipated slaves as a term of racial pride after the end
of the American Civil War. In Britain it was the accepted term until the 1960s,
when it was superseded (as in the US) by black. The term colored lost favor
among black people during this period and is now widely regarded as offensive
except in historical contexts. In South Africa the term colored (also written Colored)
has a different history. It is used to refer to people of mixed-race parentage
rather than, as elsewhere, to refer to African peoples and their descendants
(i.e. as a synonym for black). Under apartheid it was imposed as an official
racial designation. However, in modern use the term is not generally considered
offensive or derogatory.
Color
noun
[mass noun] the
property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as
a result of the way it reflects or emits light: the lights flickered and changed color
[count
noun] one, or any mixture, of the constituents into which light can be
separated in a spectrum or rainbow, sometimes including (loosely) black and
white: a rich brown color a range of bright colors
the
use of all colors, not only black and white, in photography or television: he
has shot the whole film in color [as modifier]: color television
rosiness or
redness of the face as an indication of health or of embarrassment, anger, etc.:
there was some color back in his face, color flooded her skin as she realized
what he meant
[count
noun] Heraldry any of the major conventional colors used
in coats of arms (gules, vert, sable, azure, purpure), especially as opposed to
the metals, furs, and stains.
[count
noun] Snooker any of the balls other than the white cue
ball and the reds: Hendry potted the last four colors to win 5-4
[mass noun] pigmentation of the skin,
especially as an indication of someone’s race: discrimination on the basis
of color
[mass noun] vivid appearance resulting from
the juxtaposition of many bright things: for color, plant groups of
winter-flowering pansies
features
that lend a particularly interesting quality to something: a town full of color
and character
[with object] change
the color of (something) by painting, dyeing, or shading it: he colored her
hair with a selection of blonde and brown shades
[no object] (of a person or their skin) show
embarrassment or shame by becoming red; blush: she colored slightly
[with
object] (of an emotion) imbue (a person’s voice) with a particular
tone: surprise colored her voice
[with object] influence, especially
in a negative way; distort: the experiences had colored her whole existence
Okay so
which term best describes what kind of paper they are requesting? Apparently they
are both right to a certain extent. Color paper is a direct noun and a proper noun
to boot, where “colored” can be an adjective or noun but one so maligned by its
racial context that it is best to avoided. So, I will let my pet peeve not be a
grammatically based one but one that is avoiding any negative contextual
matters. Mea Culpa, English language,
Mea Culpa!
