http://www.pbs.org
Po is she, the naughty one without a man purse. Presumably, Cantonese-English bilingual.
According to a reliable color study report, red is a stimulating and appetizing color, which promotes vitality, strength, sexuality, willpower, and alertness. Red is helpful for the farsighted individuals to become ego-centered and also the opposites to draws back into their shells. When excessively used, it would produce exhaustion or even hostility, anger and violence.
The following are some inquisitive remarks that I picked up during my research:
- Po, the Red Teletubby got rank number 1 as the most lovable Teletubby of all. Although it may vary between age groups, gender and cultural background, young children often adore bright red and orange.
- Red is the most frequently used color for national flags, mostly due to its excellent visibility.
- An anti-communism slogan, "Better dead than red " was possibly coined by Joseph Goebbels.
- Matadors baiting the bulls with red cloth is actually unnecessarily as bulls are color-blind and would thus react to any colors. In fact, it is not the color but the movements of the matadors and the cloth that instigate the bulls. The red cloth is used probably for the matadors' or spectators' sakes.
- Red coloration is associated with aggression in many animals. Red is also used to recognize its own kind and to announce the mating season.
- Red is used in advertising to denote erotic feeling, for instance red lips and red cars. Nevertheless, the use of the color is less frequent than blue due to its obstructiveness.
- In German folklore, redheaded women were regarded as witches and whores and the poppy became the devil's flower. As such old sayings "Red hair, evil hair" and "Red beard - devil's way" exist, redheads and redbeards have long been misunderstood and discriminated against.
- A segment of The Malleus Maleficarum notes that redhead and green eyes were thought to be the sign of a witch, werewolf or vampire during the Middle Ages.
- According to Germanic religious iconography studies, Virgin Mary was not "naturally blond" as her hair was depicted as red in medieval paintings.
- No redheaded heroines are found in the works of Brothers’ Grimm.
- It is reported that the Prophet Muhammad used to dye his hair red using Henna. Red is still thought to be the preferred dyeing color in Islam.
- It is Scotland, not Ireland, that has the largest population of redheads in Europe whereas The U.S. ranks as number 1 in the world.
- After countless customer complaints, Tesco was forced to withdraw a Christmas card with the image of a redheaded child sitting on Santa's lap, and the words: "Santa loves all kids. Even ginger ones."
On several occasions in recent years, some researchers have tried to tackle such compelling question as whether red uniforms have anything to do with the success at sporting events or online games. As a result, some statics show that wearing red may subconsciously intimidate opponents and thus enhances the wearers’ odds of victory.
In Disney version of The Little Mermaid, the protagonist named Ariel also has red hair. Unlike in the original novel, she ends up neither dead nor bubbles. For a 16-year-old, she is an extremely tenacious and tough individual. She even finishes off Ursula, her opponent, while Eric, her rather wimpy prince charming, only helps for the last push. Sebastian, the crab, is another red character who always finds himself in troubles yet knows how to evade from them. In that sense, him having a strikingly crimson physique may not be a mere coincidence.
Although I have the slightest doubts about the reliability of some items I listed above, they helped me further exploring the intriguing mystery of the color in question. Consequently, it is undeniable that red has been delivering the implicit messages of vigor, danger and sensuality to us over centuries. Especially in the setting like sporting events, outsmarting our red conscience seems as challenging as actually meeting a real-deal vampire in a bar.
Ginger jokes: Tesco should stand by its Christmas card
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