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Traffic lights are green/yellow/red in the US. They are rouge/orange/rouge in French (translation: green/orange/red). Some languages perceive the middle color
by jknz 9y ago
Traffic lights are green/yellow/red in the US.
They are rouge/orange/rouge in French (translation: green/orange/red).
Some languages perceive the middle color as yellow, some as orange.
Because this is deeply buried in the brain since childhood, adult friends from different countries can disagree on the true color of the middle light for ages...
I am wondering if this difference can lead to different taste/connotation regarding colors in different country.
- morinted 9y agoI've heard the center light referred to as "amber".
- bhrgunatha 9y agoIn the UK it's Amber. I can't remember ever hearing yellow.
- unholiness 9y agoIn the UK it's actually a different color though. Their center lights are a light orange that, as an American, I wouldn't hesitate to call amber.
- jknz 9y agoMy mistake. Actually it is Spanish and French that use different colors for the middle light -- not English. The middle light is "amarillo" (yellow) in spanish, while it's "orange" in French.
- grzm 9y ago> They are rouge/orange/rouge in French (translation: green/orange/red). My French is nonexistent, but there's a typo here, right? Should that be vert/orange/rouge?
- DonaldFisk 9y agoA case of red-green colour blindness? It should indeed be vert/orange/rouge
- flukus 9y agoMaybe it doesn't help that different countries do have different colors. In the US it seems the veer more toward the yellow end (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=us+traffic+light&t=chakra&iar=images&iax=1&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=us+traffic+light&t=chakra&iar=imag...) but in Australia the seem more orange (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=australian+traffic+light&t=chakra&iar=images&iax=1&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=australian+traffic+light&t=chakra&...).
- nihonde 9y agoJapanese people often use the word for blue to refer to the green traffic signal: 青い信号. They also use it to refer to greenery: 青葉. I’ve heard some explanations, but I still don’t really understand it. Maybe someone else knows why?
- DonaldFisk 9y agoWords for colours don't necessarily match across different languages. This page has flashcards for colours in Scottish Gaelic: http://www.cram.com/flashcards/scottish-gaelic-basic-words-colours-287610 http://www.cram.com/flashcards/scottish-gaelic-basic-words-c... Scottish Gaelic speakers share a country with English speakers, and they all also speak English, yet Gaelic colour names don't map at all well onto English colour names.
- aaron695 9y agoThey are blue, kinda, bureaucracy at it's best - http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/japan-green-traffic-lights-blue http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/japan-green-traffic-lig...
- nihonde 9y agoThat’s one of the amusing but unconvincing anecdotes that I referred to above. It doesn’t explain old family names like 青葉 or 青森.
- jlebrech 9y ago>>> They are rouge/orange/rouge in French (translation: green/orange/red). Vert