Blue speaks to everyone: it’s the color of sea and sky and deep ice. Most people have a color or colors that they don’t like, but almost everyone likes at least some shades of blue. Colors have different meanings in various cultures, but blue is more consistent than most – maybe that’s where we get the term, “true blue!” Here are some of the things blue means to people around the world.

Trust and Stability

Singer Steven Tyler said, “Blue is the closest color to truth,” and a lot of people would agree. This could have implications for your love life! Dating sites suggest men wear blue to impress a date –men in blue seem attractive, loyal, trustworthy, and secure. (To pique a date’s interest, they suggest women wear red.)

Slow Down, Be Cool

Blue is considered a “cool” color, compared with the warmth of redder shades, and our bodies seem to know it. Blue colors slow human metabolism and actually, physically calm us down – they help us “cool” it! This same calming effect makes blue the ideal color when you’re trying to relax or destress. It can also help you chill out and focus if you’re feeling scattered or jittery. One surprising effect of blue is that it suppresses appetite! People using blue plates eat less, while those using red plates tend to eat more.

Feeling Blue

Sometimes when we’re feeling low, we say we have the blues, and other cultures also have sad associations with the color blue. Not everyone associates blue with sadness, though. Internet writer A.M. wrote, “Blue is known as a ‘sad’ colour. But when I see the ocean, all my sorrow is washed away.”

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Blue is cool, and it’s cool that blue has similar meanings to people everywhere. French painter Raoul Dufy said, “Blue is the only color which maintains its own character in all its tones… it will always stay blue; whereas yellow is blackened in its shades, and fades away when lightened; red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another color – pink.” We won’t talk ‘til we’re blue in the face, or curse a blue streak, or quit in a blue funk. Instead, let’s be true blue friends. Shall we venture into the wild blue yonder together?