Random musings
ARCmage
(Maybe because tears are water, and water is blue?)
If sadness if blue, why do we wear black when mourning someone?
(If I recall correctly, the Japanese wear white for mourning…)
Do people of other cultures have a different color for sadness?
What other emotions have a color, and why is it *that* particular color?
(I think of anger as red… because blood is red, and people who get angry
turn red?)
Happiness might be Sunshine Yellow, which begs the question; why is sunlight
happy, and what emotion goes with darkness?
(I don't think of darkness as sad… maybe darkness goes with fear?)
Too much sunlight is "glare", which is also something you do… you can
"glare" at someone… but you aren't emitting light… Why is a "glare" called
that?
When you are happy, you smile. When you are angry you frown. What is the word
for the expression you have when you are sad?
(When you are *really* sad, you cry… What expression is on your face when
you are crying? You can look sad without crying… What is that expression
called?)
Blue is for boys, and pink is for girls, but boys are not by definition sad…
and what emotion is pink anyway?
Valentines are red, but it doesn't seem like love is red…
(For that matter, love is supposed to be blind, maybe it doesn't get a
color…)
If you send someone a black valentine, or a black rose, what sentiment are you
expressing? What would a white valentine mean?
Are the colors we relate to certain emotions related to the Victorian Flower
Code?
Have you ever felt an emotion or combination of emotions you couldn't really
explain in words, but a wolf-howl did kind of express it?
(Or is that just me…)
Sin(the ARCmage)^-1
Lina
"ARCmage" <thear...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com...
> Why is the color I associate with sadness "blue"?
> (Maybe because tears are water, and water is blue?)
>
> If sadness if blue, why do we wear black when mourning someone?
>
> Do people of other cultures have a different color for sadness?
>
> What other emotions have a color, and why is it *that* particular color?
> turn red?)
>
> Happiness might be Sunshine Yellow, which begs the question; why is
sunlight
> happy, and what emotion goes with darkness?
>
> Too much sunlight is "glare", which is also something you do. you can
> "glare" at someone. but you aren't emitting light. Why is a "glare"
called
> that?
>
> When you are happy, you smile. When you are angry you frown. What is
the word
> for the expression you have when you are sad?
when
> you are crying? You can look sad without crying. What is that
expression
> called?)
>
> Blue is for boys, and pink is for girls, but boys are not by definition
> and what emotion is pink anyway?
>
> (For that matter, love is supposed to be blind, maybe it doesn't get a
>
> If you send someone a black valentine, or a black rose, what sentiment
are you
> expressing? What would a white valentine mean?
>
> Are the colors we relate to certain emotions related to the Victorian
Flower
> Code?
>
> Have you ever felt an emotion or combination of emotions you couldn't
really
> explain in words, but a wolf-howl did kind of express it?
>
> Sin(the ARCmage)^-1
Actually, the colors we relate to certain emotions are based on psychology.
There is actually a study of colors to find out how they make people feel.
There are certain associations with every color on the color wheel, and
probably some that are not. (Just to clarify, there are 12 colors on the
color wheel -yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet,
violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green.)
These all have very specific emotions and feelings attached to them.
I could go into greater detail, but it might take a while.
Just look up color theory, or better still, pick up any number of books on
color theory. :)
HTH
Lee S. Billings
says...
>
>Why is the color I associate with sadness "blue"?
>(Maybe because tears are water, and water is blue?)
Cultural association. Even in music, they call it "the blues".
>If sadness if blue, why do we wear black when mourning someone?
>(If I recall correctly, the Japanese wear white for mourning?)
Custom. I don't know how it got started, but that's what keeps it going.
>Do people of other cultures have a different color for sadness?
>
>What other emotions have a color, and why is it *that* particular color?
>(I think of anger as red? because blood is red, and people who get angry
>turn red?)
Most of the things you mention here are also cultural associations; you feel
them because you've been taught to feel them.
>Happiness might be Sunshine Yellow, which begs the question; why is sunlight
>happy, and what emotion goes with darkness?
>(I don't think of darkness as sad? maybe darkness goes with fear?)
To me, darkness goes with calm/serenity. But I'm weird. <g>
>Blue is for boys, and pink is for girls, but boys are not by definition sad?
>and what emotion is pink anyway?
