conuly

I don't know why I'm asking, since I know why, but I'm asking anyway.

We're riding home on the bus after my birthday dinner (Afghan food is yummy. By sheer effort of will, we managed to have no leftovers. So worth it), and Ana's getting a bit hyper - I've agreed with her that as long as she behaves, she doesn't need a nap, so she hasn't had one for a few days. And it was about bedtime. Unfortunately, you can't always just get off a bus because the kid is being a brat (believe me, we would if we could), so we went with option two: distract her by pointing out the pretty colored lights. Red lights, green lights, yellow lights! Red hands! People!

As we neared the boat, Ana declared, thrilled (we were trying to keep her to her indoor screams here) "RED HAND! MAN!" and I point out, unthinking "Yes, honey, that's a white man."

Of course, at this the driver starts snickering into his steering wheel, and I'm just sitting there going "Well, that sounds wrong. That man is white? No... It's a chalk outline, sweetie?"

Now, consciously, I know why it sounds wrong - white in this sense automatically doesn't mean the color, but the race, and declaring it like that is either rude (because we Just Don't Talk About That) or pointless (white's the default, sad but apparently true) or both. But why can't it just mean the color? Or why can't they have made those stupid stick figures green to begin with?

(Mommy tried telling me that it could be a (white) woman, but that's absurd. Everybody knows that woman all have pretty triangular skirts on all the time!)