A short detour: I've wondering the same thing for a long time. Do other people see the world the same way I do? How about the colors? Maybe what I think is black, looks for someone else like green. Only we all have learned to name that specific shade "black". But is there away to be sure that every person sees the same color when they say "black", or "blue" or "red"?
Good thing we have an optometrist on board: Fiona, can you tell us something about it? Do you know for certain? (or Dev, can you clarify?)
BTW, I had a funny experience when we were studying: B-Day of a fellow student of my husband. It's about 20 years ago and the broad use of genetic research just began to be a topic for people. Anyway, someone made the comment "You'll see, one day they'll engineer chickens that lay green eggs." Whereupon the fellow student said: "Hunh? Eggs are green anyway."
The guy was colorblind (or partly colorblind, I don't remember) and he made it to his early twenties without someone ever telling him that eggs are either white or brown.
I'll be back to Ennis and Jack with my next post.
O.K brief clarification. One very accurate colour vision test is called the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test . You have to as the name suggests, place 100 discs of different hues in order. Any people who get the same result on this test, will have pretty identical colour vision.
The more common Colour test the Ishihara you have to find numbers hidden in a seemingly random pattern of dots.This test is much less accurate, and several people with different colour perception will score the same. All traits and problems which are carried on the X chromosome, the man will always have the condition as men only have one X chromosome. Women who have 2 X chromosomes would have to have the defective gene on both chromosomes to have the condition. If they only have it on one, they will be a carrier but not have the problem. Just another way in which the female of the species has a bit of an advantage.The same is true for any genetic problem carried on the X chromosomes.
O.K so you can wake up now, never ask an optometrist an eye question, she will bore you to death !!!!
So I guess the answer is, if you have a 100% score on the Farnsworth test and a friend also does then your colour vision will be pretty identical.
One more very interesting fact I think,is that we know that Monet must have had cataracts in later life. If you study his water lily paintings done in his early life, you can see they are all what are called cool colours, so we see lots of blues and violets.Later on in his life, the same paintings were much more towards the red, orange end of the colour spectrum.
The reason for this is that not only do cataracts blur your vision, they also turn the lens a slightly yellow colour, so patients lose a lot of the colours from the blue end of the spectrum and see things as being much more the warm red orange end.
I remember one lady I examined who had the cataract surgery done and when she came to me for a post op. check was mortified that her lovely white net curtains as they had appeared to her, were in fact a very yellow shade.!! Another woman asked her husband how long he had been wearing"that hideous tie" ever since you bought it for me dear !
O.K before I bore the whole town of Bettermost to tears I will finish. I did as you can maybe tell, love my occupation. !
BTW the most common colour vision problem is in the red green end of the spectrum, so no air traffic control job for anyone with this problem !!!
Back on eye contact, I love it, the most sensitive gauge of someones interest, even to the extent of pupils dilating if you are really interested in someone, or they are liying to you.
There are so many examples of eye contact in BBM both the subtle stolen glances, the deliberate not looking, the too shy and afraid of giving away what you really feel looks.
One of many sublime moments, is when Ennis turns his head round to face Jack and admits it's more than he has spoken in a year.By that single gesture, he is not just offering more information than he has before, he is also angling his whole body toward Jack.