From Fiona Dumelow
Your article on perception states that 8 per cent of people have some degree of colour blindness (31 January, p 40). Just a few pages later, Alexandra Aikhenvald relates how she was surprised to come across the word for “purple” in Tariana, given that the language does not distinguish between green and blue.
I am intrigued now as to whether it is the language or the people that are colour-blind.
Incidentally, my husband and I have disagreed on more than one occasion over the colour aqua, which I say is blue-green: whenever I show him a sample of the colour he maintains it is either blue or green, never a mix.
Brighton, UK
