h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Further Adventures in the Land of the Colourblind - A63242679
Author: Clive the flying ostrich: Thingite Warlord Emeritus. Amateur Polymaths play QI A22174526 - U113478

This is an elaborated version based on a recent journal I posted.

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It was suggested it might find a home in the Underguide.

Please let me know what you think.

Clive.

This is interesting stuff.

I keep taking those online tests for fun - with varying results. (Probably monitor-related.) I wanted to see if the cataract surgery had affected colour perception - it's supposed to improve it.

What would you say was the most annoying part of being colour-blind, apart from the silliness of other people?

Well cataracts will obscure incoming light so removing them presumably restores that, and ergo colour vision is restored to whatever it should be.

If I recall correctly, isn't it postulated Monet suffered from cataracts which is why the colouration of his garden changes as he ages.

What is the most annoying thing? Actually I think it probably is other people!

On the whole it's just a constant theme of occasionally realising your not seeing something as it ought to be. But it's not like I've ever been able to see it "properly" so I'm not missing something in that sense. Colourblindness can be acquired (though for instance brain and eye injury) but in my case it's genetic and congenital. I've been missing the red channel in my vision from the word "go!"

Thanks for your kind review Dmitri!

Currently, for me, it's not being able to tell whether my kitchen floor is dirty. It looks like a great Ishihara test, so if I drop some cat food on it I won't find it again

'Not seeing something as it ought to be' is not so much of a problem, it's more not seeing something where it should be visible. (Or, a few years ago, there was a huge billboard advert in France and I could definitely see something was written, but I couldn't see what unless I stood still and concentrated and almost deciphered every letter separately).

Mmmm. I've had that problem. I sometimes wonder about other people's sense of contrast.

I feel that way about a lot of websites. Oh, and Word documents where we track changes...some of the colour choices are really hard to read...

"not seeing things as they ought" the example I gave above (not in my journal) is tomato soup. It can't be anything but red! And yet sometimes I have to steel myself before consumption because it just looks ...wrong.

Gracious, this must be a factor in your eating habits than - having to consume off-looking foods. That could be very akward in social situations.

Ah yes, I remember from a few years ago:
"Will you be eating this ham?"
"Well, maybe."
"But, isn't it a bit greenish?"
"Er, is it?"

This reminds me of that great line in 'The Odd Couple':

'What's that in the fridge?'
'Either very new cheese or very old meat.'

My brother was anaemic (low iron count) for many years as a child. Mum put this down to his distaste for eating cooked meats. Personally I love 'em, but I can well imagine if you prime bit of beef looks grey and 'orrible how I'd want to avoid eating it too.

There are some foods I just can't abide the thought of based on colour. Beetroot for one. It looks like it's been dipped in pitch, just ink black.

I've never been much one for fruit, but I am now a consummate consumer of clementines to my immense pride and joy.

To understand this, we might think of black and white film.

I believe the 'blood' in Hitchcock's 'Psycho' was made of chocolate...

Our pet rabbit was called Chocolate.

I named her.

She was black.

I just read that very same piece of information today

About blood in 'psycho'.

Dark chocolate is referred to as 'chocolat noir' in French, so it makes sense

Not in this case. The breeder had shown us a brown rabbit called Chocolate. when I got back from camp (coincidentally on my birthday) and was shown the pet rabbit I assumed it was the same one.

chocolat noir, film noir - I get it.