# What color are your eyes?



## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

What color are your eyes? I used the colors listed on Wikipedia but included "other" in case those are too restrictive, especially since some may have more than one color.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I personally can't really tell. A previous partner was interested in eye colour and I remember her telling me that in my case it depended on the light - they were green when it was bright and a less determinable hazel when it wasn't. She said how nice they looked when the sunlight caught them. Aww, bless... :lol:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Blue. Or as my wife calls it dirty blue.

Apparently there have been studies suggesting that all blue-eyed people are related, going back to one mutation a very long time ago.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Art Rock said:


> Apparently there have been studies suggesting that all blue-eyed people are related, going back to one mutation a very long time ago.


blue eyes have recessive and brown dominant inheritance, ie when a person has two genes from parents, one for blue and the other for brown, he will have brown eyes. That is why the blue color will likely become rarer and rarer over time.

I have blue. My father has brown, my mother blue, my brother brown. That means that my father has both blue and brown genes, and I got passed the blue gene and my brother the brown gene.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Art Rock said:


> Blue. Or as my wife calls it dirty blue.
> 
> Apparently there have been studies suggesting that all blue-eyed people are related, going back to one mutation a very long time ago.


I don't belieeeve it Art, Jacck, we could be cousins.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

Blue. But I'm a bit colour blind!


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

mikeh375 said:


> I don't belieeeve it Art, Jacck, we could be cousins.


we probably are. I read somewhere that a catastrophe in the past wiped out most of our species and only a couple of thousand individual survived and we are all their desdendants (they proved this by means of some genetic analysis)


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

I have hazel eyes.

For years I didn't know what my eye color was until I decided to figure out to put it on my driving learner's permit. My parents used to call them green, but I knew that wasn't right.

One time my previous statistics teacher used eye color for some demonstration in class and was skeptical about whether hazel was a legitimate eye color or just a fancy description for a shade of brown. I'm telling you hazel and brown eyes are definitely not the same!


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

I voted 'blue' but my eyes are really half-way to grey with the odd green fleck. I am a redhead with pale skin and my eyes are extremely light-sensitive. I wear sunglasses even in winter sunshine. I do wonder whether that has anything to do with the cataracts which advanced so swiftly over the past two years - thank goodness, now dealt with.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

New theory: Having blue eyes correlates with a passion for music. :tiphat:


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## Musicaterina (Apr 5, 2020)

My eyes are gray. That seems to be a quite rare eye color, and only rarely is described which eyeshadow colors are suitable for gray eyes. But I like my eye color.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Bloodshot Rollin' Red


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Musicaterina said:


> My eyes are gray. That seems to be a quite rare eye color, and only rarely is described which eyeshadow colors are suitable for gray eyes. But I like my eye color.


Grey eyes are 'cool'. Grey eye-shadow suits any shade of eye so grey eyes should suit any shade of eye-shadow.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Malx said:


> Bloodshot Rollin' Red


is that because of the cold and the whiskey Malx...?......


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

We recall that Sam Spade, the central character (private eye) in _The Maltese Falcon_ (the book) has yellow eyes.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Albinos can have pink eyes - no specific slot for that, nor for Elizabeth Taylor's wonderful violet eyes. 
https://healthfacts.blog/2017/08/05/did-elizabeth-taylor-really-have-violet-eyes/


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The list does not include black eyes (no, not that kind). The Russian exact translation of this famous song is _Black Eyes_. Jack Aubrey's dissolute father marries a young servant girl with "snapping black eyes" in one of the Aubrey/Maturin novels.....


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Green. My eyes are green.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

mikeh375 said:


> is that because of the cold and the whiskey Malx...?......


My little joke - you may or may not be aware that 'Bloodshot Rollin' Red' was the pseudonym Captain Beefheart used when playing harmonica on the Frank Zappa album 'One size Fits All'.

For the record - my eyes are brown.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

My eyes are blue, my sister and mother have grey-blue eyes and my father has brown eyes. 

