Isn't the Alien right?

Question

An alien asked a gentleman on the street for the American President.
The Gentleman pointed over there.
There were lots of people over there and the Alien was confused
The gentleman Said the tall Black man over there
The Alien was more confused
The gentleman walked Him over to Barack Obama
The Alien asked Barack if he could point him to the Tall Black man that was president.
Barack Said That's me
The Alien was confused as to what Black meant and wanted to know what other men existed
Barack said well the gentleman is a white man
The Alien said but the only difference between you is the tint of your skin. How are you different men?

Wouldn't it be clearer if we said what we meant.  The darker skinned man and the lighter skinned man.

Nate · Accepted Answer

If it's got a ray gun, its right in anything it says or does

? · Answer

It would be clearer to someone who knew only the primary definitions of words. However, most words in the English language have multiple meanings. Certainly an alien advanced enough to be fluent in English would know of our idiosyncratic shorthand words for lighter and darker skinned.

While saying lighter and darker skinned is more accurate, it is a clunky and inefficient way to describe skin color. No more accuracy is really needed than white and black in most cases. After all, lighter and darker is an incomplete description, too. How much lighter and darker? 5.122 shades darker? 

When you see a large house you would probably just describe it as a "big house" right? It would be ridiculous and inefficient to call it a "5,234 square foot house with 7 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms" though that is more accurate.

Anonymous · Answer

Im a normal alien.





^^^^ MGMT song quote.

Anonymous · Answer

Huh?

Isn't the Alien right?

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