How do you tell a blind Man what the colour pink is?

[Rakhel]

I have heard that explenation before, but I have allways thought it was to one-dimentional.

And where is purple, or magenta, grey, khaki, ... on that scale?

Purple be ice, man. Grey is a bland taste of food, no flavor. Khaki, I think of sand.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

So a Rose explained as taste:

1) it is not bacon (check)

But bacon is nice and roses are nice so why isn't a rose bacon?

Bacon is nice and ice cream is nice, so why don't they go well together (for most people - Revoltingest probably sprinkles bacon bits on his sundaes)?

In terms of taste, the smell of the rose would be sweet, only slightly sour, and not bitter or salty at all.

 

[Rakhel]

White may be sugar, yellow is probably a lemon. Orange is an orange. which might be confusing
black...well...black may be the hardest. when we close our eyes we see nothing but black. So black may be absolute silence, a nothingness of everything.

 

[lunakilo]

Purple be ice, man. Grey is a bland taste of food, no flavor. Khaki, I think of sand.

I thought you wher trying to explain color to a blind man and not the smell of Khaki to an anosmic

 

[Madhuri]

Red is very hot , blue is very cold, green is warm.
Pink is not as hot as red but warmer than green.

But these are all subjective and culturally developed ideas*. It doesn't actually give a blind person a real idea of what the experience of colour or sight is.

*For example, blue flame is hotter than the yellow or red flame and green can represent feeling sick.

 

[Rakhel]

I thought you wher trying to explain color to a blind man and not the smell of Khaki to an anosmic

You gots to use your imagination.
Explaining color and smell to someone who can't can be difficult if they have never had that sense. As I am sure you are aware.
You want to know what a rose smells like, taste rosewater(yes it exists). sometimes a baby's bum smells like fruit, so, as gross as this sounds, think fruit when you think of baby's ****.

 

[Rakhel]

But these are all subjective and culturally developed ideas*. It doesn't actually give a blind person a real idea of what the experience of colour or sight is.

*For example, blue flame is hotter than the yellow or red flame and green can represent feeling sick.

Right, but you wouldn't want them to test the feel of the flame just to get a sense of how hot a blue flame feels in contrast with a red flame, would you?

 

[lunakilo]

Bacon is nice and ice cream is nice, so why don't they go well together (for most people - Revoltingest probably sprinkles bacon bits on his sundaes)?

In terms of taste, the smell of the rose would be sweet, only slightly sour, and not bitter or salty at all.

I have always imagined the smell of a rose as sweet and soft (probable because of how the petals feel when you touch them).

So what would be the smell-equivalent of the taste of sour milk?

 

[Revoltingest]

I have always imagined the smell of a rose as sweet and soft (probable because of how the petals feel when you touch them).

So what would be the smell-equivalent of the taste of sour milk?

Skunk.

 

[Madhuri]

Right, but you wouldn't want them to test the feel of the flame just to get a sense of how hot a blue flame feels in contrast with a red flame, would you?

No, but that isn't the point.
I just don't think you can help a blind person to imagine colour or a deaf person to imagine sound etc.

 

[lunakilo]

You want to know what a rose smells like, taste rosewater(yes it exists). sometimes a baby's bum smells like fruit, so, as gross as this sounds, think fruit when you think of baby's ****.

I have allways thought that it sounded strange when people said somthing smell like fruit.
I mean, a banana and an orange taste very differently, so how can there be a fruity smell?

 

[Rakhel]

No, but that isn't the point.
I just don't think you can help a blind person to imagine colour or a deaf person to imagine sound etc.

And I agree, but if push comes to shove, your imagination combined with theirs is the only way to answer this question.

 

[Rakhel]

I have allways thought that it sounded strange when people said somthing smell like fruit.
I mean, a banana and an orange taste very differently, so how can there be a fruity smell?

When mine smelt like that it smelt like blueberries.(maybe why I can't stand blueberries.)



Add: I just realized what I said.
:biglaugh:
I meant to say when my kid's poop smelled fruity...

 

[lunakilo]

As I have already said, I can't smell.

When I imagine what smell is I compare it to some sort of long range, x-ray-like sense of taste.
x-ray because you can smell things around corners and the like.

I may not know what a rose smell like, or bacon or skunk, but I think of smell as a spectrum just like light/colors or sound or touch.

I like some colors or combinations of colors, and disslike others or like some kinds of music or sounds like laughter and dislike other kinds of music or sounds like knife against plate or like the feeling of somone stroking my hair but hate when it itches or stings.

I imagine that smell is basically the same. some smells are pleasant and others are not. Different people may feel different about the same smell, just like they may feel differnet about different colors or sounds. But there is general agreement that smell of skunk is bad just like sound of knife against plate or nails against blackboard is bad. and smell of roses is good like the taste of vanilla icecream is good.

It is true that I have no idea of what a rose really smells like, and never will without a reference point.

But have I understood the concept of smell?
Can a blind mand understand the concept of pink?

And is understanding the concept of pink the same as understanding what pink is?

(I love this post, it makes no sense and yet it does )

 

[ninerbuff]

Okay.........I am so tempted to say something, but will refrain from getting warned.

 

[lunakilo]

When mine smelt like that it smelt like blueberries.(maybe why I can't stand blueberries.)



Add: I just realized what I said.
:biglaugh:
I meant to say when my kid's poop smelled fruity...

Right, so banana, orange and your kid's poop smells fruity.

Ok...

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I have allways thought that it sounded strange when people said somthing smell like fruit.
I mean, a banana and an orange taste very differently, so how can there be a fruity smell?

To get probably way too technical, the aromatic compounds in a large number of fruits are actually similar chemically:

Esters are responsible for the aroma of many fruits, including apples, pears, bananas, pineapples, and strawberries.http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/#cite_note-5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ester#Applications_and_occurrence

 

[England my lionheart]

That is usually peoples first reaction
And you ar both right and wrong at the same time.

If you by taste mean the sensory input you recieve when you eat, then yes.
Since you use all your senses when you eat, and the sensory input from the sense of smell is missing what I can sense and what you can sense is different.

BUT if you are talking about the SENSE of taste the no, smell and taste are two seperate senses.

It is said that when a person loses one sense another becomes heightened,blind people tuning Pianos for example,so perhaps you have a heightened sense of taste.

The reason why people often get confised I think, is beause they are often used at the same time.


So are there nice colors and bad colors?

No but there are light and dark,Its quite difficult even with colours to describe an aroma without a reference point.

 

[Engyo]

I guess you will have to refer to his other senses in order to explain it to him.

You can practice on me, I was born without a sense of smell.
Explain to me what a rose smells like.

It'd probably be easier to describe what the elephant pen at the zoo smells like................

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Actually, "pink is lighter than red" is pretty good.....better than my mirthful attempt above.
"Lighter" would be analogous to volume or intensity.

But how would he know what red is?