Blue

 

 

Alexander Theroux (not to be confused with Paul Theroux, the travel writer) wrote two books about colors. They were titled “Primary Colors” and “Secondary Colors”. In these two books Theroux explores the colors blue, yellow, red, orange, purple and green. He lists his personal reaction to these colors and his memories of each of them, odd facts about them, literary references and fashion facts. Like for Blue Theroux says:

More languages lack a definitive word for blue than any other color.

Linguist Morris Swadesh developed a famous list of 100 words which if you knew in a language you could carry on a conversation in that language. His list includes white, black, red, yellow, and green but no blue.

All fishermen of Leigh-on-Sea in England wear blue sweaters.

Andrew Wyeth is the only painter of modern times who used ground up lapis lazuli to make blue pigment for his paintings.

Theroux has two or three thousand more items about blue. Below are two or three personal to me:

Blue was my Mother’s favorite color.

The most beautiful color I have ever seen is the shoal water blue of the sea over the reefs of the Bahamas as seen from a light plane.

Navy Blue die from new dungarees used to be sufficiently toxic as to cause a serious rash on the legs of “boots” unless washed before wearing.

Do you have any “blue” memories?