Again, these are cultural definitions. Blue in this case is "masculine", while
pink is "feminine". Note comments from some people with babies that dressing
them in gender-neutral colors like yellow or green promotes actual *anger* from
people for whom knowing the gender of any person is apparently a top priority!
>Valentines are red, but it doesn't seem like love is red?
>(For that matter, love is supposed to be blind, maybe it doesn't get a
>color?)
In this case, red is associated with "passion". Like anger, it's a strong
emotion.
>If you send someone a black valentine, or a black rose, what sentiment are you
>expressing? What would a white valentine mean?
I would take a black valentine to be seriously threatening -- along the lines
of "I love you, so I have to kill you." Someone in the Goth community, though,
might see an altogether different meaning in it.
Celine
--
Handmade jewelry at http://www.rubylane.com/shops/starcat
"Only the powers of evil claim that doing good is boring."
-- Diane Duane, _Nightfall at Algemron_
David C Pugh
news:b1930e$e0f$3...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
> In article <20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com>,
thear...@aol.com
> says...
> >
> >Why is the color I associate with sadness "blue"?
> >(Maybe because tears are water, and water is blue?)
>
> Cultural association. Even in music, they call it "the blues".
>
> >If sadness if blue, why do we wear black when mourning someone?
> >(If I recall correctly, the Japanese wear white for mourning?)
>
> Custom. I don't know how it got started, but that's what keeps it going.
I think blue is a positive colour in Islam, it's the dominant hue of
their ceramic tilework from Lisbon to Persia. I know a little about
Portuguese blues, and I don't think they call it by a colour -- it's called
<fado>, and the emotion is <soudade>.
Another thing -- why blue movies? Probably related to bluenoses, but why
are those blue?
(And why is bleu "sacre"?)
> >Do people of other cultures have a different color for sadness?
I'd be surprised if gray were not a pretty universal symbol.
> >What other emotions have a color, and why is it *that* particular color?
> >(I think of anger as red? because blood is red, and people who get angry
> >turn red?)
>
> Most of the things you mention here are also cultural associations; you
feel them because you've been taught to feel them.
For once I'm going to disagree with Celine! I think *some* of these
colour-responses are hardwired. One hears that green and blue is restful and
that red is excitatory. Since colour response is also known in the animal
kingdom, why should we be different? I can quite easily envisage certain
colours stimulating serotonin production.
> >Blue is for boys, and pink is for girls, but boys are not by definition
sad? and what emotion is pink anyway?
>
> Again, these are cultural definitions. Blue in this case is "masculine",
while> pink is "feminine". Note comments from some people with babies that
dressing them in gender-neutral colors like yellow or green promotes actual
*anger* from people for whom knowing the gender of any person is apparently
a top priority!
Yeah. People often take me for a woman on the phone, and when they find
out that I'm not, they sometimes get very angry, as if I've deceived them
for the purposes of unlawful gain.
> >Valentines are red, but it doesn't seem like love is red?
> >(For that matter, love is supposed to be blind, maybe it doesn't get a
> >color?)
>
> In this case, red is associated with "passion". Like anger, it's a strong
> emotion.
Right. I don't think the hardwiring is any subtler than a spectrum
between excitation and relaxation. Like turning up a rheostat.
> >If you send someone a black valentine, or a black rose, what sentiment
are you expressing? What would a white valentine mean?
>
> I would take a black valentine to be seriously threatening -- along the
lines of "I love you, so I have to kill you." Someone in the Goth community,
though, might see an altogether different meaning in it.
Wasn't the black rose a thing of the fin-du-siecle French decadents?
Well, a Goth by any other name...... ;-)
--
David
"From ghouls and ghosties, and long-leggety beasties, and things that go
bump on the Net, Good Lord, deliver us"
P & E -- also to my Chicago pal, who knows all sorts of stuff along these
lines. We were doing the colour yellow in soc.history.medieval the other
day -- for Jews, prostitutes.... but later also the papacy, go figure. :-)
David C Pugh
"David C Pugh" <davi...@online.no> wrote in message
news:wGUZ9.21573$Rc7.3...@news2.e.nsc.no...
I'd be careful with the hardwired stuff. It might be
true to a certain degree, but colors have been
assigned so many meanings through the years. Red
might signal blood, but what would that mean? Danger?
