Discussion about this post

User's avatar
LloydASchmid's avatar

The Japanese group blue and green together, as well. "Aoi", which we in the West have translated as "blue" also encompasses hues which we distinguish as "green." In fact the word "midori" which Westerners translate as "green" is of very recent origin, perhaps only a couple of centuries, or so. This would correspond to the beginnings of the most intense levels of cultural exchange with the West, starting with the Portugeuse. Japanese stoplights feature a light which has a distinctly bluish hue, very distinct from those in the West. And the color of those lights is referred to as "aoi" or "blue". As I understand, Chinese may do the same thing. China has had a profound cultural and linguistic influence on Japan from approximately one thousand five hundred years ago. Even though the Japanese language has origins distinct from Chinese, the Japanese adoption of Chinese vocabulary and the Chinese writing system (similar to French and German influences on English only more profound) may have also influenced the Japanese perception of blue and green. Whether this, then, should be understood as a cultural, psychological or physical manifestation is then left uncertain.

Expand full comment
Clare Goldsberry's avatar

Strangely enough (or perhaps not so strange) Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) that the military developed do not "see" the color blue, and when deployed in tests, anything blue is untouched by these weapons (i.e. blue vehicles, blue roofs, blue awnings on buildings, etc.) Rather interesting!

Expand full comment
5 more comments...

No posts