Ambiguity is something that I really respond to.
I like the complexity of it.
~ Robert Redford 
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Sugar is sweet
And so are you.
But wait!
Isn’t violet supposed to be purple? Why is it blue in this poem?
So, here’s the best answer in Italki.com chosen via voting:
A violet here is a type of flower, not a color.
It’s one of “viola” group.
Many of them are blue, but they come in other colors too.
The first two lines “Roses are red, violets are blue” were inspired by Edmund Spenser’s 16th century epic poem – The Faerie Queene, in a section describing a man viewing a fairy woman bathing herself on a summer’s day.
In the late 18th century, another Roses are Red rhyme was published in the nursery rhyme collection Gammer Gurton’s Garland, titled “The Valentine.”
The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love, and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast, and then I drew,
And fortune said it should be you.
Read More @ http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/roses-are-red-poems
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The word ‘purple’ comes from the Old English word purpul which derives from the Latin purpura. The first recorded use of the word ‘purple’ in English was in the year 975 AD.
Purple was one of the first colors used in prehistoric art.
The artists of Pech Merle cave and other Neolithic sites in France used sticks of manganese and hematite powder to draw and paint animals and the outlines of their own hands on the walls of their caves. These works have been dated to between 16,000 and 25,000 BC
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tyrian Purple , also known as royal purple, imperial purple or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye, which is a secretion produced by a certain species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, a type of rock snail by the name Murex.
The process of making the dye was long, difficult and expensive. Thousands of the tiny snails had to be found, their shells cracked, the snail removed.
Mountains of empty shells have been found at the ancient sites of Sidon and Tyre.
The snails were left to soak, then a tiny gland was removed and the juice extracted and put in a basin, which was placed in the sunlight. There a remarkable transformation took place.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the sunlight the juice turned white, then yellow-green, then green, then violet, then a red which turned darker and darker.
The process had to be stopped at exactly the right time to obtain the desired color, which could range from a bright crimson to a dark purple, the color of dried blood.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Purple was the color worn by Roman Emperors and magistrates, and later by Roman Catholic bishops. Since that time, purple has been commonly associated with royalty and piety.
In Europe, since the time of the Tyrian purple worn by Roman Emperors, purple has been the color most associated with royalty.
It is still used by the British Royal Family and other royalty in Europe as a ceremonial color on special occasions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Today only one nation in the world has purple or violet in its national flag; the Flag of Dominica, an island in the Caribbean, features a Sisserou parrot, a national symbol.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From the Middle English and old French violette, and from the Latin viola, the names of the violet flower. The first recorded use of violet as a color name in English was in 1370.
According to surveys in Europe and the United States, violet is the color most commonly associated with the extravagant, the individualist, ambiguity, the unconventional, and the artificial.
Violet is one of the oldest colors used by man.
Wikipedia: Manganese pigments were used in the neolithic paintings in the Lascaux cave, France.
Traces of very dark violet, made by grinding the mineral manganese, mixed with water or animal fat and then brushed on the cave wall or applied with the fingers, are found in the prehistoric cave art in Pech Merle, in France, dating back about twenty-five thousand years.
While violet was worn less frequently by Medieval and Renaissance kings and princes, it was worn by the professors of many of Europe’s new universities. Their robes were modeled after those of the clergy, and they often square violet caps and violet robes, or black robes with violet trim.
Wikipedia: Portrait of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, by Fyodor Rokotov.
In the 18th century, violet was a color worn by royalty, aristocrats and the wealthy, and by both men and women. Good-quality violet fabric was expensive, and beyond the reach of ordinary people.
In Europe and America, violet is not a popular color.
In a European survey, only three percent of men and women rated it as their favorite color, ranking it behind blue, green, red, black and yellow (in that order), and tied with orange.
Ten percent of respondents rated it their least favorite color; only brown, pink and gray were more unpopular.
In the traditional color wheel used by painters, violet and purple are both placed between red and blue.
Purple occupies the space closer to red, between crimson and violet. Violet is closer to blue, and is usually less intense and bright than purple.
While the two colors do look similar, from the point of view of optics there are important differences.
Violet is a spectral, or real color – it occupies its own place at the end of the spectrum of light, and it has its own wavelength (approximately 380–420 nm). There is no such thing as the “wavelength of purple light”; it only exists as a combination.
In color printing, purple is sometimes represented by the color magenta, or sometimes by mixing magenta with red or blue.
Surveys show that violet and purple are the colors most associated with ambiguity and ambivalence.
On a brighter note, despite the ambiguity of violet and purple; neckties in these colours became very popular at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, particularly among political and business leaders.
It combined the assertiveness and confidence of a red necktie with the sense of peace and cooperation of a blue necktie, and it went well with the blue business suit worn by most national and corporate leaders.
Read More @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_(color)
The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived. ~ Gilda Radner
Yes, these lovely colours of ambiguity, to be exact — purple, are the favourite colours of
this lovely soul, Fashion Mayann.
Dear YellowCable, if you are still wearing something blue while reading this post, we are happy to know that your favourite colour is still BLUE…YAY…hehe…
(Extracted From Wikipedia)
The Purple Honey creeper from South America does not appear to be purple at all.
How it received its name is a mystery.
My favourite colour is blue.
What is your favourite colour?
Do drop us a comment if you lovely souls out there would like to share with us your favourite colours.
Have a wonderful day ahead, always!
Till then,
Cheers & TTFN ~
Credits: Some lovely pictures found in this post are downloaded from FreeDigitalPhotos.net