06 May 2005

What's That Got To Do With Anything?

I decided to go with a yellow theme. They say that yellow is a color you should never put in your kitchen because it induces hunger..."They" say a lot of things, but I'll take their word for it because I'm always hungry when I'm in my yellow kitchen...Interesting coincidence.

But because a panel of people we commonly refer to as "They" have been putting these ideas into the mainstream I decided I'd investigate to see if what "They" say is true about the color yellow. I of course consulted the most reliable resource at the fingertips of all of mankind, the Internet, and found some interesting facts about the meaning of colors....

Yellow (color of my kitchen)

  • In Egypt and Burma, yellow signifies mourning.
  • In Spain, executioners once wore yellow.
  • In tenth-century France, the doors of traitors and criminals were painted yellow.
  • Yellow is a symbol of jealousy and deceit.
  • In the Middle Ages, actors portraying the dead in a play wore yellow.

Red (color of my bedroom)

  • For the ancient Romans, a red flag was a signal for battle.
  • The ancient Egyptians considered themselves a red race and painted their bodies with red dye for emphasis.
  • In Russia, red means beautiful. The Bolsheviks used a red flag as their symbol when they overthrew the tsar in 1917. That is how red became the color of communism.(i.e. "The Reds")
  • In China, red is the color of good luck and is used as a holiday and wedding color. Chinese babies are given their names at a red-egg ceremony.
  • In Greece, eggs are dyed red for good luck at Easter time. (interesting similarity)

Blue

  • In China, blue is for little girls.
  • In Iran, blue is the color of mourning.
  • Blue stands for love, which is why a bride carries or wears something blue on her wedding day.
  • A room painted blue is said to be relaxing. (and it is!!)
  • A bluestocking used to be a scholarly or highly knowledgeable woman.
  • The pharaohs of ancient Egypt wore blue for protection against evil.

Black (The color universally associated with New York City Yuppies)

  • The ancient Egyptians and Romans used black for mourning, as do most Europeans and Americans today.
  • Black often stands for secrecy.
  • In China, black is for little boys.
  • The ancient Egyptians believed that black cats had divine powers. (where the superstition comes from about black cats crossing your path?)
  • Black lung is a coal miner's disease caused by the frequent inhaling of coal dust. (think it's the black lung Pop...)
  • Blackwash (as opposed to whitewash) is to uncover or bring out in the light. (not to be confused with BACKwash which is just icky)

Yellow Brick Road- Elton John

Sunrise-Simply Red

Misty Blue- Deborah Moore

Where Is the Love- Black Eyed Peas (for our Miss Mack)

I Wanna Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother's Heart-The White Stripes

Laugh- Deep Purple

Green River- CCR(still don't know what he says)

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