gray hair vs white hair

[emsr2d2]

I think Chinese share the same thought. We usually say his/her hair is white. We won’t say people’s (or eldely people's) hair is grey.

Interesting! Perhaps hair of different races goes a different colour.

By the way, dawnngcm, your signature line says "I fond of learning English!" You have missed out the verb after "I".

 

[5jj]

Interesting! Perhaps hair of different races goes a different colour.

I think it's more likely that the natural colour of certain things is seen different ways by different peoples. When I was in China I was surprised to discover that my 'black' tea was 'red' and the sun had changed from 'yellow' to 'red'.

 

[BobK]

Nationalities too. 'Indian Ink' becomes Chinese (encre de chine) when it crosses the channel (or 'sleeve' :-?;-))

b

 

[Tdol]

Interesting! Perhaps hair of different races goes a different colour.

Or perhaps there's a lot more dye used in Asia. ;-)

 

[BobK]

Ahhhhhh, but now you are talking about a horse of a different color! ;-)

I've borrowed this pun for my blog. Thanks ;-)

b

 

[Amigos4]

I've borrowed this pun for my blog. Thanks ;-)

b

Thanks for the credit on your blog, b! Nicely played by the Harmless Drudge! :up:

 

[JarekSteliga]

Is "hoary" ever used? In my language we have one word for white, another word for gray/grey and yet another to describe the colour of hair which loses its original pigmentation due to mature age for example.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is "hoary" ever used? In my language we have one word for white, another word for gray/grey and yet another to describe the colour of hair which loses its original pigmentation due to mature age for example.

I had never heard that usage before this thread. I had to look it up in an online dictionary. As you can see here, it's used as "his hoary head" rather than "hoary hair".

 

[JarekSteliga]

I had never heard that usage before this thread. I had to look it up in an online dictionary. As you can see here, it's used as "his hoary head" rather than "hoary hair".

If this is to say that "his hoary head" can have on it hair which is neither grey/gray nor white, then my dictionary, "PWN-OXFORD Dictionary" is actually incorrect!
Here's an entry under hoary:
hoary /'hrı/ adj wiekowy;1. [hair, person] siwy; [plant] pokryty białym meszkiem; hoary-headed, hoary-haired siwy, posiwiały
2. fig (problem) odwieczny; a hoary old joke stary dowcip, dowcip z długą brodą

where siwy, posiwiały means gray/grey or white, no less.

 

[JarekSteliga]

I think it's more likely that the natural colour of certain things is seen different ways by different peoples. When I was in China I was surprised to discover that my 'black' tea was 'red' and the sun had changed from 'yellow' to 'red'.

Sometimes things seem to get out of hand even within the same language. Here is a conversation between a small boy and his grandpa:

boy: Grandpa, why is this black currant red?
Grandpa: because it is... green

/In my language green is used not just to denote colour, but also to say that fruit is not ripe yet./

 

[Tdol]

I would deleted the space: blackcurrant. We use green the same way, though it doesn't work as well with blackcurrants as tomatoes and bananas. Then there are green bananas that aren't green and are ready to eat. :crazyeye:

 

[BobK]

...
boy: Grandpa, why is this black currant red?
Grandpa: because it is... green

/In my language green is used not just to denote colour, but also to say that fruit is not ripe yet./

...And redcurrants, when they are green, are a yellowy sort of white;-)

b

PS re 'hoary': Robert Browning used 'hoary' in a way that I think the dictionaries cited so far haven't listed.

And though the fields are rough with hoary dew
All will be well when noon-tide wakes anew.

Dew cannot be old, but in early April - the first line of that poem is 'Oh to be in England, now that April's there' - it can be frozen. This suggests that there is some idea of greyness in it.

Of frost, it [hoar] is recorded in O.E., perhaps expressing the resemblance of the white feathers of frost to an old man's beard. Used as an attribute of boundary stones in Anglo-Saxon, perhaps in reference to being gray with lichens, hence its appearance in place-names.

Read more here, which when it says 'P. Gmc. *haira (cf. O.N. harr "gray-haired, old" is getting a bit speculative. (The '*' means the word isn't attested in any document. In the age when Proto Germanic was spoken, the very notion of 'document' may have been unkown in that part of the world.)

b