The Significance Of Red Ink

[beak]

Colour and culture - an interesting problem!

 

Does one take on board the whole world's opinions about the meaning of red, or just stick to the cultural meanings of one's own society, thereby preserving them?

 

For me, red is...

Important - red letter days.

Joyous - Christmas.

Alarming - danger.

Threatening - hate mail.

 

The context matters, and tells you how to interpret red.

 

I would never use red ink for a letter - looks as though you are shouting, threatening, and out of control.

Edited April 2, 2012 by beak

[VillersCotterets]

Colour and culture - an interesting problem!

 

Culture or superstitions, magical thinking and belief in magical causality?

 

Perpetuating those false beliefs is encouraging ignorance and nonsense elevated as a system.

[beak]

Colour and culture - an interesting problem!

 

Culture or superstitions, magical thinking and belief in magical causality?

 

Perpetuating those false beliefs is encouraging ignorance and nonsense elevated as a system.

 

That's a bit cryptic for me, tonight.

 

Could it be pointing the finger of mysticism at me of all people, I wonder.

 

Cultural associations are just that, and are not in themselves superstitions, magical or nonsense.

 

Nonsense can be systematic, yet still be nonsense.

 

Cultural associations are not false, they just are.

 

Denying the existence of cultural associations is ignorance itself.

 

Or have I misunderstood entirely? - possibly because of tonight's splendid red (a claret).

[lapis]

I use red (Poppy Red) to encircle or underline anything I have written myself with another FP ink. Ditto but only sometimes on printed stuff not coming out of an Inkjet of mine. Otherwise yellow or green markers, rarely red.

 

Fred

[VillersCotterets]

 

Could it be pointing the finger of mysticism at me of all people, I wonder.

 

No, absolutely not.

 

I just underlined the fact that each time someone make a choice of ink based on false relationships like red = luck, red = bad luck, etc. they are perpetuating those false beliefs. It might be fun, but there is enough nonsense in the World as is. There is no need to repeat the ones we all know they are based on ignorance.

[P.A.R.]

Only for annotations - most reds are a bit hard on the eyes to be used for large amounts of text.

[Scrawler]

Colour and culture - an interesting problem!

 

Does one take on board the whole world's opinions about the meaning of red, or just stick to the cultural meanings of one's own society, thereby preserving them?

 

For me, red is...

Important - red letter days.

Joyous - Christmas.

Alarming - danger.

Threatening - hate mail.

 

The context matters, and tells you how to interpret red.

 

I would never use red ink for a letter - looks as though you are shouting, threatening, and out of control.

Do you really write your hate mail in red? I don't. I write love letters in shades of reds and pinks.

[Scrawler]

 

Could it be pointing the finger of mysticism at me of all people, I wonder.

 

No, absolutely not.

 

I just underlined the fact that each time someone make a choice of ink based on false relationships like red = luck, red = bad luck, etc. they are perpetuating those false beliefs. It might be fun, but there is enough nonsense in the World as is. There is no need to repeat the ones we all know they are based on ignorance.

It has never bothered me to politely observe the local superstitions, to avoid provoking offence. I would remove my shoes before entering certain superstition groups club houses, offer gifts of money in red envelopes, make the required hand movements, avoid speaking the magic numbers etc. Obviously the value of these exists in the mind only, but there are also times when it is polite, and even amusing to observe them. You cannot change a culture that you are outside of, by refusing to observe their superstitions, but you can provoke a response that is likely to be unhelpful to your cause. That is not to say that when you are within your own environment and being observed by superstitious people, that you should not do what is normal for you. When they are in your environment, then you have a duty to carry on as normal, and they have a duty to politely observe the norms of your cultural environment. I would no more wear a white lily to an English wedding, than I would wear black at a Chinese funeral.

[Uncle Red]

I like red pens and red ink. Simple reason: red is sexy.

Thank You Eric

[Bigeddie]

Colour and culture - an interesting problem!

 

Culture or superstitions, magical thinking and belief in magical causality?

 

Perpetuating those false beliefs is encouraging ignorance and nonsense elevated as a system.

 

I think that there are a lot of cultural artefacts (objects, actions, symbols, etc. which have a meaning beyond their natural value) which are not superstition. A countries flag would be an obvious one, a lot harder to get wrong. If I needed something to clean my windows with I probably wouldn't choose a national flag to do it, particularly where I knew there was a large community nearby from that country.

 

I work in an environment where I deal with a lot of international students, and I would like to be respectful of their cultural sensitivities. To this end I would prefer to be knowledgeable about them than ignorant and inadvertently cause offence.

 

I quite like red ink, although I tend to use it in private. It's a personal choice. I certainly don't think that I am promoting ignorance, perhaps quite the opposite.

[lapis]

I like red pens and red ink. Simple reason: red is sexy.

Sure don't know why nobody came up with this earlier. http://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu264/peli46/Exhibitionist-1.gif

[PENitent]

I have had problems with red inks staining converters and ink windows so I stay away from that particular color more for a physical reason than intellectual one.

[senzen]

I like the idea of writing with a blood red ink as a way of reminding myself to "write in the moment"... If Rouge Hematite continues acting up I'll start searching for one that flows more dependably, but with that same hue...

[mhosea]

I work in an environment where I deal with a lot of international students, and I would like to be respectful of their cultural sensitivities. To this end I would prefer to be knowledgeable about them than ignorant and inadvertently cause offence.

 

If your students are anything like my coworkers, they might think it just as well that you didn't concern yourself overmuch, especially given that you are (apparently) an inherently respectful person. In the US the traditional color for grading papers is red, so in that context in the US it can't be wrong. Having said that, if I were still a math professor, I'd be tempted to use Noodler's Habanero or Apache Sunset for grading.

[Russ]

I use red to mark up memoranda and other staff work needing correction. I also use Bay State Blue. [ POP, BABY, POP ! ! ! ] Easily visible. If staff need to feel good about themselves, they'll experience it when we produce outstanding written communication and superb operations. If red or Bay State retards self-esteem, I can refer them to our employee assistance program. [i'm such a stinker!] :ltcapd: :ltcapd: :ltcapd:

[Blade Runner]

A chief of surgery I knew used a blood red ink in a very broad nibbled pen. A few terse sentiences of his bold script would take up an entire page. It all fit his personality perfectly. He also wore a monocle!

[eilu]

I like using red ink, but my mother thinks it's "rude." Not sure exactly where she gets that, when I asked her for an explanation she just said that it was and that everyone knew that.

I've not heard of the red ink = death warrants/obituaries, as red is more associated with luck in Chinese. AFAIK, not all obituaries are printed in red... there's a whole system about whether you get a red one or a 'normal' black one (it was very confusing- we had to have my grandmother's obituary reprinted 3x because we and the printers kept getting it wrong) ... maybe I should ask my father about this.

(and yes, I am Chinese)

[FloridaMike]

 

I would never use red ink for a letter - looks as though you are shouting, threatening, and out of control.

 

Sometimes this is the desired effect. Death threats, extortion demands, ransom notes… Sheaffer Skeip Red is the perfect ink for these, in a broad or stub nib.

[eric47]

I would never use red ink for a letter - looks as though you are shouting, threatening, and out of control.

 

Sometimes this is the desired effect. Death threats, extortion demands, ransom notes…

 

Especially on Valentine's day.

[annettefhorn]

I like the idea of writing with a blood red ink as a way of reminding myself to "write in the moment"... If Rouge Hematite continues acting up I'll start searching for one that flows more dependably, but with that same hue...

 

Have you tried Noodler's Tiananmen or Antietam?

 

Anyone have other suggestions? I'm interested in this shade as well.