Colors in culture - This can be the color of... #3. Red, or over 160 different cultural references about the color of rubies, passion, and Snow White's apples

After green and blue, the series Colors in culture is back, at last, with its third installment, dedicated to the diva of the color wheel...

Red doesn't need big introductions.

It's usually the first color people notice, because of its wavelength in the light spectrum, and it is one of the primary colors in both the RGB and the CMYK color models. Without red, there would be not that much you could do with colors, and the scene would look somehow... a little bit dull.

Technicalities aside, red is the most used (and sometimes abused) statement color.

It is associated with bold choices, it doesn't matter if we are talking about fashion, food, seduction, the military world, the symbols of religion worldwide, or... concepts like transgression and good luck.

[Useful thesaurus of Red shades,

with the proper English names,

by Ingrid Sundberg]

You want to get noticed? In most cases, red will do the trick for you.

That's one of the reasons why so many foods, flowers, and toys are red, and why companies like Kellogg's, Coca Cola, Virgin, LEGO, and Pinterest do their best for being an eye-catcher, both online and offline.

Well, my smile's pretty hard to miss, considering I'm a gal who likes her lipstick: the redder the better.

Dolly Parton

Even if the urban legend that Coca Cola "invented" Santa Claus' red look as we know it for marketing reasons related to its brand is... just a legend, red is a color designed to leave a durable impression.

Without further ado, here you can find a list of over 100 different cultural references: emotions, ideas, objects, places, etc. related to red as a color.

"Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?", or the one about 16 (yes, 16!) cool t-shirt slogans that can make people smile or think about life

Most of us like to think that very deep thoughts and life-changing ideas have to be long, complex and difficult to get. Otherwise, everyone would get them, right?

Well, sometimes.
And sometimes, it is really so simple.

A story is the expression of how and why life changes. 
A story begins with balance, then something throws life out of balance, then a story goes on to describe how balance is restored.  

Robert McKee

Sometimes, something tiny can make all the difference: a sentence or a question may be enough for creating a new mental landscape, for showing a new perspective to someone willing to get it and able to see it, for playing with a challenging and yet refreshing suggestion.
In other words, for providing someone with a very valuable piece of information or a moment of pure and precious serendipity.

Oddball brainteasers have been a big hype in the recruiting style of big internet companies for a while, and then they started to fade out. My favorite one?

"Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?"

Whole Foods Market meat cutter job candidate (Lexington-Fayette, KY)

The question sounds crazy, I know. (even more because now you are visualizing 100 duck-sized horses, and if you tell me that you don't, I won't believe you anyway).

And yet, how you will reply and react to it tells a lot about you.

Colors in culture - This can be the color of... #2. Blue, or over 100 different cultural references about the color of melancholy, sapphires, and water

You asked for it, you waited for it and... you got it, at last: after a long break here we are with the second blog post of the blog post series about colors and which kind of reference colors can carry in specific cultures.

Isn't it strange how life won't flow, like a river, but moves in jumps, as if it were held back by locks that are opened now and then to let it jump forwards in a kind of flood? 

Anita Desai

The first blog post of the series, dedicated to green, got over 1,200 views so far (thank you!!) and today I am absolutely glad to offer you a second one about a color loved and very used in most countries and cultures, or even one of the only truly "universal" ones, even if with some cultural twists.

[Useful thesaurus of Blue shades,

with the proper English names,
by Ingrid Sundberg]

Mermaids, angels, fairies, and other fantastic creatures can sometimes have blue hair or blue skin and this is one of the most recognizable signs that they are special, different, from another dimension or another planet.

That dreaded, absolutely useless question that people ask over and over again while thinking that they are doing small-talk - I

The girl with the long, wonderful brown hair - from now on, "she" - sits near me, and smiles.

I'm talking to someone else, and yet I can notice that she is listening to our conversation without actually being part of it - hello, privacy! - and without missing a single word of it. As soon as my interlocutor excuses himself for a minute, she's all in.

She is curious. She wants to be nice. She is hoping to get to know me better or to know me at all since so far she has no idea whatsoever about me, who I am and what I am doing at the venue...

[If I have to choose between bad small-talk and nonsense, 

I will go for nonsense every single time: 

Mad Hatter's tea party by John Tenniel]

And so she strikes up a conversation with a stranger and she does that in a way that, in her mind, should be pleasant and welcoming and safe, but... it is not the case.

She (smiling): Hi!

Me (smiling back): Hi!

S: How are you doing?

M: I'm great, thanks, how about you?

S: I'm ok, thanks. What's your name?

M: Azzurra. Nice to meet you. And yours?

S: My name is XY. Where are you from?

M (smiling, without replying): Why?

Colors in culture - This can be the color of... #1. Green, or 100 different cultural references about the color of hope and freshness

As already said in this post about cultural differences in color psychology, every color can evoke different ideas, feelings, and meanings, depending on the culture, the historical background, the pop-culture references of a specific place.

So here we are, with a new blog post series about colors... 

Usually, people wait for getting green light about a new project, a new activity, a new job. Let's start with green as well.

Again, green is the color of a lot of fantasy creatures like dragons, leprechauns, fairies. How about Shrek, the Grinch, the famous green eggs of Dr. Seuss, Green Lantern, the Green Goblin, and Hulk?