Dead? Birth? A good kill so lots to eat? But also
keep in mind that red affects the eyes in a different
way from blue. It "stands out" whereas blue recedes.
Probably a scientific explaination through wavelenghs
somewhere there.
Didn't mean that the *association* was hardwired, but that it excited
the organism as opposed to soothing it like the blues and greens.
Blue was considered a lucky special color. That's why
it was given to boys. Not sure when, but I think it's
pretty old. There was no color for girls. Eventually
they decided to gives the girls pink, not sure when?
19th cen. early 20th, don't know. However, there was
no real symbolic point to the pink.
Anyway, the culture thing really changes things. We
were talking about the negative qualities of yellow,
but I believe it was the Emperior's color in China and
the color of sex and love in cultures with West
African influence.
Yes, the first (?) emperor was called The Yellow Emperor.
Dreamstalker
> "Lee S. Billings" <stard...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:b1930e$e0f$3...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
> > In article <20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com>,
> thear...@aol.com
> > says...
> > >
> > >Why is the color I associate with sadness "blue"?
> > >(Maybe because tears are water, and water is blue?)
> >
> > Cultural association. Even in music, they call it "the blues".
> >
> > >If sadness if blue, why do we wear black when mourning someone?
> > >(If I recall correctly, the Japanese wear white for mourning?)
> >
> > Custom. I don't know how it got started, but that's what keeps it going.
>
> I think blue is a positive colour in Islam, it's the dominant hue of their
> ceramic tilework from Lisbon to Persia.
Yup. Blue is used to ward off the evil eye starting from Egyptian times; I
don't remember the exact explanation as to why that color. What I remember is,
the Nile is blue and the lifegiver, therefore blue was effective against the
evil eye which brought death. Something like that.
> I know a little about Portuguese blues, and I don't think they call it by a
> colour -- it's called <fado>, and the emotion is <soudade>.
>
> Another thing -- why blue movies? Probably related to bluenoses, but why
> are those blue?
>
> (And why is bleu "sacre"?)
Hmmm....
> For once I'm going to disagree with Celine! I think *some* of these
> colour-responses are hardwired. One hears that green and blue is restful and
> that red is excitatory.
One of my classmates thinks I have the most relaxing room on campus--almost
everything is some shade of blue. The walls would be too, if I was allowed to
paint them...
> > >Blue is for boys, and pink is for girls, but boys are not by definition
> sad? and what emotion is pink anyway?
> >
> > Again, these are cultural definitions. Blue in this case is "masculine",
> while> pink is "feminine". Note comments from some people with babies that
> dressing them in gender-neutral colors like yellow or green promotes actual
> *anger* from people for whom knowing the gender of any person is apparently a
> top priority!
My mom refused to dress me in pink, and opted instead for neutral colors or
bright colors with no gender association. She mainly dressed me in blue because
I like that color. My grandmother tried to dress me in pink frilly stuff...talk
about ingrained gender confusion :-)
> > >If you send someone a black valentine, or a black rose, what sentiment are
> you expressing? What would a white valentine mean?
> >
> > I would take a black valentine to be seriously threatening -- along the
> lines of "I love you, so I have to kill you." Someone in the Goth community,
> though, might see an altogether different meaning in it.
Maroon or very dark red could also be interpreted as black...at least in
flowers. So what then could that mean?
--
"By the way, if one day you happen to wake up and find yourself in an
existential quandary full of loathing and self doubt and racked with the pain
and isolation of your pitiful meaningless existence, at least you can take a
small bit of comfort in knowing that somewhere out there in this crazy old mixed
up universe of ours there's still a little place called...Albuquerque!" --Weird
Al Yankovic, "Albuquerque"
Visit my ebay page http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/raystantz
LePheaux
<<>>
Cheer up,
color green.
M Blaze Miskulin
> If sadness if blue, why do we wear black when mourning someone?
> (If I recall correctly, the Japanese wear white for mourning…)
You're correct. The Japanese link white with death/mourning. I don't
know the cultural reasoning behind it in their culture. At least some
fo the early Celtic cultures (the Welsh, for one) also linked white
with death. The reasoning given was that nothing lived in the frozen
white of winter snow or the white-hot fires of the forge (at least
according to the few Welsh myths I've read).
