3 ms·

The color blue hadn't been invented yet.

Rhinobird 5y ago
that's probably true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction...
- fjfaase 5y ago
  There is much confusion about the Greek color theory, and I can imagine that for this reason there is also lots of confusion about which word is used for which color. The Greeks with their arts were merely interested in representing humans accurately and not interested in making landscapes. This might also explain why there is not much attention for the color blue in the writings that survived from that time period.
R0b0t1 5y ago
It used to be lumped in with green, fwiw; or rather green was more a cyan or sealike color and they binned everything "cool" together.
fastball 5y ago
How in the world do you have a concept of color and not distinguish between the color of the sky and the color of grass and leaves. And regardless, my point was more that "emerald" is clearly a worse analogue than "sky" for this particular color.
- ENGNR 5y ago
  It’s a majorly weird thing. Knowing of a colour makes it obvious, but not having the concept embedded into your neurons means it isn’t split and out and distinguished when you experience the world. There are some African tribes with a very different knowledge of blue and green to us that makes the contrast very clear https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180419-the-words-that-change-the-colours-we-see https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180419-the-words-that-c...
- yreg 5y ago
  Different cultures distinguish colours into different classes. You can do an experiment where you give a person sheet of randomly colored pages and ask them to divide them into named stacks. A western civilisation member might do something like Red, Brown, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, Violet, Grey and perhaps do something special with White/Black. (11 basic colours) A Russian will most likely split blue into light blue and dark blue. (12 basic colours) Himba people have 5 basic colours: Serandu – used to describe reds, browns, oranges and some yellows Dambu – includes a variety of greens, reds, beige and yellows Zuzu – used to described most dark colours, black, dark red, dark purple, dark blue, etc. Vapa – used for some yellows and white Buru – used to describe a collection of greens and blues
  - apricot 5y ago
    When I was a kid, it was "obvious" to me that dark green and light green were two completely different colors, and it frustrated me to no end that people wouldn't agree with me, yet insist that pink and red were different colors.

that's probably true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction...

fjfaase 5y ago
There is much confusion about the Greek color theory, and I can imagine that for this reason there is also lots of confusion about which word is used for which color. The Greeks with their arts were merely interested in representing humans accurately and not interested in making landscapes. This might also explain why there is not much attention for the color blue in the writings that survived from that time period.

R0b0t1 5y ago

It used to be lumped in with green, fwiw; or rather green was more a cyan or sealike color and they binned everything "cool" together.

fastball 5y ago

How in the world do you have a concept of color and not distinguish between the color of the sky and the color of grass and leaves. And regardless, my point was more that "emerald" is clearly a worse analogue than "sky" for this particular color.

ENGNR 5y ago
It’s a majorly weird thing. Knowing of a colour makes it obvious, but not having the concept embedded into your neurons means it isn’t split and out and distinguished when you experience the world. There are some African tribes with a very different knowledge of blue and green to us that makes the contrast very clear https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180419-the-words-that-change-the-colours-we-see https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180419-the-words-that-c...
yreg 5y ago
Different cultures distinguish colours into different classes. You can do an experiment where you give a person sheet of randomly colored pages and ask them to divide them into named stacks. A western civilisation member might do something like Red, Brown, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Pink, Violet, Grey and perhaps do something special with White/Black. (11 basic colours) A Russian will most likely split blue into light blue and dark blue. (12 basic colours) Himba people have 5 basic colours: Serandu – used to describe reds, browns, oranges and some yellows Dambu – includes a variety of greens, reds, beige and yellows Zuzu – used to described most dark colours, black, dark red, dark purple, dark blue, etc. Vapa – used for some yellows and white Buru – used to describe a collection of greens and blues
- apricot 5y ago
  When I was a kid, it was "obvious" to me that dark green and light green were two completely different colors, and it frustrated me to no end that people wouldn't agree with me, yet insist that pink and red were different colors.