What is a "yellow bone"?

May 2024 · 15 minute read

Saw it on a thread today.

by Anonymousreply 78April 8, 2020 3:21 AM

It's a bone that is yellow.

by Anonymousreply 1September 15, 2017 6:11 PM

Urban Dictionary: yellow bone

www.urbandictionary.com

A Yellow Bone is the lightest type of light skinned black female. They can often be very rare to see in comparison to other blacks because there are not as many ...

by Anonymousreply 2September 15, 2017 6:13 PM

"I'm black even though I look 99.9% white" <-- This.

by Anonymousreply 3September 15, 2017 6:23 PM

A light-skinned nigga. It'll get you shot by red bone (medium) and crispy (dark black) skinned niggas.

by Anonymousreply 4September 15, 2017 6:25 PM

They are terms for light-skinned black people.

Yellow bone/high yellow: very light skinned, yellow understones: Someone like Mariah Carey, Drake

redbone: light-skinned, but a little darker than yellow bones, red skin tones. Someone like Beyonce.

by Anonymousreply 6September 15, 2017 6:27 PM

It doesn't just apply to women. It's a shade of skin color.

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by Anonymousreply 7September 15, 2017 6:27 PM

Thanks all.

Why does the term only apply to females according to the R2 definition.

by Anonymousreply 10September 15, 2017 7:13 PM

Thanks all.

Why does the term only apply to females according to the R2 definition?

by Anonymousreply 11September 15, 2017 7:13 PM

It doesn't, R10/R11. Too many Urban Dictionary entries relating to black culture obviously are written by nonblacks who think they know shit, but don't know shit.

by Anonymousreply 12September 15, 2017 8:02 PM

Huh. Never heard the term. You learn something every day, here.

by Anonymousreply 14September 15, 2017 8:31 PM

[quote] Huh. Never heard the term. You learn something every day, here.

TIL "yellow bone".

by Anonymousreply 15September 15, 2017 8:36 PM

It's Gouldtown, NJ. Steadman is "Gouldtown." Wendy Williams called him out for it. If you're high yellow or in some cases pass for white, you could have your ancestral origins in Gouldtown, NJ.

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by Anonymousreply 16September 15, 2017 8:40 PM

I saw it in the Fergie Duhamel thread.

[quote] His skin looks silky but yeah for a dude with a miniscule dick his ass is kinda flat. Sad. I still like that yellow bone hard ass Brad Pitt better. Duhamel is a discount version of Prime time Pitt.

So it seems to apply to men too and not just black women/people.

by Anonymousreply 18September 15, 2017 9:43 PM

Steph Curry I a redbone, not a yellow bone. His mother Sonya, is a yellow bone.

by Anonymousreply 19September 15, 2017 10:21 PM

[quote] Why "bone?"

"Bone" and "bone"? What is "bone"?

by Anonymousreply 20September 16, 2017 3:58 AM

The erection of a Chinaman?

by Anonymousreply 21September 16, 2017 4:08 AM

The only people allowed to be racist about African Americans is African Americans.

I used to sit and listen to the girls cackle about Youngblood was okay but too too dark. They called him Midnight.

Of course the only people who are supposed to be allowed to be lawless, rude, hateful, lazy and a waste of life are African Americans. Which seems so racist, too, doesn't it?

Here's my favorite Self-Induced Yellow Bone. She even looks like an African animal.

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by Anonymousreply 22September 16, 2017 4:09 AM

R22, I don't understand much of what you wrote from Youngblood to capitalized Midnight to Self-Induced Yellow Bone to "allowing" people to be lawless, etc. Explain please.

by Anonymousreply 23September 16, 2017 4:17 AM

Midnight was what the dark guy (he was beautiful) was called - his name was Youngblood. but he was too dark for any of the girls to go out with him. As one said, "He be midnight and I like me about a quarter after six." No shit.

