why is the color blue, blue?

[marc49]

something I have always wonderd. why is blue, blue.. why can't the color blue be called red? who decided it was blue? and why did people accept his version of it?

[Towlie]

blue was decided by the great and wise towel, thus being his color, and people beleived him becuase he could whoop all they arses

[taranaki]

Originally posted by marc49
something I have always wonderd. why is blue, blue.. why can't the color blue be called red? who decided it was blue? and why did people accept his version of it?

the same applies to any word,I guess.....even "ghey"!!!

[RazorGTR]

Hurry someone wake him.

marc the Matrix has you.

[1989 DX R]

Why do people say right when something is correct, but not left when something is wrong?

[89ssgti]

Originally posted by 1989 DX R
Why do people say right when something is correct, but not left when something is wrong?

[Steel]

How do we know that what i see as "red" other people see as other colors? And in that, how do we know that what i percieve as "red" isnt actually EVERYONE'S favorite color, except that when they see leaves, for example, they look like my "red" but we call it green? and therefore tehy see green as my red, so, green is their favorite color, which is actully my red, but anything that is green to me, such as the afrementioned leaves, are green and not red? so it works like this for everyone?

[marc49]

Originally posted by Steel
How do we know that what i see as "red" other people see as other colors? And in that, how do we know that what i percieve as "red" isnt actually EVERYONE'S favorite color, except that when they see leaves, for example, they look like my "red" but we call it green? and therefore tehy see green as my red, so, green is their favorite color, which is actully my red, but anything that is green to me, such as the afrementioned leaves, are green and not red? so it works like this for everyone?

EXACTLY.. so is there really such a thing as being "color" blind? maybe they just have a different version of colors than the "normal" people do. LOL

[ragt20]

[speediva]

Language is irreversible, unchangable, and unrelatable.

There is nothing about the "being" of a desk that warranted the name. It simply needed a reference "noise" which eventually became the word "desk". However, if everyone on AF decided that they wanted to call every desk a bloob, then it would be a bloob because it was agreed upon by 2+ people.

[fritz_269]

The question "Why is blue, blue?" is not a question about language or the origin of the word. The question is about what actually appears inside your little head when you look at something that we call blue. What exactly is the nature of blueness?

Since your parents pointed at something they thought was blue, and said "that's blue" to you - you now call that color blue - in fact, we've all agreed to call that particular wavelength of light "blue". But there is no obvious way to tell if my internal perception of that color is the same as your internal perception of that color. What looks blue inside my head might look red to me if I saw it in YOUR head! But we both still call it blue because that's our external agreement.

It's a bit hard to explain. In philosophical circles, it's called the Epistomological Problem of Perception. Basically, it comes down to the awareness that we have absolutely no idea what is going on in anybody's mind but our own.

Here's a long bit about it:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/perception-episprob/

Try looking up the word "solipsism" too. Use it on your friends.
:smoker2:

[Steel]

Exactly!

[YogsVR4]

While it is possible that blue to someone may appear to green to someone else but they call it the same thing because thats what they were tought.

However, blue is a finite wavelength. Like all colors, it has a definative visual spectrum. Since humans are made of basically the same genetic material, the odds are that we all see the same colors the same way.

[fritz_269]

Originally posted by YogsVR4
While it is possible that blue to someone may appear to green to someone else but they call it the same thing because thats what they were tought.

However, blue is a finite wavelength. Like all colors, it has a definative visual spectrum. Since humans are made of basically the same genetic material, the odds are that we all see the same colors the same way.

Valid point. Not proveable, but valid. Although I really doubt my perception is exactly your perception since we actually do have slightly different brain physiology; I would tend to agree that they're probably close, if for no other reason than Occam's razor. But again, we'll never know for sure.

But even if it were absolutely true that everyone's perception of blue was exactly your perception of blue, the major question still remains: Why does blue appear, well, blue? Why don't we all see some other color at the 450 nanometer wavelength of light? What is the nature of blueness?
:smoker2:

[YogsVR4]

Well, all perceptions could be varied the same way we see colors. Sound, touch, taste. I am not sure if your shooting to tell where the word blue originated from or if you're going down the "why do we ask why" reasoning.