So, if they're going to have only three words for colors, those words will almost always be black, white and red.
On why red is always the third color
I have my own little theory which is as I was doing the red chapter I found that red is just this primal color that, you know, unsurprisingly means blood to many cultures. And so I think probably it's just that brightness, that vitality, that sort of absolutely necessary quality to that color that makes it assert itself.
On how pink wasn't always considered a color for girls
It's an interesting question because we tend to feel that that's a really immutable rule that must have been true forever, but in fact it's a very relatively recent thing that that has become ironclad — actually in the '70s.
But, earlier, it was a question simply of what goes with the child's complexion. So the rule of thumb was often if you have brown eyes a baby looks good in pink no matter what their gender is. Blue eyes — blue.
Sometimes there were other rules. So for example, in Catholic parts of Germany it was the fashion to dress your little girl in blue, because it was an homage to the Virgin Mary. And then the boys would be in pink, because that was a watered-down version of a sort of traditionally masculine color, red.
On living with synesthesia
Synesthesia is, as I describe it, a harmless brain quirk in which you associate some stimulus with a color. So, for me, letters and numbers always have the same color. ... Seven is a sort of pale butter yellow and four is kind of a hay color, kind of a tan.
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