Those are the [...] for the colors in the rainbow.

[kadioguy]

(On the English Language program Let's Talk in English)

Peter: I always forget. What are the colors of the rainbow?

Pauline: R G BIV.

Peter: R G BIV. That's not a color.

Pauline: Those are the [clutters] for the colors in the rainbow. R G BIV. R - red. G - green. And BIV is B for blue and V for Violet.

Peter: Oh, OK. Well, thanks. Anyway, let's go ahead and learn our key words for today. Here's Jack.
------------
I am not sure about the text in red. Could you help me with that?

 

[probus]

Those are the initials for the colors...

 

[kadioguy]

Those are the initials for the colors...

But could you hear that? :shock:

 

[probus]

No. You are right, I can't. She seems to say "cletters". I guess she stumbled over the word, and for some reason the producers left it in. Perhaps they do not have sufficient funds to do editing or retakes.

 

[jutfrank]

Two things:

1) What the hell is Pauline talking about? 'clutters'?!
2) What the hell is Pauline talking about? What happened to orange, yellow and indigo?! And why pronounce 'biv' like that if you're not going to include indigo?

The script should have gone something like this:

Pauline: Roy G. Biv.
Peter: That's not a color.
Pauline: No, that's a way to help you remember them. Each letter in the name is the initial of a color. ROYGBIV: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

 

[Tdol]

I think she forgot indigo, though she may not have filled the full spectrum.

 

[probus]

There does not seem to be universal agreement that indigo should be included. Newton's original list was red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. The Wikipedia article Visible Spectrum adheres to the Newton version.

Myself, I have always found Newton a tough guy to go up against :-D

 

[emsr2d2]

And for my part, the colours are as they appear in the song I Can Sing a Rainbow:

"Red and yellow and pink and green, orange and purple and blue."

 

[jutfrank]

Richard of York gave battle in vain.

Or without indigo: Rip off your great big vest.

(I made that last one up.)

 

[jutfrank]

Really, only your grandmother, Betty, is violent. (Everybody else's is a pacifist, honestly.)

 

[jutfrank]

Ratting on your gay brother is vindictive.

I'll stop now.

 

[kadioguy]

Hi, jutfrank

I don't really understand what you said from post #9~#11.

 

[Roman55]

The sentences are mnemonics. The first letter of each word is the first letter of a colour of the visible spectrum of light. The sentence Richard of York gave battle in vain corresponds to Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet, and it is the one that most British people know. The other ones were jutfrank having a bit of fun.

 

[Skrej]

Roy G. Biv is the classic American version, or at least it was when I was in school.

They Might Be Giants even made a song out of it. Then there's the Ballad of Roy G. Biv, complete with sheet music.