Baby blue

Baby blue is a lighter shade of cyan and a shade of blue. It is known as a pastel color.

The first recorded use of "baby blue" as a color name in English was in 1892. [ Maerz and Paul "A Dictionary of Color" New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 190; Color Sample of Baby Blue: Page 93 Plate 35 Color Sample E2]

Baby blue in human culture

Gender
* In Western culture, the color baby blue is often associated with baby boys (and baby pink for baby girls), particularly in clothing and linen and shoes. This is a recent tradition, however, and until the 1940s the convention was exactly the opposite: pink was considered the appropriate for boys as the more masculine and "decided" while blue was the more delicate and dainty color and therefore appropriate for girls. [Merkin, Daphne. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/style/tmagazine/t_m_1180_1182_devendra_.html "Gender Trouble"] , "The New York Times Style Magazine", 12 March 2006, retrieved 10 December 2007.] [Orenstein, Peggy. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24princess.t.html "What's Wrong With Cinderella?"] , "The New York Times Magazine", 24 December 2006, retrieved 10 December 2007. Orenstein writes: "When colors were first introduced to the nursery in the early part of the 20th century, pink was considered the more masculine hue, a pastel version of red. Blue, with its intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancy and faithfulness, was thought to be dainty. Why or when that switched is not clear, but as late as the 1930s a significant percentage of adults in one national survey held to that split."]

Law Enforcement
*In the late 1960s, New Age philosopher Alan Watts, who lived in Sausalito, a suburb of San Francisco, suggested that police cars be painted baby blue and white instead of black and white. This proposal was implemented in San Francisco in the 1980s [ [http://public.fotki.com/copcardotcom/contributions_by_name/by_last_name_s_through_z/tony_sollecito/ts020.html Baby Blue police cars of the San Francisco Police Department in the 1980s:] ] (the police cars of the San Francisco Police Department have since been repainted the standard black and white). Watts also suggested that the police should wear baby blue uniforms (this was never implemented by the SFPD, apparently because the police wouldn't stand for it, even though other American locations do use light blue police uniforms). The idea behind using baby blue instead of black or dark blue to symbolize the police was, Watts suggested, that if the police were dressed in baby blue, they would be less likely to commit acts of police brutality.citation needed|date=May 2008

See also

* Baby pink
* List of colors

References