That's a good story, John.

I'm not familiar at all with color consciousness in the nation of South Africa. I'm wondering if those men in your friend's story wrote those colors down just to 'mess with' the test.

I recall reading as a young adult that different members of
[what African Americans would call] Black families could be designated differently depending on the individuals' skin color. For instance, a light skinned child in a Black family might be designated as a Coloured [and-at one time anyway]receive a better education and more priviledges because of that designation.

I also remember reading that there was a pencil test that was done on hair that would determine whether a person from the Union of South Africa was Coloured or Black. It's been quite a while since I read this ,but it was something like if the hair was so tightly curly that a pencil could be put in the hair, then the individual was designated "Black". But if the hair was less curly or straight and the pencil couldn't remain in the hair, then the person was designated "Coloured".

Does anyone know if this 'pencil test' was or is true?

And haven't we moved far afield from the original purpose of this thread? Well, maybe not...