h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not only do particles have a colour, but they have a property called 'Strangeness.' This strangeness is measured in numbers, which may be a good way of talking about people as well as particles... the story is, vaguely, as follows:

One day, some scientists were watching some particles break down into other particles. Just as one was about to smugly predict the time the next particle would take to break down, it decided to take longer to break down than expected.
"Um," said a scientist.
"That's strange..." offered another.
"Let's call it strangeness then." concluded another.
"It's inspired." they cheep
The scientists moved on, happy in the knowledge that at least they have a name for something they didnt know how to begin to explain.

Also used as a descriptive word for the common character trait needed, to be a scientist

Strangeness is itself strange, as any 'non-anti' particle with some strangeness has negative strangeness, whereas anti-particles have postive strangeness. This is caused by the 'lets have a guess and call this one postive - oops it's wrong' syndrome, as seen with the problems between conventional current and electron flow.