Why is 'gray hair' in spanish 'canas' and not 'cabello gris'?
Why isn't (gray hair) (cabello gris) instead of (canas)?
7 Answers
Because very early on, the tourist promoters and real state developers realized that they needed a really cool name for this hot beaches in the Dominican Republic, and they figured that "Punta White Hair" just wouldn't sound so good. So they invented this cute, short new word to define white hair, so they could say how this beach was as white as that, and they could make a heckuva lot of money.
Worked pretty well, too!
Why is is rubia instead of cabello amarillo?
Why is it pelirrojo instead of cabello rojo?
Why is it moreno instead of cabello castaño/negro?
Why is it cana instead of cabello gris/blanco?
Re: Salt-and-Pepper hair
Hola,
yo diría que es un cabello "canoso"
si tiene el cabello cenizo o color ceniza se puede entender que todo el cabello es gris, pero si es canoso tiene algunos blancos y otros negros
Why in English do we have blond and brunette for yellow-haired and brown-haired but no words for black-haired (at least that I know) and only red-headed for red-haired. Why do you almost never see tow-headed anymore to refer to a blond. Why not yellow-headed.
Languages are a constantly evolving shared set of rules on how to communicate, and the rules can be whatever the people who use that language agree to.
Even English and American English speakers, or Spanish and Mexican Spanish speakers, for example, don't agree fully on all the rules- hence "dialects" and "regional variation".
The point at which 2 sets of rules have drifted enough apart to be considered separate languages is another subject, but probably would stray too much from the topic.
Why is it "grey hair" in English and not "canas? Why two words???? I demand an answer!!!
I wonder what color addle-pated is.
Why is is rubia instead of cabello amarillo?
Why is it pelirrojo instead of cabello rojo?
Why is it morena instead of cabello castaño/nego?
Because blond hair is't yellow.
Because red hair isn't red.
Because nego cabello is pelón.
Because it means white hair, not gray hair.
