-- Posted by spartan09 at 7:41 pm on Oct. 21, 2008 Okay, so if a blind person came up to you and asked you what colors were, how would you describe them to the person? I have a few ideas, but I wanna see what everyone else would come up with on this one. -- Posted by noraa at 7:44 pm on Oct. 21, 2008 The color red is like the feeling of running on a cold day, how you're heated up inside after you go into the warm, how every part of your body attunes to the temperature and tingles. Red is the burst when you've touched heat, the feeling of a change to comfort. It is like the touch of fall leaves. Blue, blue is the sound of dipping gently, of closing your eyes, of singing softly. Blue is a breeze, blue is the letter P. Yellow is the elation you feel when you do something well. It is that feeling in your stomach, the way it drops when you remember something that makes you happy. It is a first--a first plum, a first love, a first kiss. -- Posted by MotoMojo at 12:38 pm on Oct. 24, 2008 Assuming the person is a competent adult, I'm sure they've had the concept of colors explained to them several times. Otherwise, I would explain to them the existence of light and its variations and contrasts which are perceived by people who aren't blind as a primary means of sensing their environment and directing their motions. -- Posted by matto at 10:51 pm on Oct. 24, 2008 plausibly off topic, but check this shit out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%27s_room -- Posted by whoami111 at 11:27 pm on Oct. 24, 2008 Red: Think of the fiery hot sun that burns your skin Blue: Think of a day when the sky is clear our when you look at the ocean during daytime. Yellow: Think of that strong powerful stream of piss going down your toilet. -- Posted by MadFishBomb at 2:07 am on Oct. 28, 2008 Red is heat, anger, a burning passion. Blue is plunging into the cold ocean on a bright summer's day. Yellow is lying on the beach, bright sun shining down on you, hot sand all around. Green is the smell of freshly cut grass, or the cool moist air of a rainforest. Orange is the smell and taste of citrus, or of orange-flavoured candy. Purple is curiosity, is mystery, is the smell of ladie's perfume and the touch of delicate silk. Grey is the rumble of thunder, a feeling of emptiness, and lonliness. -- Posted by Vordhosbn at 5:22 am on Oct. 28, 2008 wow, that was good nononora! reminds me of a scene in the movie Mask (no, not the one with jim carey). the protagonist teaches a blind girl to understand colour by handing her a warm pot - "this is red" and cool water "this is blue"... and so on. really beautiful scene. -- Posted by morik at 6:36 am on Oct. 28, 2008 hmmm, that question is a bit of a bugger. I am never satisfied with arguments from anology such as the ones where people link colours to emotions. "Red is like the heat of the sun on a hot day" I see the link but is it really LIKE that? A bit. Not much. Colours, like emotions, are not "things" so they cannot be compared strongly with "things" -- Posted by allsmiles at 8:56 am on Oct. 28, 2008 I'd describe it by explaining colour-opponent in the context of Lab colour space.That is how we perceive colours. -- Posted by cpjcjhsh at 11:20 am on Oct. 28, 2008 I would explain that it is electromagnetic radiation of a certain wavelength range. Then I would explain that it's like hearing, but with the fundamental difference that unlike how the perceived sound is nearly identical to that which is created at the source, general light is the source, and most materials around absorb certain wavelengths of light, and reflect others, and the reflected ones are like what we see.  It would be like having an assortment of frequencies bombard a wall, and only a few of those frequencies bounce off the wall and reach your ear; those frequencies would be characteristic of the wall's "colour".