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Too bad there is no Japanese. If a traffic light is green, the Japanese say it is "青い" (aoi), which is usually translated as "blue". I would have loved to see t

by jansan 5y ago

Too bad there is no Japanese. If a traffic light is green, the Japanese say it is "青い" (aoi), which is usually translated as "blue". I would have loved to see the hue range of this color.

personjerry 5y ago
青 also means "blue/green" in Chinese. This phenomenon has a Wikipedia article! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language#East_Asian_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction...
NelsonMinar 5y ago
Reader's Digest (of all things) has an article about this that claims their traffic light name is originally an artifact of Japanese words for color but in the 70s the government actually shifted the lights towards blue to match the word. https://www.rd.com/article/heres-japan-blue-traffic-lights/ https://www.rd.com/article/heres-japan-blue-traffic-lights/ The traffic lights, they turn blue tomorrow And shine their emptiness down on my bed The tiny island sags downstream 'Cause the life that lived is dead
- Jiro 5y ago
  There's also the problem that people have red-green color blindness, but not red-blue color blindness. Having the light be blue enough that color blind people can tell the difference makes sense.
1-6 5y ago
Same happens in Korean for technically what's green. Most adults will say 'blue light' for signals in a quick response. It really has to do with Chinese characters for blue 청[靑] and green 녹[綠]. When examining the words, they're both describing something that is 푸르다. 푸르다 means something that is related to the clear sky, sea, or the color of grass. Unfortunately, Google Translate just responds that 프르다 simply means blue which it's not. Also my take: Your tongue twists a bit less when saying blue in Korean rather than green. Can lazy reflexes affect language? More info here (warning: Korean) https://kidshyundai.tistory.com/990#:~:text=%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EB%A5%BC%20%EB%B4%90%EB%8F%84%20%ED%8C%8C%EB%9E%80%EC%83%89%EC%9D%98,%EB%8A%94%20%EB%9C%BB%EC%9D%84%20%EA%B0%80%EC%A7%80%EA%B3%A0%20%EC%9E%88%EC%8A%B5%EB%8B%88%EB%8B%A4 https://kidshyundai.tistory.com/990#:~:text=%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%....

by jansan 5y ago

Too bad there is no Japanese. If a traffic light is green, the Japanese say it is "青い" (aoi), which is usually translated as "blue". I would have loved to see the hue range of this color.

personjerry 5y ago

青 also means "blue/green" in Chinese. This phenomenon has a Wikipedia article! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language#East_Asian_languages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction...

NelsonMinar 5y ago

Reader's Digest (of all things) has an article about this that claims their traffic light name is originally an artifact of Japanese words for color but in the 70s the government actually shifted the lights towards blue to match the word. https://www.rd.com/article/heres-japan-blue-traffic-lights/ https://www.rd.com/article/heres-japan-blue-traffic-lights/ The traffic lights, they turn blue tomorrow And shine their emptiness down on my bed The tiny island sags downstream 'Cause the life that lived is dead

Jiro 5y ago
There's also the problem that people have red-green color blindness, but not red-blue color blindness. Having the light be blue enough that color blind people can tell the difference makes sense.

1-6 5y ago

Same happens in Korean for technically what's green. Most adults will say 'blue light' for signals in a quick response. It really has to do with Chinese characters for blue 청[靑] and green 녹[綠]. When examining the words, they're both describing something that is 푸르다. 푸르다 means something that is related to the clear sky, sea, or the color of grass. Unfortunately, Google Translate just responds that 프르다 simply means blue which it's not. Also my take: Your tongue twists a bit less when saying blue in Korean rather than green. Can lazy reflexes affect language? More info here (warning: Korean) https://kidshyundai.tistory.com/990#:~:text=%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%90%EB%A5%BC%20%EB%B4%90%EB%8F%84%20%ED%8C%8C%EB%9E%80%EC%83%89%EC%9D%98,%EB%8A%94%20%EB%9C%BB%EC%9D%84%20%EA%B0%80%EC%A7%80%EA%B3%A0%20%EC%9E%88%EC%8A%B5%EB%8B%88%EB%8B%A4 https://kidshyundai.tistory.com/990#:~:text=%ED%95%9C%EC%9E%....