[Useful thesaurus of Green shades,

with the proper English names,
by Ingrid Sundberg]

Here you can find a list of 100 different cultural references: emotions, ideas, objects, places, etc. related to green as a color.

The color of nostalgia is... Cultural differences in color psychology, featuring green fairies, pink cakes, and kawaii hair

Months ago I read somewhere that Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was accustomed to write while using green ink instead of the more traditional black one, because to him green represented hope.

Probably it is not any longer possible to know with 100% certainty whether this piece of information is accurate or not, and yet it would be wonderful if it would be true.

Es tan corto el amor, y es tan largo el olvido.

(Love is so short, forgetting is so long)

Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada

by Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto

better known as Pablo Neruda [1904-1973]

Colors, both natural and artificial ones, are everywhere around us.

We speak and communicate through colors all the time, not only visually while choosing specific nuances for our clothes, accessories, cars, commodities, and goods, but also metaphorically through idiomatic expressions.

[Retro ink bottles by Iroshizuku in different colors...

just as stylish and elegant as expensive perfume bottles would be

Image source: Writer's Bloc]

Green is, for example, the color of hope, relax, peace, nature, harmony, luck, and youth.

And at the same time...

Five things I love about Berlin in the fall

As you already know, if you are a regular reader of this blog, I am deeply in love with Berlin.
And if this should be your first time here, welcome! My name is Azzurra and I am deeply in love with Berlin.

I consider the city amazing in every season, and yet in each season for different reasons. 

[Vegan hot chocolate: 

a  perfect treat prepared with cocoa, sugar, and...

either soy milk, or rice milk or almond milk or... just hot water]

Five things I love about Berlin in the fall:

#1. Vegan hot chocolate available almost everywhere, most of the times with Vegan cream as well;

#2. The colors of the trees and the leaves in parks and gardens;

#3. Walking on the streets and seeing the light reflecting on the buildings and seeing how it changes depending on what time is it;

False friends can be very tricky while trying to be classy, or the secret and exclusive club of colorful people

Ah, dezent! 

I got this one. No wait, maybe I didn't. 

In fact, dezent is one of those German words that, while speaking Italian as a native speaker, could be easily misunderstood. 

[Red total look: something not so usual in the streets of Berlin...

if it is not Fashion Week]

What does make dezent such a tricky word, you may ask.

Dezent is what in linguistics is called a 'false friend': a word in a foreign language that seems to be very similar to some words in your own language, but that actually has a completely different meaning. 

False friends can be very tricky while learning a new language while living abroad, while working in an international working environment, while translating a text.

A-Z-Z-U-R-R-A... with two Z and two R, bitte!

How do you like the color of the sky, the ocean, the sea?
I am glad that you like it, because that's my name.

My first name is Azzurra.

NOT Azzura, Azura, Azurra, Asura, Assura, Asurra, Azara, Atsura or whatever.

Not even Azurre or Azure, even if my name actually means "light-blue", that in French is "azur", in Spanish and Portuguese "azul" and in German either "azurblau" or "himmelblau" or "hellblau", depending on the translation.

[Light-blue, indeed.

If Bond can say "My name is Bond, James Bond",

I can say "My name is Blue, Light-blue"]

My first name is Azzurra.

While living in Berlin, I've discovered something weird and cute at the same time.

Google celebrates Austrian/Swedish architect Josef Frank with a colorful Doodle

Google Doodles are almost always very poetic and beautiful and it's a real pleasure to start my 'search engine journey' with something different and unexpected, now and then.

Today Google celebrates Austrian/Swedish architect Josef Frank's 125th birth anniversary [July 15th, 1885] with an explosion of shapes and colors, a Doodle realized by displaying some of the most beautiful creations from Frank.

[Google Doodle for July 15th, 2010
Josef Frank's 125th birth anniversary]

Just sing it! Sing what? But 'Azzurra', of course!

In Italian, my mother tongue, Azzurra is a very particular and unusual name.

It's absolutely not a biblical or otherwise religious one, it's definitely not a traditional one, it's not even featured in the calendar with all Catholic saints and literally means 'azure' or 'light-blue'. Or, to put it better, 'something female which color is light-blue'.
Yes, you got it right: my name is actually not even a proper name. It is an adjective instead, because Italian adjectives change on the basis of gender and number, like in many other Neo-Latin languages.

[Not only Paolo Conte and Adriano Celentano sing Azzurro...

there is also a peculiar cover 
by the famous German punk band Die toten Hosen]

All my life, I've been asked a lot of stupid questions about it and in particular, if my name does come from Adriano Celentano's song 'Azzurro' (written by Paolo Conte) or from Lucio Battisti's song 'Acqua azzurra, acqua chiara', both very popular in Italy and, I've lately discovered, in Germany too.

Today it's Saturday? Then it's Purple day, according to a fascinating Thai tradition

Sometimes we say we're having a black day, if we experience profound sadness or misfortune, the kind of unlucky day we will remember for a very long time.

And yet, days can be of so many colors!

Thanks to Cornell Robinson, I've discovered a tradition that I find very fascinating: in Thai culture, every day of the week is related to a specific color and to the corresponding God protector of that day.

[Soo purple: Shani, the celestial judge

Image credit: Hindu Rituals and Routines...]

Purple is the color for Saturday, for planet Saturn and for Shani, called 'celestial judge'.
Another color for Saturday is black, traditionally the one associated with death, funerals, and mourning in a vast number of cultures all around the world.