Friday 22 April 2011

"Pink glasses"



A widespread phrase "pink glasses" has become current a long time ago not only for psychologists and literary critics, but also in everyday life. But sometimes, using the phrase “to look through pink glasses” in speech, not everyone understands its value. Yes, it is very good to have pink glasses in a combination to other accessories of female clothes. But in this case it is a problem of a phraseological unit that has certain lexical value.

So, how do dictionaries define the given combination of words? For example, we find in Ushakov's dictionary: "pink glasses" — the phraseological unit meaning illusory, naive perception of an objective reality, as a rule, imposed any ideology.
Probably this idiom has come to us from English language? In English it sounds like “to look at smth through rose-colored glasses”, maybe, our “to look at something through pink glasses” is taken from a foreign language?

Pink dreams - to look at everything through pink glasses or to see all in pink color or light (to idealize everything not to notice lacks).
Expression «he wears pink glasses» is usually applied to the person when it is meant that the mentioned person doesn't wish to notice negative factors in the actions, the surrounding validity and etc.

In the Cambridge dictionary of idioms we find “rose-colored glasses” or “rose-tinted glasses” and it is described in the following way: ”If someone thinks about something or looks at something through pink glasses, he considers it as more pleasant, than it actually is“. This expression is characteristic for the British, Australian and American variants of English language.

German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) mentioned it in “worldly wisdom Aphorisms”: ”… those who see everything in black color and is ready to the worst, are mistaken less often in the calculations, than people who look at life through pink glasses“.
In Russian literature - one of the first mentions of this expression – we find in Vitaly Bianki's fairy tales about animals. In a fairy tale the hare who has found pink glasses and for some time perceived world in very optimistic light. It continued till he met a wolf.
If to address to psychology of color and the characteristic of pink color the use of the given phrase as idealized representation of the validity becomes clear.

Pink color is the color of romanticism and optimism. It can seem that it is preferred by people who are not too responsible, who can shift the duties on shoulders of others … Pink color is a mix of red and white. There is a force, stability, and ease, winged sentiments in it. Courage, and tenderness, love - not with the concrete person but with life. Pink not only provokes affability, but also lowers malignancy and aggression. Pink color is passive, it calms and softens emotions.
Color therapy recommends pink to people who can hardly calm down. Whatever heavy your day is, when you see pink color, you won't manage to keep aggression.

Pink is the most passive of all colors, it provokes affability and reduces aggression, both internal, and external.
And there are "the pink glasses", allowing to see the world with a happy children's infantile sight.

7 comments:

  1. BRAVO!!! You've done a great research! Thank you so much! For sure, I have already heard the phrase before, yet,who'd have thought it had so many different shades of meaning! Amazing.
    I much liked your humour by saying : "Yes, it is very good to have pink glasses in a combination to other accessories of female clothes." Do you personally have a pair of pink-coloured glasses?

    But, seriously speaking you have given a really good explanation of why it is "pink" but not yellow, or green or purple glasses!
    I actually never knew that pink was used in psychotherapy. Very interesting!!! =)
    BTW, what made take up this research? is therea personal interest in living with rose-tinted (oh, I remember it!) glasses on?
    As for me, I tend to be rather naive at times, and trust people easily with my heart and hands open..But what I have realised within the last 5-7 years, that we should better take these pink glasses off when it comes to trusting people ..)

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  2. I don't have pink glasses but my female friends have)))
    as for the reason of taking up this research... after reading the post "Break your leg" I just remembered about this idiom and another english idiom "to look through blue glasses" and tried to find reasons of these "color idioms".

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  3. Oh please do not mix "Break a leg" with "break YOUR leg"? for it might..cost somebody a leg .))) lol. What is important in such catchphrases is to say them as they are in origine!
    Thank you, Yana, I am impressed to hear I've inspired you for the research!Hope to read more some time .)

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  4. Loves your post about the wee bairn and pink glasses.

    ReplyDelete
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