Why blue isn't always true…
Red and blue, we know, are not just colours, they're political statements. During a recent televised presentation from America, the political pundit and professor Larry Sabato wore a tie with stripes of red, blue and yellow (the yellow was puzzling as they don't have any Lib Dems) and the screened map of America showed states coloured blue for those mainly Democrat, or red for Republican. The opposite of our red and blue. It is only since the election of 2000 that it has been so, formalised by the actions of TV journalist Tim Russert – before that it had quite often been the other way round, and America has always talked about the "red" Communist states – such as China or East Germany.
I always thought "red" meaning left came from the idea of blood on the barricades of the revolution, but maybe it was completely random – as so many other verbal colourings are. Being blue with cold is understandable, since you redden when hot, but why do you call cowards yellow? Green for conservation of the plants of the planet makes sense, but why are we green with envy? We sing, "Pink for a little girl, blue for a boy"– and hence the "pink pound" for the male gay market – but 100 years ago it was blue for a girl. It's all too complicated. Perhaps Henry Ford was on to something when he told buyers of his early cars that they could "have any colour so long as it's black".
Katharine Whitehorn![ext]()
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Reported by guardian.co.uk 55 minutes ago.
Red and blue, we know, are not just colours, they're political statements. During a recent televised presentation from America, the political pundit and professor Larry Sabato wore a tie with stripes of red, blue and yellow (the yellow was puzzling as they don't have any Lib Dems) and the screened map of America showed states coloured blue for those mainly Democrat, or red for Republican. The opposite of our red and blue. It is only since the election of 2000 that it has been so, formalised by the actions of TV journalist Tim Russert – before that it had quite often been the other way round, and America has always talked about the "red" Communist states – such as China or East Germany.
I always thought "red" meaning left came from the idea of blood on the barricades of the revolution, but maybe it was completely random – as so many other verbal colourings are. Being blue with cold is understandable, since you redden when hot, but why do you call cowards yellow? Green for conservation of the plants of the planet makes sense, but why are we green with envy? We sing, "Pink for a little girl, blue for a boy"– and hence the "pink pound" for the male gay market – but 100 years ago it was blue for a girl. It's all too complicated. Perhaps Henry Ford was on to something when he told buyers of his early cars that they could "have any colour so long as it's black".
Katharine Whitehorn
guardian.co.uk
© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 55 minutes ago.