A Rose By Some Other Name

There's a long email in my inbox.

A smile playing on my lips.

A tear threatening to fall.

I'm not here to write about any of that. I'm here to randomly wonder. And hypothesize.

(Doing a lot of that lately!)

What is the difference between the colour WHITE and SILVER?

Yes, silver has that sparkly, shimmery element to it, but otherwise, they're almost similar right?

Yet, when we say white, in our minds, we picture a...paper, a wall, soft fluffy clouds,.... beautiful white things. But, when we say silver, at least to me, there's an element of ...something more involved. I sense Christmas, I see shimmer, I see glittery stars... I feel a bit of magic.

Ok, that last bit might be slightly exaggerated, but try it, close your eyes, think silver, and see what comes to your mind, I bet you would get at least an inkling of magic in your images.

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet"

Said Shakespeare.

That is true, I totally agree. 

Call a rose a pic and smell it, it would smell just as sweet.

Suddenly though, I'm wondering if a rose by any other name would have become so popular!

All over the world.

I'm pretty sure I've come across many flowers that have an aroma that is far sweeter than the rose, and I know that there are MANY MANY flowers that are much more beautiful than the rose.

So, what does a rose have that all of those prettier better smelling flowers don't have? 

The name: Rose.

The name that has been forever associated with love and romance, an emotional significance, and cliched in every way possible. That's what the other flowers don't have. 

So I think a rose, by any other name, would surely smell just as sweet, but would not have been half as popular.

So coming back to colours and words.

Words have a special ability, they can make the most drab and humdrum things sound exotic and spectacular.

For instance, if I described a girl with deep chocolatey eyes, and then a girl with brown eyes - Every characteristic, except the eye colour description same word for word, I'm certain the girl with chocolatey eyes would have looked better in your imagination.

I think that is the deal with white and silver. The association we've made with them over the ages. Agreed they're not the same, and do have a difference. Yet, they're not that different either. Our visual senses have associated silver with more ...interesting... shiny...sparkling things than those we have with white.

Visual tricks, just like with words.

Different part of our brain I guess.

This is just random wombling (wondering + rambling).

A stray 1 AM thought that I felt like exploring :)

All said, have a shimmery silvery day !!