No Language in Our Lungs
Update from my daughter's Chinese class:
She now knows the word for "Electric box."
She still has no idea how you would say "Blue."
I'm beginning to suspect colors have been declared capitalistic.
She now knows the word for "Electric box."
She still has no idea how you would say "Blue."
I'm beginning to suspect colors have been declared capitalistic.
posted by Unknown at 4:51 PM
5 Comments:
"Blue" is a concept that doesn't exist in all languages, or came very late to some. Here's a fascinating article about color and language: http://www.empiricalzeal.com/2012/06/05/the-crayola-fication-of-the-world-how-we-gave-colors-names-and-it-messed-with-our-brains-part-i/
I just read an interesting article about how some cultures don't differentiate between blue and green, or didn't until they encountered a lot of traffic from foreigners. http://bit.ly/XbhULe This BLEW MY MIND. One word encompassing the whole blue/green range of the spectrum.
Chinese color words come up a bit in the post, and more in the comments--you might enjoy. :) Me, I'm hung up on "electric box." There's a word for that? Are we talking, like, television? Car battery? The thing you put Schrodinger's cat in? I'm baffled.
Electric Box could be blue. :)
I laughed and then I got educated by your readers. One of many reasons I love your blog.
There is something called electric indigo. I’m guessing its blue2: Electric Boogaloo.
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