24 facts about red

Why red? Well, the teen was planning to name her (soon to arrive) kitten Cocquelicot. Can you imagine calling it for dinner? Hell, I can't even say it. Microsoft Word can't spell it – not that that's saying much.

For the unenlightened, apparently cocquelicot is the colour of poppies. Call me simple, but, personally, I would have just named the beast Poppy (boy or not) – or Red (it's a cat  – it doesn't care.) But the revised name is Wilbur.

Whatever.

In any case, the cat got me thinking about red and this is what I came up with:

1. Red is the first color you lose sight of at twilight.

2. When two people say the same thing at the same time  – an omen that the two will have an argument  – Greeks say ‘piase kokkino’ (‘touch red’) and touch the closest thing that is red to undo the prophecy.

3. In Jamaica, a popular slang term for someone who is drunk is ‘red’.

4. Mars is called the ‘red planet’ because of the iron oxide that colours its surface.

5. Cochineal red, discovered by the Aztecs, was made using the female cochineal beetle. A kilo of water-soluble extract required about two million insects. For the Aztecs, the dye was considered more valuable than gold.

6. Bees can't see the color red, but they can see all other bright colors. Red flowers are usually pollinated by birds, butterflies, bats and wind, rather than bees.

7. According to feng shui, you should paint your front door red as a money magnet.

8. Studies show that red can increase your rate of respiration and raise your blood pressure.

9. Red also means ‘beautiful’ in Russian.

10. Murray Cook is the red Wiggle.

11. Red appears in many colourful phrases such as: paint the town red, see red, in the red, red-letter day, red-neck, red tape, red-eye flight, red-hot, not worth a red cent, caught red-handed, red-carpet treatment and better dead than red.

12. In England, red phone booths and red double decker buses are national icons. Standard British pillar boxes (mail boxes) have been painted red since 1874.

13. Red represents wrath, one of the seven deadly sins.

14. Islamic, Hindu, and Chinese brides traditionally wear red, while it is the color of mourning in South Africa.

15. Some animals associate red with dominance. For example, the mandrills with the reddest faces are the alpha males.

16. The colour red doesn't really make bulls angry; they are colourblind.

17. Psychological research has shown that men find women who are wearing red more attractive.

18. Josef Albers said: If one says 'Red' – the name of color – and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds. And one can be sure that all these reds will be very different. Shades of red include (but are not limited to): scarlet, crimson, vermillion, carmine, maroon, burgundy, ruby, rose, madder, rouge, brick, blood red, blush, fire engine red, cinnabar, russet, rust, Venetian red, flame, Indian red, tomato and cocquelicot.

19. The port (left) side of a ship carries a red navigation light to warn other vessels approaching from that side to change course to avoid a collision.

20. Some brands that use the word red include: Red Bull, Redheads, Red Cross, Red Herring and Redline Coaches.

21. If you wear red, you perform better in professional sport and multiplayer video games. Judges of tae kwon do favour competitors wearing red protective gear over blue.

22. When you drive a red car, the message you send is: vibrant, sexy, speedy, high-energy and dynamic. If your vehicle is a burgundy or blue-red, you give a similar message but in a less crass way. (I drive a red car but it is nearly 20 years old. Sexy grandma???)

23. Nena’s 99 Luftballons was re-recorded in English as 99 Red Balloons because the translation (99 balloons) didn’t have the right number of syllables for the beat.

24. In the late 16th century, the fat of a redheaded man was an essential ingredient for poison.

Image: maple