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Japanese 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,
by nihonde 9y ago
Japanese 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.