Daily conversation: What is the worst possible answer?

[vdeane]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

Yellow on white

[hotdogPi]

0 = Black
1 = Blue
2 = Green
3 = Aqua
4 = Red
5 = Purple
6 = Yellow
7 = White
8 = Gray
9 = Light Blue
A = Light Green
B = Light Aqua
C = Light Red
D = Light Purple
E = Light Yellow
F = Bright White

I had no idea you played Minecraft.

[kphoger]

I had no idea you played Minecraft.

I don't.

[formulanone]

0 = Black
1 = Blue
2 = Green
3 = Aqua
4 = Red
5 = Purple
6 = Yellow
7 = White
8 = Gray
9 = Light Blue
A = Light Green
B = Light Aqua
C = Light Red
D = Light Purple
E = Light Yellow
F = Bright White

I had no idea you played Minecraft.

https://int10h.org/blog/2022/06/ibm-5153-color-true-cga-palette/

[kphoger]

https:// ...

This guy gets it.

[1995hoo]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

This.

[GaryV]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

Yellow on white

This ain't 1970's Michigan. Oh wait, those plates were white on yellow. Never mind.

[pderocco]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

Each number should have its own color and/or background:

0 = Black

1 = Pink

2 = Lime Green

3 = Purple

4 = Orange

5 = Brown

6 = Beige

7 = Robin Egg Blue

8 = Gray

9 = White

Or just get rid of the digits entirely, and use colored stripes like on old resistors.

But the color code is wrong. Weren't you ever taught:

    0 - bad - black
    1 - boys - brown
    2 - rape - red
    3 - our - orange
    4 - young - yellow
    5 - girls - green
    6 - but - blue
    7 - Vicky - violet
    8 - gives - gray
    9 - willingly - white
?

[kphoger]

Or just get rid of the digits entirely, and use colored stripes like on old resistors.

But the color code is wrong. Weren't you ever taught:

    0 - bad - black
    1 - boys - brown
    2 - rape - red
    3 - our - orange
    4 - young - yellow
    5 - girls - green
    6 - but - blue
    7 - Vicky - violet
    8 - gives - gray
    9 - willingly - white
?

Now do one for RJ45/Ethernet/Cat-5 color coding.

[The_Ginger]

10 MAR 26

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

Let's see who gets this one:


White background. The letters will also be white with a 1mm outside border so that they show up, but in reality the numbers will have no outside border.

[formulanone]

Or just get rid of the digits entirely, and use colored stripes like on old resistors.

But the color code is wrong. Weren't you ever taught:

    0 - bad - black
    1 - boys - brown
    2 - rape - red
    3 - our - orange
    4 - young - yellow
    5 - girls - green
    6 - but - blue
    7 - Vicky - violet
    8 - gives - gray
    9 - willingly - white
?

Now do one for RJ45/Ethernet/Cat-5 color coding.

This was easy as a Florida Gator: orange and blue plays on a green field with dirt below, stripes in between.

But I vaguely recall there were variations and I don't remember why anymore.

[LilianaUwU]

But the color code is wrong. Weren't you ever taught:

    0 - bad - black
    1 - boys - brown
    2 - rape - red
    3 - our - orange
    4 - young - yellow
    5 - girls - green
    6 - but - blue
    7 - Vicky - violet
    8 - gives - gray
    9 - willingly - white
?

You might be too good at bad answers.

[pderocco]

Or just get rid of the digits entirely, and use colored stripes like on old resistors.

But the color code is wrong. Weren't you ever taught:

    0 - bad - black
    1 - boys - brown
    2 - rape - red
    3 - our - orange
    4 - young - yellow
    5 - girls - green
    6 - but - blue
    7 - Vicky - violet
    8 - gives - gray
    9 - willingly - white
?

Now do one for RJ45/Ethernet/Cat-5 color coding.

That's not mine. It's apparently an old military mnemonic thing, which I read in a Thomas Pynchon novel.

[TheCatalyst31]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

All sign colors should be chosen by the local tourist board or chamber of commerce to fit their current branding scheme. If they change their branding, the signs need to change too.

[Scott5114]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

Each number should have its own color and/or background:

[Big John]

^^ horse racing colors

[ModernDayWarrior]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

The color combinations of the markers themselves should stay the same, but the route numbers should change to names of colors instead. It will make giving directions so much more fun. "Well, you're on Highway Blue-Green now, so drive about a mile and make a left onto Route Orange. From there, you'll make a right onto Light Orange, then another right onto Slightly Brighter Orange. Then it's left on A Little Bit Darker Orange, and right on Orange-ish Yellow. Can't miss it."

[PColumbus73]

March 10, 2026

Florida US route signs used to be color coded until ordered to go to black on white. What color combination would be best on route markers?

The color combinations of the markers themselves should stay the same, but the route numbers should change to names of colors instead. It will make giving directions so much more fun. "Well, you're on Highway Blue-Green now, so drive about a mile and make a left onto Route Orange. From there, you'll make a right onto Light Orange, then another right onto Slightly Brighter Orange. Then it's left on A Little Bit Darker Orange, and right on Orange-ish Yellow. Can't miss it."

For ease of navigation, routes should be clustered together by similar shades.

[kphoger]

11 MAR 2026

How would you define the word highway, as distinguished from other roads?

[Big John]

11 MAR 2026

How would you define the word highway, as distinguished from other roads?

a gateway drug ( to get you high).

[I-55]

11 MAR 2026

How would you define the word highway, as distinguished from other roads?

Highways are known for their dancing when compared to other roads, as the traditional saying goes:

If you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway, then you get low on a highway and high on a lowway.

[1995hoo]

11 MAR 2026

How would you define the word highway, as distinguished from other roads?

As the Scots have long told us in a well-known song, the highway is used by living people, while the lowway is used by the dead. That means "other roads" (non-highways) are crawling with zombies. So I guess you could define "highway" as "zombie-free road."

Here is one version of that well-known song, as performed by a Celtic rock band from Vermont:

[kphoger]

So I guess you could define "highway" as "zombie-free road."

Or "freeway", for short.

Are you saying that "highway" and "freeway" are synonymous?

If so, then you belong on Skyscrapercity.

[xonhulu]

11 MAR 2026

How would you define the word highway, as distinguished from other roads?

Since it's "my way or the highway," the highway must be the opposite of my way. Which means you can never take a highway, since that would make it part of your way, and that will create a reality-shattering paradox.

[1995hoo]

So I guess you could define "highway" as "zombie-free road."

Or "freeway", for short.

Are you saying that "highway" and "freeway" are synonymous?

If so, then you belong on Skyscrapercity.

That would violate the rules of the thread because that's the best answer, given that it's a true answer (at least, where I live it's a true answer because we don't generally use the word "freeway" here unless it's part of the road's proper name, like the Whitehurst Freeway in DC).