What is the meaning of the term white paper. I heard an announcer on NPR talking about a company that was in trouble putting out a "white paper" along with information about their finances.

I think a good synonym for "White Paper" would be "position paper. I found several sites, but got
error message "server not found". Here's a sample

The etymology of the term dates back to Britain in 1899, when it meant a government
report on policy (such as a position paper). A white paper stated a problem ...
http://www.words.israel.net/iow-tr-whitefaqs.html

Britain in 1899, when it meant a government
report on policy

It still means the same thing in the UK, and White Papers are still issued by the Government and appointed ("special interest") sub-committees etc.

If I remember correctly, in politics a white paper is a position paper and a green paper is the final policy which is used to form the basis of a bill (a draft statute) presented to Parliament for approval.

- Pfranz

Hmmmm, white paper, green paper, yellow journalism--are there any other colors related to kinds of writing? Oh, yes, there is purple prose. Any more?

WW

what about the blues?

how about a red paper ( red, read , dya get it do ya, whimper, i scare myself sometimes)

Dear Dody,

I'll scare you even a bit more:

Orange-ja glad you red it?

NY and other east coast cities have blue laws, reguarding time for bars/ working or having a business open on sunday, smut, etc.. they were orginally writing on blue paper... for some reason blue paper was common in colonial days. i think the name has spread to other parts of the nation, but the actual use of blue paper is gone.

for some reason blue paper was common in colonial days.

Well, that's pretty interesting, of troy. I wonder what the reason was that blue paper was common? I'll bet either you or wwh could find out why!

Now what was the reason green glass was common in colonial times? Heaven preserve me from having to go back through the achives! Does anybody remember offhand? I know we've discussed this color-of-glass subject at length.

Best regards,
WW

glass, the simplest of glass, naturally has a pale shade of green. with effort, and other mineral salts added, it becomes clear, or a range of colors (cranberry glass= gold salts, pure crystal = lead salts, blue = coblat, etc.)

i think the blue paper was something akin to blue print paper, and could be copied.. but deep blue (royal blue almost) was used to wrap up sugar cones..(no idea why)

Bringing this back to the top in hopes that someone will provide more information about the colonial use of blue paper.

It is a completely intriguing thought!

And, of troy, of what did you write in talking about those sugar cones? All I can think of are ice cream cones, but I doubt seriously that the colonials had ice cream cones since Dolly Madison has been credited with having brought ice cream to the foreground of national consciousness.

Begging for my little myths to be slashed apart,
WW

Dear WW: URL about ice cream. Says cones were invented at worlds fair, St.Louis, 1904. Doesn't
mention Dolly Madison.:http://www.heresthescoop.com/history.html

granulate sugar is a post civil war invention. to have sugar granulate, you have to cook it at high pressure (and lower temperature) to boil off enough of the water.. (at high tempertures, the sugar carmelizes)

so up until 1860 or so, sugar was formed into a loaf.. about 12 to 18 high, not quite a cone shape but rather a parabula.. (or like sugar loaf moutain in Brazil) to keep it fresh, it was wrapped in blue paper (and restoration villiages still alway have one or two sugar loaves to show off..)

the sugar was cut with giant scissors, sugar scissors, and then pounded in a mortar with a pestel to make it granulated... so a sugar cone is a sugar loaf is solid white sugar, waiting to be be cut and pounded into granulated sugar..

now days, you can buy block or cube sugar.. but people still say one lump or two? since sugar for coffee and tea was lumpy.. no sense in spending hours to make granulated sugar when lumps would melt in hot beverages..

In Mexico, they still sell brown sugar in loaves, or cones. That is one hard sugar to pound granulated, I gotta tell you.

The first thing that I would think of would be the "blue touch paper" in fireworks - also used to mean that you are starting something explosive in more general terms (eg a political debate or an argument). Is that a common term outside the UK - I looked it up quickly and all the mentions of the term seemed to be on British sites.

Consuelo observes:

In Mexico, they still sell brown sugar in loaves, or cones. That is one hard sugar to pound granulated, I gotta tell you.

Well, in Virginia, in WW's kitchen, you'll find boxes of brown sugar I forgot to close back up properly and, in fact, completely forgot their existence, and, should you drop that block of brown sugar on the counter and attempt to pound it, you're not gonna be successful. I'd put up WW's blocks of brown sugar against any of Consuelo's challengers in Mexico.

The brown sugar cones in Mexico probably have a higher moisture content than WW's as they have a high molasses content as well. They make marvelous sugar lump cookies.
Oh, boy, another perfectly good thread converted to a food thread! Running away now-e

Those cookies do sound yummy, Consuelo.

I don't think my solidified brown sugar has much moisture content at all. I think those boxes of brown sugar would make pretty good bricks, and I'd love to see the cracked teeth of the ants that tried to eat those sugar bricks...that is, if ants had teeth.

I'm fascinated, however, with these cones of sugar you and of troy have mentioned today.

And to think it all started with the mentioning of white paper.

All roads should lead to sweet places...

Manufacturers--of computer components, at least--issue white papers which give specs on their products. They can be more or less detailed, and are written with an eye to the market. They may tend, therefore, to emphasize the positive.

you're not gonna be successful. I'd put up WW's blocks of brown sugar against any of Consuelo's challengers in Mexico.


Try pounding with a heavy metal meat tenderizer thingie ...or even scraping ... works a charm.

how about a red paper

Or a red letter day

(and what does that mean, anyway? I always assumed a day you get lots of final demands )

for some reason blue paper was common in colonial days

This strikes me as a bit weird, Trojan, which isn't to say it's wrong. But writing on blue paper (unless very pale blue) doesn't read well at all - which would be bad news for laws .

Are you sure the laws weren't written/printed in blue ink, like using carbon paper? Not that that would have existed in colonial days, but... ummm.. never mind.

Dear Fish,

I looked up indigo and paper on the web, and learned that indigo-dyed paper was commonly used for writing paper in colonial days. I'll try to find the url I was reading and will post it here later.

There was an interesting note on one of the sites that the indigo dye used in blue paper was effective as an insect repellant.

WW

Hiya and WELCOME smlorenz!

Getting back to the topic (we're very good at diverging from them around here) here's something I found on the definition of White Paper:

http://www.word-detective.com/032602.html#whitepaper

Hope it helps!

And while we're at it, here's red letter day too!

http://www.word-detective.com/042702.html#redletterday