Why is the sky blue? And is it a feminist issue?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I'm pondering.

I realize this is kind of a facetious thread to start, but apparently, that's all fine and dandy. Please, do spend your time and energy with detailed answers ... I'll just lie back and ignore.

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

It's proof God is a boy. Or a girl pre-current gender colouring.

Obviously

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I would reply, but I prefer to let several replies mount up.

I shall while away the time by constructing a straw man argument about rainbows. Evil, dirty rainbows.

[PetulaGordino]

do M R As say it's a feminist issue? apparently they get the deciding vote

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Well, naturally. They are the ones most affected by this feminism lark, petula.

[LineRunner]

That would be an ontological matter.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

You sound just like Father Jack in my head, there.

[BertieBotts]

Rainbows are what happen when rain-causing gayness meets sunshiney straightness. Such a beautiful abomination!

[Scarletohello]

Sometimes the sky is pink too...

[PetulaGordino]

sigh

there had to be some "what-about-the-pink-sky?" didn't there

[BertieBotts]

I bet it was a man who came up with the colour names. If a woman had discovered them we'd have fifty seven million colours, instead of seven. So limiting!

Did you know, in some cultures they don't recognise green as a separate colour of the rainbow. They see it as a sort of yellowy-blue. And in some other cultures they have an extra colour, so light blue and dark blue are considered totally separate shades. (This is actually true and I think quite fascinating).

[LineRunner]

I've had a drink, funnily enough.

[GilbertBlytheWouldGetIt]

I think it's to remind women of their place in society. Beneath the blue, manly sky, at which we can only gaze through the glass ceiling.

Changes username to "Female Name + Number" to appear convincingly female

[PetulaGordino]

bertie that is interesting, especially when you think about the prevalence of colour blindness in men compared to women

actually, that's a point. LRD your thread is exclusionary

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Are you saying I'm lying about the sky being blue?

From an ancient and most credible source: 'Le ciel, c'est bleu, et le MRA, c'est ennuyeux.'

Google translate: 'The sky is blue, foolish women.'

bertie - no, I didn't know, and that's so cool. I did know in Welsh they have different words for blue-green and blue-gray.

[LineRunner]

Is it that colours are culturally constructed or that the perception of colours is culturally constructed? And is how one answers that question itself culturally constructed?

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

I feel bullied by petula.

[specialsubject]

laws of physics.

but girls don't know about that.

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

It's like a perfect paradox, line.

(Though, damn, actually an interesting question. I believe we have proved LRD's first law: that the questions on a troll MRA thread in FWR will inevitably provoke discussion more interesting than anything the troll can say.)

[PetulaGordino]

the etymology of colour words is interesting

there wasn't a word for orange in english until oranges were discovered and they adapted the spanish word naranjas to describe the colour. i think it was just a type of yellow before that

[PetulaGordino]

actually some googling suggests that's not actually true

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

Sounds likely, though I can't think of it offhand!

Actually, I do wonder now, if women had named colours, would they be different? If we'd talk about more shades of red and green that discriminate against colour blind men?

I do know traffic lines are those particular shades (a very blue green and a bright red) because they don't confuse colour-blind people.

[LineRunner]

Beige is a shit word.

[PetulaGordino]

most of my male relatives are colour blind. it's actually quite entertaining for us all (peanut butter is green apparently). i am an actual bully

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

There is a paradox about the colour orange, which didn't used to be recognized as a distinct colour in English. I haven't got my paradoxes book to hand at the moment though.

Iirc, if you made a scale of paint sample from red to orange, you start with the red, then add a single drop of yellow paint. Obviously, diluted at that level the colour appears exactly the same as the red sample, next time you add 2 drops, again no different and so on until dozens of samples later the sheet is 100% definitely orange. But if you lay out all the colours in order at which point did red become orange? How can we definite orange and red as colours if it isn't obvious where red starts and orange ends?

Switchy-pink and blue via purple for answer to sky issue.

I trust that is totally clear.

[greenhill]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPK_coloring

For anyone genuinely interested as to why nitrogen appears as sky blue to our eyes...