The reading that stuck with me the most was the "What Color Means." It is incredible how much the meaning of a color changes when moving through different cultures and different countries. I think what shocked me the most is that black is not the universal color for mourning. For example, the color of mourning in South Africa is red. We grow up with such large influences on how we perceive color it is sometimes hard to comprehend that others don't view the colors in the same way.
I also enjoyed reading how we associate colors with certain things. For example, blue is the symbol of love which is why a bride wears something blue on her wedding day. All the meanings of phrases with colors in them begin to make sense! Colors have been fun to explore and learn the meaning of.
The meaning of colors from person to person and culture to culture proves that the meaning is taught, we are not born with these feelings about color. Nature has something to do with it - a blue sky - blue ocean - make blue soothing, but it is mostly man-made. The combination of red, white and blue are only special because we say it is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Larry about meaning being taught and learned. I also agree that is was interesting to read the different perceptions of each color across cultures. The one that shocked me the most was the color yellow. It was interesting to see that yellow can mean peace, jealousy, courage and indicate a coward.
ReplyDeleteColors are embedded in us from our childhood. I cant imagine growing up and being allowed to play with anything blue or green. I would of been considered an odd girl. My favorite colors are purple and blue, which took me a while to decide on since growing up all the girls I knew loved pink or burgundy.
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