The rest was just a note that this color crap is just one more thing that is supposed to be okay because even in the community the rampant "It's us so of course we can do it because we're so put down and fuck what reasonable people think" attitude is overlooked. Black-on-black racism is the same racism as we see outside our community, but we're not allowed to see or say it.

Hey - here in St. Louis there are mobs of a thousand people running around - they attacked the mayor's house tonight - because of a court verdict they didn't like. Of course this is supposed to be okay, because everyone has a right to torch and loot under the cover of social justice. That's what the lazy unaccountability has come to. And the yellow-bone thing is an indication how everything actually is still white-focused. But, hey, I'm an octaroon (as I've been called, as if such categories are valid) so I'm as white as white and I don't represent the community.

Oh - the verdict was against a cop killing a guy who had a gun who was hauling heroin who had a high-speed police chase and appeared to be reaching for the gun when he was shot, and of course the police have the shoot-to-kill rule in place, as they always have had.

by Anonymousreply 24September 16, 2017 4:32 AM

The Lighter Skinned Child Is Always Preferred

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by Anonymousreply 25September 16, 2017 8:55 AM

Nah it's not true. It's just a descriptive term in our culture. Lots of people prefer dark chocolate or ebony skin tones. I would know. Yellow bone and red bone are not new words but they are to some within the AA community racist terms. But as the delineate complexion they aren't much different than a white person saying they are fair or tan or olive skinned. Yes some black people value lighter skin tones more, but that is somewhat beside the point. It is a disadvantage to be a dark skinned man or woman of color in america because of how WHITE people treat us. To be darker is to be more a target of bullying and harassment and discrimination. But we're cute and sexy and magnificent and know that too. peace.

by Anonymousreply 26September 16, 2017 9:25 AM

r26 lies, to us and to himself.

by Anonymousreply 27September 16, 2017 9:39 AM

It's a term that shouldn't be used by white people.

by Anonymousreply 29September 16, 2017 10:15 AM

R19 look at a pic of them next to each other. They are the same complexion. By the way, red bone & yellow bone mean the same thing, one is no different from the other.

by Anonymousreply 30September 16, 2017 10:40 AM

ADJACENT the DL meme that keeps on giving

by Anonymousreply 31September 16, 2017 10:43 AM

Yellow must be some sort of euphemism for "Guys you want to lick all over."

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by Anonymousreply 36September 16, 2017 2:20 PM

I saw it's not just a term for white people.

by Anonymousreply 37September 16, 2017 2:23 PM

I saw it's not just a term for black people.

by Anonymousreply 38September 16, 2017 2:23 PM

r25, in his video, wouldn't the mother who had 2 husbands and children from each, have a preference for the lightskinned children because they were produced by the husband she was still with who was providing or the first husband, and children produced by the father that was gone.

Does it necessary have to be by his example that the mother preferred the lighter skinned children over the dark-skinned childrem? Perhaps just the preference for them due to the husband?

by Anonymousreply 39September 16, 2017 2:28 PM

I'm black and never heard of "yellow bone". Never. And I've been around for more than a few decades. Redbone yes; but not yellow. I've heard of yellow and "high yellow" used as euphemisms for skin color but not in conjunction with the word bone. Redbone refers to a light-skinned black person. But what is considered "light skinned" in the black community varies widely. I remember being shocked at being referred to as light skinned (I'm a light brown who tans very well) by people as an adult; they were dark brown skinned and lived around people that were mostly darker skinned -- mostly in the South. In rural Ohio, where my family comes from, to be considered light skinned, you had to be almost white -- I'm not kidding. I had some very fair relatives who had black parentage -- sometimes with siblings who were brown-skinned. Colorism was rampant in the black community at one time and even now with all the hair straightening and weaves and the rise of skin bleaching, it's still as bad as it was in the past.

by Anonymousreply 40September 16, 2017 2:30 PM

I don't see why this is a term just for black people because what I saw was a reference to Brad Pitt and Josh Duhamel. I'm not American so perhaps I'm ignorant about this.

by Anonymousreply 41September 16, 2017 2:42 PM

Everything be so cray-cray!

by Anonymousreply 42September 16, 2017 2:54 PM

Yellow bone is common enough term to be in Lil Wayne and Beyonce lyrics or any porn search you choose to do for light skin black men or women with yellow undertones to their skin. It is a common term especially in the south. It is slang and not to be used by white people. To some it refers to mixed race light skinned women, but it usually refers to actual color. Therefore a yellow bone can be a redbone - Alicia Keys - because she has very light skin but with reddish undertones, but a redbone won't often be a yellowbone. Confused?

