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

Entry: A-Z of Black - A87715498
Author: Teasswill - U185992

Took this over from the Flea Market & have finally got from A to Z!

Could be the start of a series of 'colour' entries?

I thought we'd done all the colours except black.

A quick search reveals an entry on red - but didn't see any other A-Z or otherwise colours.

There are already good entries on Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Purple and Orange.

Personally, I dislike entries that try and drag together a whole load of unrelated topics because they just happen to use a particular word. I don't find any coherence in such a concept. So in my Purple entry, I tried to keep it as much as possible about the colour itself.

But Public Opinion may be against me on this.

I am not speaking for or against public opinion, but it may be that somebody may want to consult a list of all of the mentions of 'black' things in the English language, and this is a light-hearted collection.

It does miss the elephant in the room though and not mention the fact that the descriptor for some other races apart from caucasian has used 'Black', and that this has changed back and forth over the years with political correctness. I'd like to see some mention of this, but without courting controversy, if that can be avoided? A sensitive, matter of fact inclusion is necessary here.

Just from a quick reading: should't the last two 'A's actually be 'B's? Black books and blackbottom, that is.


Geggs

Perhaps this could be done in the context of a possible addition - black-up as in the minstrels, etc. could go under U or M, I guess

Also, what about Black & White...

Men in Black...

You have Black Wednesday, but not Black Monday (1987 stock market crash)

Black Mark (or stain), as in someone that has one on one's character, perhaps covered elsewhere

If you wanted another X - black Xmas tree

I'll see if I can conjure up any others. Feel free to reject some/all

Gnomon - I did try not to have too many disparate items just called black because of their colour, but more those which are related to the connotations of black.

Lanzaby/scrumph - the elephant might best be addressed in the opening section rather than a specific A-Z. I have included black power with that in mind, though.

Geggs, thanks, I'm not sure how that misplacement happened.


Thanks for the other suggestions, will give some thought to whether or not they fit with my approach. I am aware that there are items I would not necessarily have put in myself, but were chosen by the original author.

another Black and tan is a blend of coffee. I sometimes drink it myself http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-black-and-tan-coffee

You could add to your first paragraph "In some cultures persons of African descent are called black, even if their skin pigment is actually brown."

If you don't like my words choose another way to express it but the use of 'Black' for race needs to be in the first section somewhere.

Done some updating.

Not having come across the other color entries at any point, I kind of liked the A to Z approach. Seems like it would generate a fair amount of conversation as well, as everyone points out the ones you've missed. (Which is great, of course. You can't include EVERYTHING, and conversations on entries are GOOD )

I did wonder in your intro, you mention black being the most popular color of car. I know several people who prefer black (although I tend to think of them as unimaginative ), but I was wondering if this "statistic" is specific to the UK, Europe, the US, or if it's a global thing.

It seems that White has overtaken black, so I'll have to change that anyway!

This is perfectly OK, and it's similar to other colour-themed entries which already exist in the guide, but there's one thing that irks me a bit, and Gnomon referred to it in post 4.

The problem with writing entries like this is knowing what to put in and what to leave out. I had high hopes when I read your introduction, until I got to the sentence about car colour. Up until then, you described the *meaning* of black. Car colour on the face of it tells us nothing about black. Ford could have chosen to use white paint, for all I know. It just seems a bit of an arbitrary choice, especially when it follows the other items in this introduction.

Then when I go through the list I see a few items for which their blackness or black title has no special meaning, or if there is it isn't mentioned. What's black about Blackadder? Why do New Zealanders wear black (is it a sacred Maori thing?)

If you tackled some of these, it would add to my true knowledge about the subject, and turn what is in places a listy entry into a really fascinating read.

Icy

I agree with you.
This is what I find difficult in picking up an entry from the Flea Market. Emmily put it in 'to be finished off' - some items complete, others with just a heading. I added some new topics, removed some, but didn't like to remove ones that Emmily had fully written.

I'll do more severe pruning ( & put in some more meaningful text) if you think that's acceptable ettiquette.

I agree with Icy. We've a policy of avoiding lists here on this site.

What you have is good, though. Here are few suggestions:

The section on the Black Death seems a bit confused - you repeat yourself.

And please don't mention Ring a Ring a Rosies in connection with the plague - that's a complete urban myth.

You've two Black Marias, so you should start with second one with "Black Maria is also a..."

"it could include anything from placing a bug on someone's telephone, to kidnap or even assignation." -- assignation means "the act of assigning", doesn't it? What did you mean here?

Black Pudding, which requires an acquired taste, -- should be "which is an acquired taste"

"is not a pudding at all" --

pudding (4) - (Cookery) a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc., stuffed into a prepared skin or bag and boiled

It's a rarer use of the word these days, but it's not correct to say it's not a pudding.

Just to say, I like how this Entry is shaping up. It's never easy taking something from Flea Market.

There have been some good suggestions in Peer Review as well.

I'll try to do some more work on this over the weekend. Thanks for the comments/suggestions.

Updated.