Whart!

1.

What, asked Pliny the Elder, is the colour of whales?

I know what you're referring to, I answered. The answer is, the sky.

Do not be flippant, said Pliny reprovingly. Surely you meant the clouds.

The clouds are a part of the sky. They were a greyish blackish sort of blue, I said. Or a bluish blackish sort of white.

A nebulous answer, he said crossly.

2.

What is the colour of whales? asked Pliny the Elder.

Whart is the colour of whales, I replied.

Whart?

I looked it up on WikiAnswers, and that's what it is.

3.

Whart, asked Pliny the Elder, is the colour of whales?

Is it? I asked.

No, he said. I'm asking.

I don't think it is, I said.

What is it then?

Grey and black and white and blue.

Like bird droppings, he said.