As I set up my computer the other day, my eldest sister was looking over my shoulder, and just about fell over herself snickering snidely at the title of a file in my writing folder. It’s simply titled, “100 Shades of Brown.”
Lest you think I had visions of gray, I did not – that’s a VERY old file indeed into which I toss descriptors I read of brown skin which are not food related, negligibly clichéd or otherwise inaccurate, ridiculous, or insulting. (Random links: Why writers really should lose the phrase “almond-shaped eyes” and another writer’s shared resource list of their own descriptors.) My brown file I jokingly titled after Nick Earls’s hilarious 2004 novel, FORTY-EIGHT SHADES OF BROWN, which had nothing to do with skin tone descriptors, and everything to do with… brown. (Just read it, don’t ask.)
Yeah, we’re hipsters, Nick and me. Into shades long before it became a Thing.
Doesn’t everyone collect words and phrases?
Hmmm. “He was pretzel brown with almond-shaped eyes and lips that made her think of forbidden dried fruit. Suddenly, she felt a hunger for which she had no name… until it came to her. Trail mix! Oh my. A shiver of longing came over her. She reached for a spoon.”
–from the pre-published original paperback, Forty-Two Flavors of Breakfast, by I.M. Eaton-Braunch
BEST. MOCKERY. EVER.
*DIES*
I’m lovin’ this shades-of-brown list. more, please! 🙂
It’s the Pantone list which graphic designers use… if I EVER call anyone’s skin bbq sauce brown, just shoot me. 😯
Haha! 😀
I am now wondering what nut best captures the shape of my eyes. It’s tricky, because they are different shapes. One is Walnutesque, I think, and one Pistachioesque. Or perhaps not.
*snort*
I’m going to go with, er, pecans?