The perception of color in society depends on many factors. The same color designation for different ethnic cultures can be associated with both a positive connotation and a negative one. The metaphorical and symbolic color designation, fixed in the linguistic consciousness of one people, will be incomprehensible to representatives of another without comment. The figurative meanings that are fixed to flowers and are reflected in folklore and in phraseological units may differ in different linguistic cultures.
Symbolism of red in the Russian cultural and historical tradition
In the Russian linguistic consciousness, there is a rather large semantic range associated with the adjective "red". It includes both positive and negative connotations, however, we can say that the positive symbolism of all shades of red in the Russian cultural and historical tradition still prevails. There was a period when “red” became ideologically aggressive enough, but at the moment it is completely rehabilitated: red is no longer politically biased.
In folklore, the epithet "red" was traditionally used when it came to characters young, beautiful and healthy. In fairy tales and epics, the expression “beautiful girl” was used as the equivalent of the modern one. Well done sometimes also was “red”, although the synonym “good” was used more often: a positive assessment was maintained. The same fellow as a positive character - “pretty one” - appeared in the village songs “in a red shirt”.
In magical rituals, the word “red” was also used to achieve a therapeutic effect in conspiracies and spells: the tradition to use amulets of exactly the red color has survived to this day, preserving the memory of the sacred functions of this color.
In connection with such good reputation resources of the adjective “red” it becomes clear why even in serious research works, in a number of examples of its use, a “red word” is also found in a positive sense.
Eloquence and good faith
The automatic transfer of all the positive that is associated with red to this phraseological turn is not entirely true. Since the time of Ancient Russia, oratory was primarily represented by homiletics - church rhetoric. It was then that the rhetorical ideal developed that later became characteristic of the entire Russian speech culture. In many ways, its formation was influenced by the Byzantine tradition, which, in turn, had its origin in ancient Greece. Starting with Socrates, the main criterion for exemplary speech began to be considered its truth. And jewelry, various kinds of rhetorical figures were perceived as an attempt to hide the truth. Beauty was only allowed into the speech of medieval rhetoricians when it manifested itself in expediency, functionality and strict harmony, and not in decoration and beauty.
It was from that time that it was customary to treat those who speak red. The now widespread term "eloquence" in the days of Yaroslav the Wise was considered almost abusive. Good faith, blessing, and salvation were welcomed. Each speech was supposed to be good, to educate, and not to impress with “weaving words”.
The literature of Ancient Russia also did not have a clear border between aesthetics and ethics, which later becomes consonant with the representations of art among representatives of Russian classics, in particular, Leo Tolstoy. The criterion of accessibility and general understanding of the rhetorical ideal for Tolstoy also became one of the main ones. He spoke sharply about all kinds of ornamental types of speech: “When people speak wisely, cunningly and redly, they either want to cheat or want to be famous. Such people do not need to be trusted, do not imitate them. ”
For medieval authors, the assessment of words spoken in front of any audience depended on whether these words evoked worthy and moral feelings in the audience or not.
The theme of laughter, embodying danger, has repeatedly met in Russian classics. Leonid Andreev combines this phenomenon with color - also with red: in his famous work of the same name, red laughter becomes a hyperbolization of the image of horror.
The "red word" was associated with the transfer of the physiological reaction of the body, which it could cause - a shame or embarrassment from something unworthy or indecent.
Laughing right is not sinful, over everything that seems funny
Modern phraseological dictionaries do not focus on the negative consequences that the “red word” can produce on listeners, emphasizing only that this is a witty, apt expression; bright expressive words. In Ancient Russia, whose culture was subordinate to the church, laughter was not only not welcomed, but associated with a diabolical beginning. Of course, those who allowed themselves jokes-jokes were condemned. Since then, the proverbs “For the sake of a red word will not regret the father”, “For the red word will not spare either the mother or the father” have spread. They are popular today.
Semantic-sensitive words by I. Ilf and E. Petrov in his famous novel “The Twelve Chairs”, characterizing one of the characters, Absalom Iznurenkov, a professional comedian, emphasize that he “never witted aimlessly for the sake of a red word”. This term in the novel refers to jokes for the sake of jokes.
In modern speech culture , less stringent rules apply that regulate the content of what you can and cannot laugh at, in what circumstances it is appropriate to do, and in which not. We can say that for the Russian communicative consciousness there is a principle that applies to the “red words”, which was formulated at the end of the 18th century by N. Karamzin in “Message to A. A. Plescheev”: “Laughing right is not a sin, over everything that seems ridiculous "