Eye colour is determined by more than one gene and there is incomplete dominance. This is about where my knowledge of eye colour genetics ends.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

According to this, color of the eyes is influenced by some 16 genes: https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg2010126


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Blue I think. It's not objectively better than any other color.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Mine are a clear bright blue. :angel:


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Brown. Dark brown. Coffee. Almost black.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Aren't there some people with a different color in each eye?


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

SixFootScowl said:


> Aren't there some people with a different color in each eye?


Yes. One of my relatives does.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

SixFootScowl said:


> Aren't there some people with a different color in each eye?


Heterochromia iridium (two different-colored eyes within a single individual) and heterochromia iridis (a variety of color within a single iris) are relatively rare in humans and result from increased or decreased pigmentation of the iris.

Scientists aren't really sure what causes it. Potential causes include trauma around the time of birth or later in life, congenital pigmented nevi or even medications such as those used in the treatment of glaucoma. But it's most likely a caused by a gene alteration within the cells of the entire iris or even a particular section of it.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

pianozach said:


> Heterochromia iridium (two different-colored eyes within a single individual) and heterochromia iridis (a variety of color within a single iris) are relatively rare in humans and result from increased or decreased pigmentation of the iris.
> 
> Scientists aren't really sure what causes it. Potential causes include trauma around the time of birth or later in life, congenital pigmented nevi or even medications such as those used in the treatment of glaucoma. But it's most likely a caused by a gene alteration within the cells of the entire iris or even a particular section of it.


Then there are albinos, some of whom have this eye color:


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

So, in the end, will someone take this poll's results and compare it to a national average. Maybe we will find out that eye color distribution at TC is significantly different from national averages. Then someone can try to find the underlying factor that drives that and see if it correlates to desire to listen to classical music. Hmmm, sounds like the kind of study that warrants government funding.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

My wife tells me mine are blue. I've always felt like they were gray but I'm not gonna argue with her. I can't see well enough up close to a mirror to tell what color they are.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

SixFootScowl said:


> So, in the end, will someone take this poll's results and compare it to a national average. Maybe we will find out that eye color distribution at TC is significantly different from national averages. Then someone can try to find the underlying factor that drives that and see if it correlates to desire to listen to classical music. Hmmm, sounds like the kind of study that warrants government funding.


I noticed that the majority that answered this poll are blue-eyed by a 12 to 8 margin. And almost 17% claim to have hazel eyes.

The majority of the world's population are brown-eyed (70-80%), while only 8 to 10% have blue eyes, and only 5% have hazel eyes.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

SixFootScowl said:


> Then there are albinos, some of whom have this eye color:


Red or pink eyes that albinos possess aren't really red/pink: In fact, there is NO pigment. The lack of pigmentation in the eye exposes the blood vessels underneath. You're actually seeing blood pigment.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

pianozach said:


> I noticed that the majority that answered this poll are blue-eyed by a 12 to 8 margin. And almost 17% claim to have hazel eyes.
> 
> The majority of the world's population are brown-eyed (70-80%), while only 8 to 10% have blue eyes, and only 5% have hazel eyes.


Yes, it seems as if blue-eyed people are over-represented here. But, TC is not a sample representation of the world's population.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Blue eyes are rather frequent (I've seen figures around 50% mentioned) in the northern and western European population, and as a consequence also (albeit less) in the USA. These regions are undoubtedly relatively overrepresented on an English speaking bulletin board dedicated to classical music.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Musicaterina said:


> My eyes are gray. That seems to be a quite rare eye color, and only rarely is described which eyeshadow colors are suitable for gray eyes. But I like my eye color.


Are grey eyes truly grey? Really absence-of-color grey? Like light black? I have my doubts, I've never seen eyes that are truly what I think of as grey.

I read somewhere that this is the difference between grey eyes and blue eyes: grey eyes look bluish but contain traces of other colors, gold, brown, or green flecks, whereas blue eyes are pure blue.


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## Musicaterina (Apr 5, 2020)

Open Book said:


> Are grey eyes truly grey? Really absence-of-color grey? Like light black? I have my doubts, I've never seen eyes that are truly what I think of as grey.
> 
> I read somewhere that this is the difference between grey eyes and blue eyes: grey eyes look bluish but contain traces of other colors, gold, brown, or green flecks, whereas blue eyes are pure blue.


