Blue

50 Shades of Blue

Venus, the Renaissance, salty language, and the color blue.

yellow

An Ephemeral Color

Why is "amarilla", the Spanish word for yellow so different from all other words for yellow?

math

An Etymology of Pie

Featuring shapes, colors, pastries, mathematicians, birds, and priests.

Tulips

Oh, Sušana!

A (hopefully) final newsletter about tulips.

Tulips

Tulips: the first 3000ish years

Tulips have a much longer and more illustrious history than we previously thought.

Tulips

Tulipmania was not irrational.

In February 1637, the Dutch futures market had a reset on all outstanding contracts for tulips. The prices had reportedly been growing an unprecedented rate, and there was risk of systemic collapse of defaulted contracts.

Tulips

King Midas - The Tulip's Forgotten Namesake

King Midas voted for Pan, and Apollo became so enraged, he turned Midas' ears into donkeys' ears. Midas was embarrassed and tried to hide up the ears by wearing some sort of head covering, which likely resembled the tulip in a closed state.

Tulips

Panic! in the Garden

This month on Colorphilia, each week, we will be focusing on a different aspect of tulips. This week, I share the likely original meaning of the flower, and how the etymology became so tortured, convoluted, and misunderstood.

Family

Endless Waves of Love

Some thoughts about my new niece's name.

Robin Hood

Was Robin Hood Jewish?

I began researching this week's newsletter with a simple question: did Robin Hood wear a red hat? It led me down an existential rabbit-hole, and led to a conclusion which posed a completely different, albeit outlandish and preposterous, question.

Seuss

A Doctor's Advice*

* Dr. Seuss published more than 60 books in his life, won an Academy Award, a Pulitzer, and several Primetime Emmys. He also has a medical school named after him.

Hanukkah

Waiting for some green.

People have always waited for some green during this holiday season.

Green

Green, Blue. Old, New.

Announcing The Green Issue

Holiday

The Dark Irony of Black Friday

"Black Friday" (the shopping day) may have inadvertedly borrowed its name from another Black Friday (November 22, 1963).

Turquoise

The True Meaning of Turkey

The Turkey (fowl) was named after the color of Turquoise (stone) whose name predated any connection to Türkiye (country).

Games

Playing with Color: Clue, Croquet, and Billiards

This also discusses scientists and color.

Witches

Melancholic Witches & Blue Devils

How the color blue became associated with depression.

Birds

Why is teal considered a shade of blue?

The color "teal" comes from the "teal" species of ducks.

Music

A new way to use color to understand music.

Using the musical chromatic scales to create beautiful chromatic scales of color.

Pomegranate

On Pomegranates, Color, and Symbolic Creativity

A Colorphilia Rosh Hashanah sermon

Orange

So, I was wrong about oranges.

Who knew that a simple word could be so complex.

Color

Musical Scales and Color Spectra

A reexamination of Newton's connection between the music and color.

Citrus

Misunderstanding Portuguese Shepherds

The art of being completely lost in translation of citrus fruits.

Shakespeare

Much a-blue about nothing

An incomplete newsletter about William Shakespeare and the color blue.

sunflowers

A Flower by Any Other Name Wouldn't Be As Golden

A follow-up to last week's newsletter about Vincent van Gogh and sunflowers.