R40 is correct we should get over it. But as a dark chocolate man I can tell you we have little desire to. It's ridiculous to claim to ignore skin tone when we are so varied in color and undertone. Why do you think Viola Davis and Oprah continue to mention theirs? Because, like me, they are DARK skinned blacks who are proud to be. They know that lighter skinned POC have an easier time gaining white people's acceptance. Best not to speak in generalities or absolutes. However I doubt that R40 is black because "yellow bone" is in common usage amongst black people and in our culture. Check out black women's makeup. Skin color and tone must be classified. They use different euphemisms, that's all.

by Anonymousreply 43September 16, 2017 5:01 PM

I call her honey mustard....

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by Anonymousreply 45September 16, 2017 5:10 PM

"I see it, I want it, I stunt, yellow-bone it"

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by Anonymousreply 46September 16, 2017 5:14 PM

I thought the term was always "red bone."

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by Anonymousreply 47September 16, 2017 5:17 PM

Sounds harsh. There is no endearment in that term.

by Anonymousreply 49September 16, 2017 10:32 PM

r43: I swear in all of my 56 years on this earth that I've never heard the term "yellowbone". Never. Didn't really hear "redbone" until I was almost an adult. And I am black. Part of my family is from rural Ohio and I have blood relatives that are as white as any redneck and others that are brown-skinned -- often in the same nuclear family. No biggie though -- there are a lot of colloquialisms used by blacks that I wasn't exposed to -- learning something new everyday I guess. But having a name for a fair skinned black person sub divided into undertones tells you just how deep the skin color issue is with black people. Almost everyone from the very lightest to the darkest African American has some kind of opinion on skin color. It's changing with the younger generation but even my 20 something nieces and nephews have made comments about skin color and that's sad.

by Anonymousreply 51September 16, 2017 10:45 PM

R50, That's remarkable. Of course I first thought of horns (looks like a potential hazard to bystanders), but than thought the shape looks like one of the arm positions in break dancing.

by Anonymousreply 52September 16, 2017 10:55 PM

He has First Nations blood in him?

by Anonymousreply 53September 16, 2017 11:49 PM

R40, Thank you. I'm a white guy in Ohio, and one of the things that really saddens me is that so many African-Americans settled in Ohio to escape the South, but it's now pretty rare to encounter African-Americans in rural Ohio, despite our history with Wilberforce and Antioch Universities, and the like. My ex-bf is AA, from Cleveland, and I first learned about that sensitivity to skin color from him, and it's something that I try to grasp, but it always feels off. In my case, I've never paid much attention to skin color, but I'm aware if I think I can communicate well with another person. With my ex-BF, no problem, but that's not always the case.

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by Anonymousreply 54September 17, 2017 1:30 AM

It saddens me to read the sniping between black folks on a black site(where they clearly are more open with each other than they would be on a site like DL. as soon as a fight begins, the very first slurs to be slung are color based. Crispy, smoke and gorilla are the most common terms used to demean another.

So I think that the sensitivity over color runs deep. it's kind of like how when white women are carping at each other, the word "fat" is the first arrow to be slung. Why? because it wounds the most.

by Anonymousreply 56September 21, 2017 2:27 AM

R56, that sounds like internalizing the oppression of the majority society, and is sad. I've never heard "gorilla" before. That's painful, in view of,how it's been used by bigots.

by Anonymousreply 58September 21, 2017 3:28 AM

R58 To take it a step further, the term "silverback gorilla" is used frequently.

by Anonymousreply 59September 21, 2017 10:36 PM

[quote]What is a "yellow bone"?

