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

I was waiting for someone to ask that one?

Snowdrop

Well, it's a kind of reddish brown, or brownish red I think. I have to admit that my wife says I have no idea of colour. It has something to do with the socks I choose.

But wood goes from very pale brown - almost creamy, through the orange and red tints through to dark brown, doesn't it? It it's never bright blue though. Unless you paint it.

Maybe thats why a lot of wood is painted or stained, brown isn't a very nice colour is it?

Snowdrop

I'm not sure about that - wood can look really smart when it's varnished - when you buy a posh car you expect a bit of wood to set it off. Just as long as it's nicely finished.

When we moved into our house everything was brown - all the exterior paintwork, the carpets, the kitchen units - and the previous occupants had thought it a good idea to cover all available surfaces (like doors) with this hardboard stuff that had a wood planking effect embossed on it. It was very realistic - it looked exactly like imitation wood. So I do understand what you mean when you say that brown isn't a very nice colour.

Real wood looks nice in brown though, but I can't believe that it's brown because it looks nice (or not) - there has to be a better reason.

This may sound stupid but its brown because if it was say...pink it wouldn't go very well with the green leanves on trees.

Snowdrop

Silver Birches. What trees. What slender, delicate, dreamlike trees.

The road I live down has loads of trees ever side and in the Spring/Summer there is a mass of green as you look down the road. When you look down the road in Autumn there is a mass of red, oranges and yellows.

Snowdrop

I agree with the fact that wood looks the best in its natural color because if it is painted green, which happens to be my favorite color, you have no way of telling that it is actually wood. Unless of course it happens to have a green leaf still attached to it

Ah, but you can stain it green, so that you can still see the grain, and then you can tell it's wood. It looks better in brown, though.

wood that is stained funny colors for wood looks weird

Weird can be good. But probably not in this case.

Especially if the wood is in the toilet

I hope you mean the toilet seat.

Although it does raise another question about things that are brown, and why they are brown. I have heard the answer to that one, but I can't remember it.

No, I mean the log that appears in the toilet after having a bowel movement.

Thats the sort of thing my brother would say!
Don't take that the wrong way or anything.

Snowdrop

Okay, okay
I know it was disgusting
I'm a little surprized that the moderators didn't find anything wrong with it though since I did see them moderate another post in another forum about Bran Flakes and Prunes

Whats wrong with Bran Flakes and prunes

Snowdrop

Thats exactly what I am trying to figure out myself
By the way, Bran Flakes are brown

Yeah I did relise that I wasn't expecting them to be blue or anything.

Snowdrop

I think it is important to note that the fact that Bran Flakes are brown does not have a bearing on the colouration of the final product.

You can eat food of pretty much any colour, and it will nearly always come out brown. I think it's got something to do with bile, or that's what the vet told me when the dog was sick. No, you don't want to know why we were discussing it, and I'm not about to say.