--
M Blaze Miskulin
Wesley Struebing
<jennife...@rogersWENCHESHATESPAM.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>"ARCmage" <thear...@aol.com> wrote in message
>news:20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com...
>> Why is the color I associate with sadness "blue"?
>> (Maybe because tears are water, and water is blue?)
>>
<snip>
>
>Actually, the colors we relate to certain emotions are based on psychology.
>There is actually a study of colors to find out how they make people feel.
>There are certain associations with every color on the color wheel, and
>probably some that are not. (Just to clarify, there are 12 colors on the
>color wheel -yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet,
>violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green.)
>These all have very specific emotions and feelings attached to them.
>I could go into greater detail, but it might take a while.
>Just look up color theory, or better still, pick up any number of books on
>color theory. :)
>HTH
...and I left the arcMage's first musing up there for a reason. The
color wheeel described is AFIK mostly valid psychologically, but there
ARE definite cultural differences. Who here (the graybeard raises his
hand) are old enough to remember Paul Marriat(sp?)'s "Love is Blue"
(sorry, I don't speak French...). Lyrics created in English were
about how sad it was that love was gone - or somesuch like that. In
French, however, the "blue" of the song was far happier. Blue in
France is not the color of sadness.
Or at least so I've been told.
>
Lee S. Billings
str...@carpedementem.org says...
Afraid not, unless the original French lyrics were very different from the ones
which got to the States. I used to love that song, and I could sing it in
either French or English -- and the English lyrics were pretty much a direct
translation of the French ones.
Silicon Shaman
"Dreamstalker" <ista...@csf.edu> wrote in message
news:3E3854CD...@csf.edu...
> David C Pugh wrote:
>
> > "Lee S. Billings" <stard...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> > news:b1930e$e0f$3...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
> > > In article <20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com>,
> > thear...@aol.com
[snip to the point]
> > > >If you send someone a black valentine, or a black rose, what
sentiment are
> > you expressing? What would a white valentine mean?
> > >
> > > I would take a black valentine to be seriously threatening -- along
the
> > lines of "I love you, so I have to kill you." Someone in the Goth
community,
> > though, might see an altogether different meaning in it.
>
> Maroon or very dark red could also be interpreted as black...at least in
> flowers. So what then could that mean?
Again with the cultural differences. Over here black valentines aren't
unusual. Why? Because black is sexy ! [especially when used with a very
little brilliant red as a highlight] case in point, the card I got for my
S.O last year was just plain black, no colour at all, with a heart embossed
on the front as the only contrast. She loved it.
btw, white in the language of flowers is for purity of intent. Don't send
white roses unless you're going to back it up with a proposal!
white=purity, pink=friends, red=passion, yellow=faithfulness, dark
red/maroon=lust.
At least, those are the most common interpretations that I can recall. There
used to be thousands back in Regency times [pre-Victorian] with different
flowers giving different interpretations.
--
Silicon.shaman
Being sane in this insane world makes you look crazy.
Dan Howell
>
> > "Lee S. Billings" <stard...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> > news:b1930e$e0f$3...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
> > > In article <20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com>,
> > thear...@aol.com
> > > says...
> > > >
>
> Hmmm....
I always thought this was originally "sacre dieu", meaning effectively "Oh
my gawd!", which got edited into "bleu" either for reasons similar to the
ones the Victorians used, or by dimwit Brits who couldn't cope with more
than one language at once. <g>
Dan Howell. Just my 0.02 Euro...
David C Pugh
news:Ep6_9.127$l37....@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net...
And cheap at the price. I like it.
Euphemisms for blasphemies are interesting. Some of the Norwegian ones
are so well-disguised that BornAgain Christians use them in blissful
ignorance -- it's a sadistic amusement of mine to tell them they've been
swearing. By-Our-Lady awful of me, isn't it?
Lee S. Billings
>
>"Dan Howell" <Luke....@eidosnet.co.uk> wrote in message
>news:Ep6_9.127$l37....@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net...
>>
>> "Dreamstalker" <ista...@csf.edu> wrote in message
>> news:3E3854CD...@csf.edu...
>> > David C Pugh wrote:
>> >
>> > > "Lee S. Billings" <stard...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>> > > news:b1930e$e0f$3...@slb6.atl.mindspring.net...
