1.5. COLOURFUL LANGUAGE

1.5. COLOURFUL LANGUAGE

1.5.1

Preparation

Answer the questions:

a. What problems do colour-blind people face?

b. What jobs require being able to distinguish colours?

c. Are there any advantages of black and white TV and photos over colour?

d. Can you imagine how life would be different if everything were in black and white?

1.5.2

Word Choice

Choose the right option and learn the words and expressions.

Shades of Meaning

When we decide to choose a colour for anything – whether it’s a T-shirt or a cover for a mobile phone – our brains have to work really hard. In order for us to 1) … a choice that feels right, the brain has to 2) … various bits of information.

There are various 3) … which make each of us like or dislike certain colours. Firstly, our brains consider 4) … associations. These are completely 5) … and are a result of our individual experiences. Particular colours call to 6) … certain memories which may be connected to a place, a person or an experience. For example, we may associate red with the 7) … of a fire or a 8) … childhood sweater. Blue and green may 9) … us of holidays and peaceful weekends in the country.

Secondly, there is evidence to show that different colours 10) … our nervous system in different ways. Red can actually 11) … the level of adrenaline in our body. This is why energetic people are drawn to red and also why sports cars are 12) … this colour. On the other 13) … , blues and greens are passive colours which have a relaxing 14) … on the nervous system and 15) … people who like to feel completely at ease.

1. a. keep

2. a. produce

3. a. methods

4. a. complete

5. a. personal

6. a. mind

7. a. heater

8. a. favourite

9. a. refer

10. a. cause

11. a. rise

12. a. traditionally

13. a. side

14. a. result

15. a. attract

b. do

b. process

b. ways

b. trusted

b. hidden

b. heart

b. warmth

b. popular

b. remember

b. create

b. lift

b. knowingly

b. hand

b. note

b. pull

c. set

c. run

c. factors

c. past

c. private

c. thought

c. burning

c. preferable

c. recall

c. affect

c. raise

c. fashionably

c. foot

c. message

c. gather

d. make

d. manufacture

d. aspects

d. forgotten

d. secret

d. feeling

d. temperature

d. likeable

d. remind

d. reflect

d. hold

d. recognizably

d. part

d. effect

d. favour

1.5.3

Game

You and your partner have been invited to attend a

dinner in aid of charity. It is not an occasion for a

dress, suit and an evening but you can’t go in jeans

and a T-shirt. Below, for each garment you are going

to wear, you are given a choice of four colours.

Choose an outfit for both of you which you think will

look attractive.

For him

Jacket:

Trousers:

Tie:

Shoes:

navy blue

royal blue

multi-coloured

reddish

white

khaki

yellow

buff

dark brown

fawn

bright orange

peach

crimson

sea green

emerald green

black

For her

Skirt:

Blouse:

Jacket:

Tights:

Shoes:

deep blue

salmon pink

olive green

flesh-coloured

rust-coloured

russet

tangerine

mauve

tan

violet

lavender

lilac

rose

bright pink

greeny-blue

pale blue

pearl

yellowish

turquoise

jet-black

B You and your partner are going to decorate two of the

rooms in a flat. From the alternatives below, choose

a colour scheme for each room.

The kitchen

Ceiling:

Walls:

Tiles:

Woodwork:

pure white

brick red

whitish

reddish-brown

grayish

sandy-coloured

pitch black

coffee-coloured

light green

steel blue

shocking pink

smoky-grey

amber

lemon

brownish

scarlet

The bedroom

Ceiling:	brilliant white	off-white	lime-green	sky blue
Walls:	copper	dazzling white	beige	chocolate
Woodwork:	purple	cream-coloured	bronze	straw-coloured
Carpet:	mottled blue and green	golden	maroon	charcoal grey
Curtains:	bottle green	silvery grey	indigo	gingery red

1.5.4

Speaking

Express your tastes and opinions.

Which of the following do you prefer? Why?

a. sunrise or sunset?

b. April or October?

c. pastel colours in rooms or strong, bright colours?

d. paintings by six- , eleven- or sixteen-year-old?

