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if love was red, she was color blind?

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Yurui Liu

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Apr 9, 2015, 5:01:03 AM4/9/15
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The following is an excerpt of the lyrics of To the Moon and Back by Savage Garden:

----------------------------------------
She can't remember a time when she felt needed
If love was red then she was color blind
All her friends they've been tried for treason
And crimes that were never defined
---------------------------------------

Could'if love were red, then she would be color blind" have
been used instead without any change in meaning?
Is there any difference?

I'd appreciate your help.

Guy Barry

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Apr 9, 2015, 5:15:32 AM4/9/15
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"Yurui Liu" wrote in message
news:59e93b68-6c68-4e2d...@googlegroups.com...
They have completely different meanings and are not interchangeable.

"If love were red then she would be colour blind" refers to present time,
and is a counterfactual conditional; it necessarily implies that love is not
red, but imagines the consequences of a state of affairs where love is red.
"If love was red then she was colour blind" refers to past time, and is not
a counterfactual; it refers to the consequences of a state of affairs where
love was red.

--
Guy Barry

Yurui Liu

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Apr 9, 2015, 5:22:03 AM4/9/15
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Guy Barry於 2015年4月9日星期四 UTC+8下午5時15分32秒寫道:
But to describe love as 'red' is odd; it cannot be a factual state of affairs.




>
> --
> Guy Barry

Guy Barry

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Apr 9, 2015, 5:44:08 AM4/9/15
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"Yurui Liu" wrote in message
news:5f24f8d7-faec-4f8b...@googlegroups.com...
These are song lyrics; the use of "red" is metaphorical. There was also
once a song called "Love Is Blue".

(I'll leave it to others to speculate on what "red" is a metaphor for.)

--
Guy Barry

CDB

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Apr 9, 2015, 8:47:04 AM4/9/15
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On 09/04/2015 5:22 AM, Yurui Liu wrote:
> Guy Barry:
>> "Yurui Liu" wrote:

>>> The following is an excerpt of the lyrics of To the Moon and Back
>>> by Savage Garden:

>>> ---------------------------------------- She can't remember a
>>> time when she felt needed If love was red then she was color
>>> blind All her friends they've been tried for treason And crimes
>>> that were never defined ---------------------------------------

>>> Could'if love were red, then she would be color blind" have been
>>> used instead without any change in meaning? Is there any
>>> difference?

>> They have completely different meanings and are not
>> interchangeable.

>> "If love were red then she would be colour blind" refers to present
>> time, and is a counterfactual conditional; it necessarily implies
>> that love is not red, but imagines the consequences of a state of
>> affairs where love is red. "If love was red then she was colour
>> blind" refers to past time, and is not a counterfactual; it refers
>> to the consequences of a state of affairs where love was red.

> But to describe love as 'red' is odd; it cannot be a factual state of
> affairs.

You could call it a metaphorical state of affairs. She dismisses love
without seeing it, as a colour-blind person might walk past a sign
printed in red on a green background. I think there is an odd
resemblance to a counterfactual condition in the use of the past tense,
which may be meant to convey some distance from reality without
triggering the whole counterfactual pattern, but I agree with Guy that
the two forms are different (note that the tense in the main clause is
different too).


Jerry Friedman

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Apr 9, 2015, 1:22:32 PM4/9/15
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So the trope could be classified as an analogy. Love is to her as
red is to a color-blind person.

> I think there is an odd
> resemblance to a counterfactual condition in the use of the past tense,

Indeed this could have been written as "If love is red, then she was
color-blind." Or could it?

> which may be meant to convey some distance from reality without
> triggering the whole counterfactual pattern, but I agree with Guy that
> the two forms are different (note that the tense in the main clause is
> different too).

Me too.

--
Jerry Friedman

Mike L

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Apr 9, 2015, 7:00:12 PM4/9/15
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On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 08:46:21 -0400, CDB <belle...@gmail.com> wrote:

>On 09/04/2015 5:22 AM, Yurui Liu wrote:
>> Guy Barry?
Yep. We have a metaphorical simile (I'd love to try "similistic
metaphor", but you might hit me), complicated by the poetic need for
"was" instead of the grammatical need for rather more verbose forms
such as "...if love had been red, then she would have been
color-blind".

(Is that all right for a man slightly drunk and past his bedtime?)

--
Mike.

CDB

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Apr 14, 2015, 9:07:54 AM4/14/15
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On 09/04/2015 7:00 PM, Mike L wrote:
I love the old interpretive dances. Did not the Tenth Muse once create
the semaphorical mytilene?

I would rather celebrate your recent return to the fold. Safe grazing
for a while now?

> (Is that all right for a man slightly drunk and past his bedtime?)

To each according to his need. We are all sinners.




Mike L

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Apr 14, 2015, 5:58:28 PM4/14/15
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Thank you: it's just that I'm permanently fatigued until they remove
the offending bit of pericardial thing, so I don't get as much done in
a day as I'd like to, and tend to get stuck in Another Place.
>
>> (Is that all right for a man slightly drunk and past his bedtime?)
>
>To each according to his need. We are all sinners.
>
My principal sin right now is sloth (deities don't care WHY you err:
look at the Atreids).

--
Mike.
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