What Woody Allen gets when he walks through Koreatown.

by Anonymousreply 60September 21, 2017 10:41 PM

Growing up in NYC, I never heard these terms. You heard “blacks” and “coloreds” - IIRC, the former was a catch all, the later connoted more respect for whoever was being so referenced. Of course we heard the “N” word, which we knew was a bad word not to be used. I do remember once, a new neighbor used the “N” word directed at some white family. I was confused, asked my mother, and she said something like “just another ignorant man trying to build himself up by insulting someone else”.

In college, we were in an on campus apartment our sophomore year - 3 bedrooms, so 6 of us. One of our roommates got into some legal difficulties mid way thru the first semester and had to leave. We wound up getting a transfer assigned to take his place. He was from Georgia, smoking body, dumb as a post, but a sweet and naive guy. He also saw nothing wrong with walking around naked or in his undies or laying in bed with you to watch TV or talk. Was very tactile - hugging, snuggling like a puppy too. He was a sight to behold first thing in the morning heading to the bathroom, you know what up at attention. But those are stories for a different thread.

Anyway, it was from him I found out that the “N” word supposedly was derived from “ignorant” and some people used it for whites too. He was the first one we heard use the terms “high yellow” (the fairest/lightest skinned blacks), “redbone” (more mocha than brown), and “blue gummed” (the really, really dark skinned). Imagine us - 5 nice white/WASPy boys from the Northeast, from middle of the road/liberal families hearing this? We told him he couldn’t use those terms - he was genuinely confused as to why (I did say he was naive). We explained and took him under our wing to try and educate him, get him to see certain things were unacceptable, etc.. He was like a sponge - soaking it up, eager to “be better” as he put it. He actually turned out to be ok. Our own Eliza Dolittle of a sort lol

by Anonymousreply 63November 15, 2018 5:14 PM

Is there orange bone too? There's this guy I suspect is orange bone black. But he refuses to release his taxes, much less his DNA test.

by Anonymousreply 64November 15, 2018 10:27 PM

Yellow bone does sound slightly disrespectful but I have heard worse.

Years ago I was riding around downtown Chattanooga and picked up a black woman that I figured was a hooker (she was). I gave her $20 and told her I didn’t wanna have sex with her but I was just wondering where I could pick up a guy.

She asked if I preferred black or white and I said I didn’t care and then she asked if I preferred dark skin black guys or light-skinned black guys and again I told her I didn’t care.

She said that she had a light-skinned black cousin that might interest me.

She said he was very light skinned and referred to him as “piss colored”

by Anonymousreply 66April 3, 2020 6:15 AM

"Chocolate" is as cringy as "ebony babe(s)." It's objectifying.

by Anonymousreply 68April 5, 2020 5:23 PM

I guess Yellow Bone would apply to this light-skinned black woman.

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by Anonymousreply 69April 5, 2020 5:28 PM

This thread reminds me of a song

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by Anonymousreply 70April 5, 2020 5:29 PM

R68 I've only heard Chocolate used in positive descriptive terms regarding POC and well outside the porn genre my entire life. ( I'm 58) Cringy Chocolate is not a thing.

by Anonymousreply 71April 5, 2020 5:35 PM

This video was recorded with a potato but is it possibl to become light skinned with age? Note Donna's mother.

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by Anonymousreply 72April 5, 2020 5:36 PM

Ma Gaines was not light skinned in the 1970s.

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by Anonymousreply 73April 5, 2020 5:36 PM

Donna Summer's eldest daughter, yes.

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by Anonymousreply 74April 5, 2020 5:46 PM

Is Ryan Gosling a yellow bone?

by Anonymousreply 76April 8, 2020 2:47 AM

I thought it was black-Italian mix. Which sounds intriguing as cock.

by Anonymousreply 77April 8, 2020 2:52 AM

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