Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Banana?

written by Melody of Slurping Life

The color orange predisposes me to visions of fat, round pumpkins followed closely by thoughts of hag-like witches. Because of my prejudice against the color, I certainly have never worn orange clothing. Who wants to be viewed as a fat, orange hag. In my narrow vision the color orange has always been somewhat insipid and reserved only for the trimmings of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Thinking of myself as an open-minded person and not wanting to be considered narrow-minded, I did a little reading and contemplating about the color orange.

Being a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food, but did you know it stimulates appetite? Orange is also the color of fall and harvest. It's one of those conspiracy things. You go to Fall festivals where there are tons of greasy fried dough artery clogging look at me and gain weight delicious food, and you gorge yourself on a delicacy called funnel cake (not that I've done this). The conversation goes, "Look at the beautiful arrangement of fall flowers and pumpkins? The fall colors are so pretty and....oh honey, let's each get a funnel cake." Orange's fault.

Orange is a very visible color used to catch attention and highlight important elements of design. Orange is a very effective color for marketing. Think about toys. The packaging is a virtual palette of circus colors with orange leading the ploy to suck a child into a hypnotic trance of drooling desire. This trance is broken only by the stern parental voice calmly stating no, which leads to wails of "I WANT THAT TOY!" as the child commences head banging against the nearest firm surface followed by writhing in the aisle. Thereby, orange is a highly effective marketing tool to increase pharmaceutical sales for Prozac.

Veering away from the negative aspects of orange, it turns out orange is a very hot color highly accepted among young people. Orange increases the oxygen supply to the brain producing an invigorating effect while stimulating mental energy. Team orange with a vibrant shade of pink, and you are mentally transported back to the psychedelic decade of the sixties. Hmmmmm. Orange is a stimulant...viewing the color orange gives a mental high, or at the very least produces a caffeine-like buzz. When worn with a vibrant shade of pink, orange makes you look like a hippie. Feeling groovy...make love not war...peace...cool.

It appears I haven't been completely justified in shunning the color orange. But when I see orange, it's so dang hard to get visions of pumpkins out of my head. Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It invokes thoughts of sunshine and the tropics. Orange symbolizes enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation. Plus I found this. Some genius has developed a brief online quiz -What Color Orange Are You? Having come this far in my quest to vindicate orange I was not going to stop short. I completed the quiz. My results...I'm a true, bright orange...no variance in shade...

You Are Orange

Bright and intense, you embrace the world and all its opportunities. Change does not intimidate you, even if it's a complete life overhaul. You're a very real person. You aren't scared to show the world who you are.

Dare to find out...
What Color Orange Are You?

In light of my quiz results I'll bet you're asking, "Orange you glad you gave the color a chance?"

Melody embraces the thrills and chills of mothering four sons. She and her husband raised one son to the age of accountability, but the fun's not over. They adopted three more sons. The three younger boys with their zest for life promise to keep Melody busy until death...theirs or hers, whichever comes first. Visit Melody at Slurping Life.