When she draws me I get a green dress because green is my favourite colour, when it's not light blue or a delicate lilac or a buttery yellow. I remember loving orange when I was very little and then choosing blue for many years. Most of my wardrobe is red and black. Sometimes I'm not sure what my favourite colour is.
Why do we have to choose a favourite colour? It's a bit like saying who you love best in the family. Doesn't it depend on the circumstances that particular moment and your mood? However, I do know that my mother has always favoured blue without wavering, in the almost 50 years I've known her to express a preference. And my sister likes purple best. Once she liked green but now it's definitely purple.
So maybe us women change our minds over the years, or even over the hours, but do men have favourite colours at all? Of course they do, or so I always thought until I had this conversation with DD as she was drawing pictures for her grandparents.
DD: What's Grandma's favourite colour?
Me: Blue.
DD: And what's Grandpa's favourite colour?
Me: Um, I don't know actually.
DD: You must know. What colour does he like?
Me: I think he likes whatever Grandma chooses.
I was shocked that I didn't know my own father's favourite colour. So then we started talking about the rest of the family - my brother, my brother-in-law, and three nephews. Nope. I didn't know any of their favourite colours. I could guess blue for my b-i-l as he supports Spurs and red for the boys who all support Arsenal, but that's not the same thing. My Dad doesn't support a football team.
Maybe women talk about their favourite colours more because they decorate homes and buy clothes in colours other than masculine neutrals. But do men even have a favourite colour?
I know it's not a matter of life and death but I can't stop thinking about the fact that no man has ever told me his favourite colour. Do you know your husband's or boyfriend's favourite colour? Do you know your Dad's? If you are a male reading this, do you have a favourite colour? Or have I lived a very sheltered existence and this is just one more thing that has passed me by?
An interesting thing, but I think it is not that men don't (or can't) have a favourite colour - more that they either don't talk much about this (what's to talk about? they would ask) or that they don't really pay attention to it - in other words, they don't consider it of any real importance. As to concrete examples: my brother has (and always had) a favourite colour (blue) and I have a (male) friend whose colour was always green. On the other hand, I seem to change my favourite colours over the years. But now I wonder: if men don't have favourite colours let's say -what would that mean/say really?
ReplyDeleteI think you're right Dianna, it's just not an issue worth discussing for them.
DeleteHmmm... interesting.
ReplyDeleteI don't they have a favourite colour as such, they certainly don't discuss it. I think they 'favour' colours, if you know what I mean, like buying similar colour shirts etc for themselves. Blue would be the main one in our house! Although my son says his favourite colour is red! But sometimes it's blue too!
xx Jazzy
Also true, they probbly favour certain colours but have never given it a second thought as to what their favourite colour is.
DeleteYour brother-in-laws favourite colour is blue - but I had to ask him! I have never known it to affect a decision he has made.
ReplyDeleteTheo used to like pink and silver when he was very little. When he realised pink was girlish he swapped to yellow and has since progressed to orange. Theo used to be very keen to know what everyone's favourite colour was, especially for birthday cards, but I never knew Grandpas. Nathan's favourite colour is red - good guess. Eli, no idea but I can walk round a shop and pick out the shirts/jumpers he would wear and reject based on colour and design so I obviously know his range.
I wonder if Grandpa even knows what his favourite colour is? LOL
DeleteInteresting observation - and no, I don't recall talking about colours with any male adults. With my son, we do talk colours. He used to like orange, but is now a red and black guy!
ReplyDeleteI'm coming to the conclusion that it's a girl thing.
DeleteI know my husbands but that is odd about colours and what he will wear, but other men, like my Dad - no idea!
ReplyDeleteHope you are well, Mich x
Thanks, we are well. I think men don't have the opportunity to choose colours as much as women - especially if their wife or mother is buying their clothes for them. They know what they like but once you know for shopping purposes, they don't have any need to discuss it ever.
DeleteGreat question- Having 4 males in the house, they all know my favorite colour -green-but I have little knowledge of theirs. If I buy them clothes, I choose colours of shirts based on what suits their skin tone. 2 have blue eyes,so blue really does flatter them. My 13 year old told me the other day he loves orange. That was news to me!
ReplyDeleteMy Dad loved purple. He had purple ties, purple striped shirts and purple ink in his pen! The color looked great with his silver hair.
I think men don't think about colors very often unless they are in a line of work that requires them to. I think it's a big relief for them to put on the same colour shirts and trousers everyday and not have to think about it at all.
Gilly
Congratulations Gilly. You are the first person to reply who actually knows what her father's favourite colour was. I Think maybe your dad was exceptional. :)
DeleteAren't most men colour blind?! I know my husbands colour palette is very dodgy at the best of times! x
ReplyDeleteI remember learning in Biology that women are very rarely colour blind and it's quite common in men. I don't know the statistics tbh.
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