cultural colors

LBernier at tribune.com LBernier at tribune.com
Thu May 2 09:52:38 CDT 1996


     
Right, all this being before the Tweeds catalog was published.  You know,
"This 100% silk cardigan is available in moss, cherrywine, tangelo, heather
or ink . . ."

Or, as a friend of mine points out, it's girl colors (teal, navy,
aquamarine) vs. boy colors (It's blue!).

Jean.

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: cultural colors
Author:  George Haberberger <ghaberbe at frontiernet.net> at Internet_tco
Date:    5/2/96 6:42 AM


At 01:32 PM 5/1/96 EDT, John A Richards wrote: 
>Don Larsson sez:
>>Some have even suggested that the ability to distinguish the two is a 
>>relatively recent evolutionary development!
>
>There is a quick but good analysis of this very possibility in one of Cecil 
>Adams' "Straight Dope" books.  (Great pick-up reading--educational and funny, 
>too.)  He points out that there is a glaring lack of color in any early epic 
>works, e.g., the Iliad and Odyssey, and suggests that perhaps people in these 
>cultures were able to distinguish only two or three regions in the entire 
>spectrum.
     
I'm a big Cecil-Zotti-phile. He was actually saying that they could 
distinguish the same number of colors as we could, but only had names for 2 
or 3, somewhat analagous to the difference between Red and R=255 G=0, B=0, 
R=254 G=0, B=0, R=250 G=2 B=2, ...
     
George
     
ObPynchon: I've noticed an ad on cable advertising "Locate old college 
roommates for only $39.95."  Let's each kick in 2 bucks and try to find TRP.
     
     
>
>John Richards
>johnrich at mit.edu
>
>
>
     





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