Pink is a color often made by mixing red and white. This is sometimes described as being a light red, but it is more accurately a bright undersaturated red. Pink can also be used to describe other colors, including some more closely related to magenta than red, such as fuchsia and hot pink. There are many different shades of pink.

"Pink" was not a color word known to Shakespeare: it was invented in the 17th century to describe the light red flowers of pinks, flowering plants in the genus Dianthus, possibly named from the "pinked" edges of their petals appearing to have been cut with pinking shears.

Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions

• Pink is used to describe a range of colors, from shades of red to the more popularly used shades comprised of both red and purple.

• While the west typically refers to adult films as "blue movies", in Japan these films are often called "Pink Movies". Associated with females and generally carries a connotation of feminine, innocent, childlike, or with other pastels as spring or flowers. Cherry blossoms tend to show pink so this relation may be hinted at as well in anime. Pink also carries a connotation of sexuality in Japan. This may be because of pink's association with women, or from the pink hue of flesh or a blush or any number of such reasons.

• Pink is the color of the snooker ball which has a 6-point value.

• Pink can mean the scarlet coat worn in fox hunting (a.k.a. "riding to hounds"). One legend about the origin of this meaning refers to a tailor named Pink (or Pinke, or Pinque).

• The leader in the Giro d'Italia cycle race wears a pink jersey (maglia rosa); this reflects the distinctive pink-colored newsprint of the sponsoring Italian La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

• Similarly, the (London) Financial Times newspaper has, since 1893, used a distinctive salmon-pink color for its newsprint, mainly as a way to distinguish itself from competitors.

• In Catholicism, Pink symbolizes joy and happiness. It is used for the Third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Joy at the impending birth of Jesus. However, in Protestantism, the pink candle is sometimes lit on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Love.

• Pink, along with red is traditionally used on maps, for territory ruled by the British Empire or for members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

• Pink, being a 'watered-down' red, is sometimes used in a derogatory way to describe a watered-down socialist ('Pinko').

• Pink, is also the subject of a song by Aerosmith that emphasized sexual innuendo. Among other lines, one is "Pink is like red but not quite."

• In maps of political parties in Portugal, pink is used to represent the Socialist Party.

• The Staff, at Kandersteg International Scout Centre wear bright pink t-shirts and sweatshirts as uniform. This has given them the name Pinkies. The color is used because it was either Baden-Powell's favourite color, or because it is the only color not to currently appear in a National Flag, thus having a truly international staff team.

• "Think Pink!" is a song about fashion color trends, from Funny Face.

• In Power Rangers and Super Sentai, the Pink Ranger has always been a female. In Mirai Sentai Timeranger, later Americanized into Power Rangers Time Force, the Pink Ranger is the leader of the team (a position usually held by Red Rangers).

Pink in gender and sexuality

• The color pink is now associated with womanhood, just like blue is associated with boys and manhood. However, in 1918 "Infant's Department" (an industry publication) said the reverse was the "generally accepted rule", describing pink as "more decided and stronger" while blue was "more delicate and dainty". Pink continued to be used for both boys' and girls' clothing through the early 1960s, though it is becoming more and more associated with femininity. For example, Carrie from Sex and the City often wears pink dresses. Pink is also the signature color for Elle from the Legally Blonde movie series.

• The color pink also has an association with female genitalia. Used as a slang term to refer to female genitalia.

• Some feminists have decried the color pink, along with dresses and skirts, as something related to the pre-feminism "old-style female", which they view as a symbol of the oppression and limitations of that era. Although this trend persists, the current wave of feminism advocates choice, and many women have sought to reclaim aspects of the old-style female, including pink (and indeed dresses and skirts), as something to be proud of. For example, the Swedish radical feminist party Feminist Initiative uses pink as its colour.

• Pink, is also associated with gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, often in the form of a pink triangle. This symbolic usage stems from the symbols used by the Nazis to label their prisoners in the concentration camps ^*. Where Jews were forced to wear the familiar yellow stars of David, men imprisoned on accusations of homosexuality or same sex sexual activity were forced to wear a pink triangle. Nowadays, it is often worn with pride. A Dutch newsgroup about homosexuality is called nl.roze, roze being the Dutch word for pink. In Britain, Pink News is a leading gay newspaper and online news service. In business, 'the pink pound' or 'pink dollar' refers to the spending power of the GLBT community.

Hot pink

Hot pink, (also neon pink) is bold and intense, or as Elsa Schiaparelli, the first to use hot pink, called it "shocking pink". Its appearance is more akin to magenta than it is to traditional pink.

The term Hot Pink is often used as slang to describe female genitalia.

NHRA drag racer, Shirley Muldowney was famous for driving a hot pink dragster. On its way into the German language, hot pink lost the "hot" and is called only "pink", while the English color "pink" is referred to as "rosa".

See also

• List of colors
• Fuchsia
• The singer P!nk

External links

• Google Answers – Pink, Why Feminine?

Shades of pink

Rosa (Farbe) | Roza | Rosado | Vaaleanpunainen | Rose (couleur) | Bàn-dhearg | ורוד | Merah jambu | Rosa (colore) | ピンク | Roze | rosa | Rosa | Core de rosa | Розовый | Pink | Rosa (färg) | สีชมพู | Hồng (màu) | 粉红色