B What is your favourite colour – be as precise as you can –

for each of the items below?

a. cars

b. team sports kit

c. soap

d. personal writing paper

e. front doors

f. armchairs

g. sheets

h. handbags

i. swimming costumes

j. cups and plates

k. toothbrushes

l. ink in a felt-tip pen

1.5.5

Reading

Scan the text and say whether there is any truth in the

personality descriptions.

Your favourite colour can tell you a lot about your personality

If it is either brown, black, or blue, read 1-3; orange, green

or grey, read 4-6; red, white, pink, or yellow, read 7-10.

1. Want to give impression of mystery; sophisticated, dignified and impressive; always wearing this colour indicates protest.

2. Deliberation, introspection, conservatism, duty; like to be part of a group; good mixer, affectionate and faithful; a loyal friend; sometimes inflexible beliefs, worrier.

3. Solid, substantial, good worker; patient, conscientious, dutiful, dependable, responsible; not impulsive, obstinate in habits; don’t like change.

4. Frank, community-minded, hopeful, a little moralistic; too self-effacing, modest and patient thus easily exploited; too much of this colour indicates high level of anxiety.

5. Cautious, search for composure and peace, dedicated; may turn away from worldly things but have business ability, work too hard; compromise.

6. Colour of luxury and pleasure; flamboyant and fun-loving; inclined to dramatize; generally good-natured and popular; curious, maybe superficial.

7. Love and affection without passion; charming and gentle; a little indefinite; extreme fondness of this colour indicates desire for protection, special treatment and a sheltered life.

8. For those who are or want to be out-going; vigorous and impulsive, determined, optimistic; not very objective or aware of shortcomings.

9. Pure, innocent, naïve but lively and well-balanced personality; worn continuously suggests immaturity and idealism.

10. Happy, wise, imaginative, mentally adventurous; good in business, intellectual, clear thinker; can be rather stubborn and opinionated.

1.5.6

Discussion

Read the text below. Speak of how important colours

are to you. Discuss the following:

* colour and fashion

* why men and women wear different colours

* which colours seem more expensive than others

* how the colour of packaging influences our choice of products.

The colours we wear have a great influence on our psychophysical state. A colour is something that can influence our mood, or well being, and the way we are. This is because colours are partly responsible for the amount of light, which gets to our skin and the stimulation our skin derives from it. Food dyes are artificial colours used by food manufacturers to help increase sales of their products. Consumers tend to associate a bright colour with freshness, wholesomeness and tastiness. Laboratory experiments have shown that if a range of drinks is presented with identical flavours, most consumers will report that the more darkly coloured the drinks are, the stronger they appear to taste. Moreover, banana-flavoured drinks dyed red will be reported as having a strawberry flavour. The colour of packaging has significant effects on sales. In 1996 Pepsi began a multi-million dollar campaign and changed its brand colour to blue. One mobile phone group renamed itself Orange.

B Do you think that dyeing the colour of your hair is

just a personal matter? Read the text and answer

the questions.

The colour of your skin and hair is genetically determined, and basically depends on how much pigment, mainly melanin, you have. Red-haired people have an additional pigment and some non-scientific people would argue that this pigment also affects their character, making them irate and aggressive.

People tend to make associations based on hair colour. The media exaggerate this by focusing on certain stars and personalities whose hair in some way reflects the colour of the age or society that they live in. Marilyn Monroe, for example, was responsible for the myth that gentlemen prefer blondes, though Jackie Kennedy gave brunettes a short-lived supremacy. The media may also be responsible for making young blacks and Japanese, for example, want to change the colour of their hair.

* What associations with hair colour are made in our country?

Are some colours considered to be better than others?

* Would you ever consider dyeing the colour of your hair?

Why do women tend to dye their hair much more than men?

Are women influenced more than men by the media?

* Should races with particular hair characteristics try and change them (e.g. Afro-Americans straightening their hair, Japanese dyeing their hair), or are they denying or undermining their culture? And white people with dreadlocks?

1.5.7

Translation

Give a literary translation for the text below.

