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I was thinking about how the word 'fair' was used to describe positive things--and also a person of light skin and hair color. Now--I am NOT saying that people with light skin and hair color ARE "better"; but it has been evidenced in many ways that people perceive this quality as more desirable. My question is: how did light come to be associated with positives: the fair-haired boy; light on one's feet; a light cake, or biscuits; walk in the light; clothed in white occurs all through the Bible; even on TV shows, the good guy is nearly always dressed in lighter colors than other characters.
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Ah, but the light shines in the darkness! No darkness...no light!
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old hand
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old hand
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the good guy is nearly always
dressed in lighter colors than other characters.
Exceptions: Hopalong Cassidy(Sp?), Johnny Cash, Norman Swartzkopf (Ugh - Blackhead!), Arnold Swartzenegger, and, in Mel Brooks' movie, "Spaceballs, "May the Swartz be with you!"
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Bracing against the cold. Was it Prometheus who brought the fire? My mythology is ragged and torn, I'll admit. And there's the common experience of people who have died who speak of going into that tunnel of light, and heliotropes bending toward the light. We're drawn to light as moths to flame. That's one reason Frost's "November Guest" is interesting and amusing--see the poetry thread; Frost poses a character who finds beauty in the darkening days. I even heard a brief discussion about Joyce's use of Molly Bloom and the daughter Millie, the open, warm vowell in Molly over the yet undeveloped, more closed vowell in Millie, not as warmed and developed as Molly. Yesterday in music class I worked with some seven-year-olds in developing a warm tone quality and used many images of heat and light to help them move from a decidedly harsh, cold, brittle tone to a warm one that I wanted in the passage we'd been working on, not that a cold, brittle tone isn't a useful part of the auditory palate at times.
Now the sure test of a person's warmth is the buttercup blossom placed under the chin! Sure wouldn't want to use deadman's fingers for that test!
Butter regards,
WW
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old hand
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I am NOT saying that people with light skin and hair color ARE "better"; but it has been
evidenced in many ways that people perceive this quality as more desirable.
Ah, but Jackie, do you not remember the hauntingly lovely song, "Black Is The Color of My True Love's Hair?" How about you, WW?
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I wonder if hair that looked like gold was considered a favorable omen.
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Someone's bound to have a ready reference here for the sonnet in which the most illustrious bard, Dub Senior, writes of his love for one with dark hair and foul breath.... Wish I had it here...
When I wrote above about our attraction toward light, I wasn't really saying that we don't have attraction for the dark. Comes a raconteur before you and says, "Would ja' like to hear a story of light and sunshine and happiness, or one that's gots midnight, star-tossed lovers, liver and sech?"...You'd probably say, "Tell me the midnight 'un!" There's nothing quite so wonderful as driving through the fog in the night and suddenly seeing a buck leap over the front of your car--a demon buck quickly there, and quickly gone. And, heh, triboluminescence in the daylight just wouldn't be a big deal, even in the darkest of garderobes.
Best regards,
WordWitch
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Ah, but Jackie, do you not remember the hauntingly lovely song, "Black Is The Color of My True Love's Hair?"
Ah, I might have known. Yes, I know that song--I've sung it. Notice I did not say that light coloring is desired by all people at all times. But...think of the expression: blondes have more fun. I was also thinking that, among some of the black people I have known and/or read about, there have been expressions that indicate "lighter is better". Think of Hitler and his elevation of Aryans.
By the way--I am aware that I did not really ask a question about a word; it was more about a concept, and I nearly changed it to Miscellany. But...it is, after all, a serious question, so I left it here.
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i think light(ness) or light coloring being associated with good, is similar to right handed-ness being associated with good.
Natural blonds tend to darken with time (not all but most) so truly light blonde hair was sort of biological marker for youth.. fair skin, often meant blemish free-- again, one of those old fashioned biological markers for good health.. and the lighter skin, the more a blemish will show. so to be fair (lightly colored, and free of blemishes.. with light colored hair, was a sign of youth and good health.) just the thing you want in bride, since a young healthy woman will bear children easier..
until very recently, it was very hard to bleach hair.. but many vegetable will dye hair a darker tint, walnut oils, henna, and so on. so a woman getting on in age, could more easily hide her grey hair if she had brown or chestnut red hair.. but a blonde couldn't..
and with out clorox -- white, was a very hard color to get.. linen, wool and cotton, were not pure white.. but rather shades of beige. whiteness required effort..
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Dear WW: is this the sonnet you had in mind?
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak,--yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress when she walks, treads on the ground;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
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