>> > > > In article <20030128225333...@mb-fb.aol.com>,
>> > > thear...@aol.com
>> > > > says...
>> > > > >
>> > > (And why is bleu "sacre"?)
>> >
>> > Hmmm....
>>
>> I always thought this was originally "sacre dieu", meaning effectively "Oh
>> my gawd!", which got edited into "bleu" either for reasons similar to the
>> ones the Victorians used, or by dimwit Brits who couldn't cope with more
>> than one language at once. <g>
>>
>> Dan Howell. Just my 0.02 Euro...
>>
>
> And cheap at the price. I like it.
>
> Euphemisms for blasphemies are interesting. Some of the Norwegian ones
>are so well-disguised that BornAgain Christians use them in blissful
>ignorance -- it's a sadistic amusement of mine to tell them they've been
>swearing. By-Our-Lady awful of me, isn't it?
Strewth, indeed! <g>
Lollee Roberts
Dan Howell" <Luke....@eidosnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Ep6_9.127$l37....@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net...
<snipped some attributions, sorry about that. You know who you are.>
> > > (And why is bleu "sacre"?)
> >
> > Hmmm....
>
> I always thought this was originally "sacre dieu", meaning effectively "Oh
> my gawd!", which got edited into "bleu" either for reasons similar to the
> ones the Victorians used, or by dimwit Brits who couldn't cope with more
> than one language at once. <g>
I was told that it came from the color of Mary's mantle, but that could have
been a line of bs from my high school French teacher.
--
Lollee
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards for they are subtle and quick to
anger." Tolkien, "Fellowship of the Ring"
David C Pugh
news:b1bq3a$10s83r$1...@ID-158135.news.dfncis.de...
>
> Dan Howell" <Luke....@eidosnet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:Ep6_9.127$l37....@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net...
>
> <snipped some attributions, sorry about that. You know who you are.>
>
> > > > (And why is bleu "sacre"?)
> > >
> > > Hmmm....
> >
> > I always thought this was originally "sacre dieu", meaning effectively
"Oh
> > my gawd!", which got edited into "bleu" either for reasons similar to
the
> > ones the Victorians used, or by dimwit Brits who couldn't cope with more
> > than one language at once. <g>
>
> I was told that it came from the color of Mary's mantle, but that could
have
> been a line of bs from my high school French teacher.
>
> --
Not impossible, though. When Mary wears a dark blue mantle with some
gold trimmings round the hood, she's actually wearing standard costume of an
upper-class Byzantine lady.
Michael J. Lowrey
> Actually, the colors we relate to certain emotions are based on psychology.
> There is actually a study of colors to find out how they make people feel.
> There are certain associations with every color on the color wheel, and
> probably some that are not. (Just to clarify, there are 12 colors on the
> color wheel -yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet,
> violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green.)
> These all have very specific emotions and feelings attached to them.
> I could go into greater detail, but it might take a while.
> Just look up color theory, or better still, pick up any number of books on
> color theory. :)
The orange guy finally breaks in.
"A lot of the new-agey color stuff is purest hooey. These things are
very heavily culturally conditioned. Blue is a bad medicine color for
traditional Cherokee medicine, yellow somewhat as well. Brown, red and
white are all good colors, for different kinds of purposes (don't have
my reference books to hand). Black and red are colors of good omen for
Chinese, yet associated with Satan in many Western minds.
Orange is associated, in Shakespeare at least, with jealousy!"
--
Orange Mike
hopes you've cast your TAFF ballot
D.J.
"Michael J. Lowrey" <oran...@uwm.edu> wrote:
] The orange guy finally breaks in.
] "A lot of the new-agey color stuff is purest hooey. These things are
] very heavily culturally conditioned. Blue is a bad medicine color for
] traditional Cherokee medicine, yellow somewhat as well. Brown, red and
] white are all good colors, for different kinds of purposes (don't have
] my reference books to hand). Black and red are colors of good omen for
] Chinese, yet associated with Satan in many Western minds.
]
] Orange is associated, in Shakespeare at least, with jealousy!"
But it has been found that pale wall colors do help. Thats why
hospital walls are certain colors, well, in some hospitals they are
white. This was done through research.
D.J.
--
Disclaimer: Standard.
Updated: February 4, 2003 my 1E AD&D game world.
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