Mine look really grey, like platinum. Gray eyes seem to occur with a certain frequency in the Slavic and Baltic population (and I'm Half-Slovak), but overall they are probably rare.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Musicaterina said:


> Mine look really grey, like platinum. Gray eyes seem to occur with a certain frequency in the Slavic and Baltic population (and I'm Half-Slovak), but overall they are probably rare.


Without flecks of gold, etc.? Pure platinum like that probably is a rare color. Interesting.

When I last went to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver's license, the man I dealt with was going to put down grey for my eye color on my license. I joked with him that he must be an expert on eye color and maybe he was right, but to me my eyes look decidedly blue, despite traces of other colors. He let my license color stay as blue.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Open Book said:


> Are grey eyes truly grey? Really absence-of-color grey? Like light black? I have my doubts, I've never seen eyes that are truly what I think of as grey.
> 
> I read somewhere that this is the difference between grey eyes and blue eyes: grey eyes look bluish but contain traces of other colors, gold, brown, or green flecks, whereas blue eyes are pure blue.


Gray (and grey) eyes are a thing.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

adriesba said:


> According to this, color of the eyes is influenced by some 16 genes: https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg2010126


The genetics of eye color apparently go even further than that. This study just published little over a week ago found that eye coloration is impacted by an additional 50 places in the human genome: https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/11/eabd1239.full

SciShow just put out a video on this:


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

mikeh375 said:


> I don't belieeeve it Art, Jacck, we could be cousins.


blue-eyed persons are slightly smarter


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Luchesi said:


> blue-eyed persons are slightly smarter


Yes, I agree - they have a better dress sense usually, though sadly that doesn't apply to me.


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## Metairie Road (Apr 30, 2014)

Grey or a faded blue. The color of the north Atlantic on an overcast day. My passport says blue.


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain




I didn't know Willie had 7or 8 kids..


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Luchesi said:


> blue-eyed persons are slightly smarter


Imagine how much more intelligent Einstein would have been if he had blue eyes.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

pianozach said:


> Gray (and grey) eyes are a thing.
> 
> View attachment 152722


I don't totally trust photos where there's an attractive model in makeup demonstrating anything. The color of her flawless eyes could be from contact lenses on such a person.

That is a pretty color assuming it's real.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Open Book said:


> I don't totally trust photos where there's an attractive model in makeup demonstrating anything. The color of her flawless eyes could be from contact lenses on such a person.
> 
> That is a pretty color assuming it's real.


Same. I didn't think much of most of the eye color photos I saw online since they mostly looked very touched up. Plus, certain colors don't always come through in photos very well.


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

Strange Magic said:


> Imagine how much more intelligent Einstein would have been if he had blue eyes.


Yes, a pity, if he had looked at the world through blue eyes he would've said that not only does God play dice, but He throws them where no one can see them!


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

Open Book said:


> I don't totally trust photos where there's an attractive model in makeup demonstrating anything. The color of her flawless eyes could be from contact lenses on such a person.
> 
> That is a pretty color assuming it's real.


https://www.thelist.com/161384/the-truth-about-gray-eyes/


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Green. Apparently rather rare.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Nobody with amber eyes? We have green though.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

adriesba said:


> Nobody with amber eyes? We have green though.


It's not a huge sample, however. 
Maybe somebody who's put brown eyes has a light brown that could be called 'amber'?


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## Luchesi (Mar 15, 2013)

"Studies have suggested that the contrast between the white of human eyes -- known as the sclerae -- and the colourful irises allows others to detect the direction of our gaze. The ability to detect gaze is important as many other human skills, such as social learning, seem to depend on this.

In contrast, as the sclerae of apes' eyes is often darker than human eyes, researchers have long argued that their gaze is 'cryptic', or hidden. This means that nonhuman apes would not be able to see where other members of their species are looking."

This article says it's more complicated

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190904100801.htm


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## ToneDeaf&Senile (May 20, 2010)

Best I can tell, my eyes are green. Sort of. I'm pretty use I once had an I.D. that officially listed them as being that color. That's good enough for me.


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