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The meaning of colours | ||
Tags: Colors/Colours | Meaning of words | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Kartof Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5065 days ago 391 posts - 550 votes  Speaks: English*, Bulgarian*, Spanish Studies: Danish | Message 9 of 16 13 October 2012 at 4:10am | IP Logged | |||||
I don't think it's so much archaic usage as it is referring to the specific type of press around the turn of the 20th century, more specifically the sensationalist press that developed as large newspaper companies would compete for readers with the use of unfair reporting. I haven't heard it used in the context of modern tabloid press. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Zimena Tetraglot Groupie Norway Joined 4591 days ago 75 posts - 146 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, German, Spanish Studies: Czech, Mandarin | Message 10 of 16 13 October 2012 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is quite funny, as the "opposite" color is used for the opposite meaning in Norwegian... at least if you're lenient in your interpretations :) "Rødstrømpe" ("red-stocking") means a feminist, and I'd say especially the sort of militant 1970s version of the word. I believe the same word is/was also used in Danish. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6492 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 11 of 16 14 October 2012 at 7:11am | IP Logged | |||||
I'd rather remember синий (blue) meaning drunk, синяк (black-eye, or literally blue-eye) as drunkard. And голубой (azure) meaning gay. The funny thing is most English-speaking Russians do not know the word azure and use blue for both, so if you say "I'm blue", you'll have to explain. Зелёный (green) means immature (like green apple), although red does'n mean mature. :) Чёрная зависть (lit. black envy) = strong (prolly mean) envy. Мне всё фиолетово (all is purple to me) = I don't give a ***t about anything. Жёлтый дом (yellow house) = mental hospital. Цвет детской неожиданности (baby's surprise color) = orange or brown. Белый и пушистый (white and furry) = someone obviously pretending to be innocent. Белыми нитками шито (sewn with white threads) = something obviously fake Красноглазый (red eyed) = Linux zealot (me xD) Красный (red) in older Russian meant beautiful, so words with this meaning are abundant, but have oldfashioned flavor: краснобай = phrasemaker красна девица = gorgeous girl Edited by Siberiano on 14 October 2012 at 7:17am 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| pingvin10 Groupie Hungary Joined 6277 days ago 68 posts - 114 votes Speaks: Hungarian* Studies: English, German, Spanish, Turkish | Message 12 of 16 14 October 2012 at 7:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Some Hungarian examples:
with yellow: sárga az irigységtől means very envious (lit.: yellow of envy) leissza magát a sárga földig means sy is very drunk (lit.: sy drinks himself to the yellow ground) with green: zöldfülű means imamture, naive, being a rookie in something (lit.: green-eared) zöld utat kap means get permission for something (lit.: get a green light) with purple: lila álmok means unrealistic ideas (lit.: purple dreams) the same expression with pink: rózsaszín felhők with white: ritka, mint a fehér holló means very rare (lit.: rare as a white raven) fehérnép means women (lit.: white people) with black: feketemunkás means a worker who doesn't report income (lit.: a black worker) fekete bárány means scapegoat (lit.: black sheep) Edited by pingvin10 on 14 October 2012 at 7:09pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4667 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 13 of 16 15 October 2012 at 4:36am | IP Logged | |||||
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In Croatian ZELEN and in Brazilian Portuguese (verde, verdinho, verdolengo, verdoengo) ''green'' means young or novice, inexperienced.
Black (Crn/negro) means sad or pessimistic. Edited by Medulin on 15 October 2012 at 4:41am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4771 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 14 of 16 15 October 2012 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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A few Japanese ones`:
赤の他人 (lit. red stranger) - complete stranger 黒幕 (lit. black curtain) - mastermind, power broker 黄色い声 (lit. yellow voice) - shrill voice [運命の]赤い糸 (lit. red string [of fate]) - based on the legend that lovers destined for each other are joined together by an invisible red string, often used more generally to denote the concept of destined love or the perceived omens of such a connection. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Monox D. I-Fly Senior Member Indonesia monoxdifly.iopc.us Joined 5134 days ago 762 posts - 664 votes Speaks: Indonesian* | Message 15 of 16 02 January 2016 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
In Indonesia, "chicken" equals "prostitute" only in college level. As such, "college chicken" means "college prostitute". 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alphathon Groupie Scotland Joined 4179 days ago 60 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Scottish Gaelic | Message 16 of 16 06 January 2016 at 6:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
This isn't quite the same thing, but some languages used to use colours to indicate cardinal directions. In Salvic languages white meant west, red meant south, black meant north; I'm not sure what the colour for east was. This is ultimately where the name of Belarus comes from: I believe it means White Rus’ and in English it used to be called "White Russia/Ruthenia". Similarly in the early middle ages the were red and white Croatias (red in modern Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina, white stretched across the borders between modern Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine) and red and white Serbias (red in modern Serbia, white in what later became Sorbia, and today is Saxony and southern Bavaria). I believe that concept is also the origin of the name of the Black Sea (and possibly the Red Sea), and the mediaeval Khanate the Golden Horde (where the "golden" means something like middle I think). On a slightly more related note, there's the German phrase gelb vor Neid, or "yellow with envy", while schwarzsehen (to see black) means to be pessimistic/cynical. Like in Russian blau (blue) can mean drunk (intoxicated). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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