The driver got out and came around the front of the van to open the sliding side door for them. He wore a stylishly wrinkled white linen shirt, lightweight white ducks, and bright pink canvas shoes with green laces. Even with dreadlocks, and one silver earring, he managed to look as intellectual and dignified as he had ever been in a three-piece suit or in a police captain’s uniform, in the days when Phil had served under him in the West Los Angeles Division of the LAPD. His ink-black skin seemed even darker and glossier in the tropical heat of Miami than it had been in Los Angeles.

Phil sat up front with the driver, who was now known to his friends as Ronald – Ron for short – Truman. ‘Love the shoes,’ Phil said.

‘My daughter picked them out for me.’

‘Yeah, but you like ‘em.’

‘Can’t lie. They’re cool gear.’

‘You were half dancing, the way you came around the van, showing them off.’

Flashing a grin as he drove away from the hotel, Ron said, ‘You white men always envy our moves.’

Ron was speaking with a British accent so convincingly that Phil could close his eyes and see Big Ben. In the course of losing his Caribbean lilt, Ron had discovered a talent for accents and dialects. He was now their man of a thousand voices.

1.5.8

Interaction

Make up a dialogue about how the right choice of colours

and style of clothes can help look elegant and fashionable.

1.5.9

Idiom

Colours love to be used idiomatically. Cover the column

on the right and complete each sentence with the

appropriate colour.

1. He was … with envy as he watched his friend riding his new bike.	green
2. When his father told him later he couldn’t have a new bike, he went … with rage.	purple/white
3. I’m all … and … after being in that crowded underground train for half an hour.	black/blue
4. The student went as … as a beetroot when the lecturer gave her one of his famous … looks.	red black
5. You can be sure to find quite a few … movies in that … light district.	blue, red
6. I can’t really believe that Nero was as … as he is painted.	black
7. I felt sorry for those … recruits, getting Sergeant ‘Squash’em’ Sanders on their first day.	green
8. You’re …! You’re just afraid of what your wife will do to you if you do.	yellow
9. I feel so … when I see you, hand-in-hand with another man.	blue
10. My fingers were … with cold and I imagine my face was as … as a sheet.	blue white
11. I’ll need your resignation in … and … of course.	black, white
12. She came out of that … comedy about making pies from murder victims with her face a ghastly shade of … .	black green
13. You’ve got to stop looking at the world through … tinted spectacles, stop considering these matters in terms of … and …, and start realizing there’s a huge … area in between.	rose black white, grey
14. My father-in-law was desperately in debt after he had paid for your splendid … wedding.	white

B Each of the concepts on the left can be expressed with

a word or phrase that includes the colour given. Cover

the right-hand column and see if you think of each

idiom.

Black

1. a person who refuses his union’s instructions to strike	a blackleg
2. a member of the family who fails to live up to the other’s standards	a black sheep
3. illegitimate trading, perhaps of goods in short supply	the black market
4. a number of people under suspicion, or in danger of unfavourable treatment	a blacklist

Red

5. caught in the act, in the middle of a crime	caught red-handed
6. a special, very important occasion	a red-letter day
7. an excessive amount of bureaucracy	red-tape
8. a very special welcome for a very special guest	the red carpet

Blue

9. very, very rarely	once in a blue moon
10. suddenly and unexpectedly	out of the blue
11. those doing manual, not clerical or administrative work	blue-collar workers
12. someone of noble birth, an aristocrat	with blue blood

1.5.10

Check Yourself

Which colours go with which words to make

compounds or idioms? Sometimes there may

be more than one possibility. Explain their

meanings.

1. _______ squash

2. _______ fingers

3. scream ______ murder

4. ______ water rafting

5. ______ -belly

6. ______ elephant

7. ______ economy

8. ______ lie

9. ______-blooded

10. _____-collar workers

11. _________ passages

12. a bolt from the ______

13. _________ ice

14. double _____ line

15. see ______

16. ______ Pages

17. ______ area

18. _______ matter

19. the pot calling the kettle _____

20. in the _______

1.5.11

Story Making

Make up a short story with as many colour idioms as

possible.

1.5.12

Writing

Write a short essay about your attitude to colours.

Here are some prompts:

* Do you care much about the colours of your clothes, of the walls and furniture in your flat or classroom, etc.?

* What do you associate with your favourite colours?

* Do the colours of one’s clothes tell you anything about the person? What exactly?

* How do colours influence your mood?