Theory: We All Have the Same Favorite Color
If you listened to our most recent podcast on The Giver by Lois Lowery, we discussed (for a long portion) the ideas of colors and how people see them. One of the Buddies (D-Man) known for being a closed minded, uninquisitive, potential government plant, was pretty adamant that the theory, which I will explain below, was “the dumbest thing he’s ever heard”. So if you’re like D-man and are not an outside the box free thinker, move along.
First let’s establish that unlike objects or even feelings, we are not able to describe colors. We can say a color is bright or dull, but that is describing light not color. We can’t describe color, just like we can’t describe the taste of pure water, or put into words just how great the BBC podcast is. It’s just impossible to do.
At a very young age we are taught which colors are which. An orange is orange. Grass is green and so on. We learn this much like how we learn a language. When we’re young we point to an object/color and are told ‘that’s a fox’ and ‘that’s the color red’. Now here is the issue, how do we know that the color that we are associating with “red” is the same for each person? There is no way to describe what “red” looks like. We just have a word for it. Just like there are hundreds of words that are the same in different languages but mean different things (“car” = “because” in French). I believe that each person sees each color differently but associates the same word for it.
Like the Stroop effect – but for real. If we were to see behind someone else eyes this is what what we would see:
By the way I got a 15/15 on this test first try, nbd. But that may have more to do with my inability to read…
From this stemmed my theory that we all have the same favorite color(s), we just associate different words with them. The reason there is no definitive word association or descriptions with colors is because everyone sees them differently. We can describe all of our other senses taste, sounds, touch and smells, in detail. But sight is really only limited to bright or dark. Why is that? I believe that colors that are pleasing to your eyes are the exact same colors that are pleasing to someone else’s eyes they are just associating a different word for what they are seeing.
For example, if red is your favorite color and blue is my favorite, in reality our eyes are each seeing the same favorite colors, we just call them and see them differently.
You may be asking “but Buddy what about all the deeper meanings behind colors?”
This really opens up a whole can of worms, literally because you’re fishing. Let’s be honest, marketing and psychology are both scams. There is no evidence of any actual associate with these colors (I have no evidence that that there isn’t evidence if we’re being honest), in fact I would say the objects themselves create the association not the other way around. What we call “blue” is peaceful because we think of the sky and water, not because blue is somehow making us feel peaceful. I’ll prove it to you. I’ll tell you the first thoughts I think with each of these colors
Red (excitement) = Blood – damnit, alright this one is spot on, I mean when I get excited blood does start flowing and I recently started watching Dexter, I’ll give them this one. 1/1
Orange (confidence) = An Orange – I fucking hate when I get seeds in my oranges, biggest pet peeve. I have no confidence in oranges or the color orange, disagree. 1/2
Yellow (creativity) = Pee – that really pisses all over the whole association thing doesn’t it (I’ll see my way out). 1/3
Green (nature) = Greenlights – Shouts to Matthew McConaughey’s book, but where am I seeing greenlights? In a car, likely polluting/destroying nature. 1/4
Blue (trust) = Blue Jays – Not since Joe Carter have I trusted the Blue Jays. 1/5
Pink (compassion) = Pink Power Ranger Kimberly – This one works, I certainly had Cum-passion for the pink ranger (sorry I’ll actually leave now). 2/6
Purple (royalty) = Mace Windou’s (Samuel L Jackson) Lightsaber – shit another one that works, that lightsaber was badass. 3/7
Brown (dependable) = Poop – if there is anything that is not dependable, it’s my poop schedule big swing and miss with this color. 3/8
Black (formality) = Space – the description for black is formal and dramatic? Aren’t those 2 opposite words? I swear these colors are like reading horoscopes. 3/9
White (clean) = Dress Shirt – I always spill on my dress shirts, always. I’m not allowed to eat anything with a sauce near them. So no, not clean. 3/10
A 3 out of 10, not very good. I should know, I had this written on all of my English pop quizzes in high school.
Well this was supposed to be a short blog but I got rambling about nothingness per usual, but hopefully I convinced one of you that we all see different colors and thus we all actually have the same favorite colors.
Got some reasons why this theory is incorrect, let us know! Want to read other inane blogs or listen to our book club episodes, follow the links!
