Traditional Roles For Various Ink Colors?

[haziz]

By traditional roles I mean for e.g. the use of blue for correspondence, red for marking student assignments etc.

What are the traditional roles of various ink colors?

What colors do people use for correspondence with loved ones vs official documents?

Was a color reserved for signing typed documents?

Do accountants really use red and black ink in ledgers (assume they have not gone digital)?

What is the traditional color for copy-editors when editing manuscripts?

By all means discuss any other uses you can think of!

[GabrielleDuVent]

Black and dark blue were the traditional colour for official documents, I think. I read somewhere that this was due to its permanence, and later on, fading prevention when photocopying. Same with signing.

 

Quite a few Italians used scented inks and papers when writing love letters, and J Herbin has carried on the tradition, along with De Atramentis. Unfortunately, their scents have long vanished since arriving to the addressee. They smell lovely, though.

 

The copy editor I know uses red for marking. The manuscript is written in black or blue, and then the writer re-edits in another colour (so if the writer used black, then the edit would be in blue, and vice versa).

[Moshe ben David]

Blue ink as opposed to black or black-blue has traditionally been used for signatures and hand written (and initialed) annotations on signatures to distinguish original documents from photocopies -- especially in offices where the photocopier was/is only black and white. There have even been -- and may still be -- pencils with a light blue lead so that notes could be made on a document -- e.g., a partner's approval initials -- which would not show up on photocopies.

 

As mentioned by others, red ink is a traditional use for editing.

[Randal6393]

The U. S. Navy has a long-standing tradition of prescribing black ink for officers, blue ink for department heads, green ink for the XO, and red ink for the Commanding Officer. Enlisted personnel use black ink for logbooks and pencil for first-drafts for messages. Every so often, I would make a note in purple or brown just to drive my department head crazy.

 

Enjoy,

[Charles Rice]

I seem to recall that in Germany - at least in the 30s - green ink was reserved for high government officials.

[Koyote]

An aside: Red ink for grading is such a cliché, and studies have shown that teachers using it tend to give lower marks than when using other colors.

 

I now use Waterman Purple for grading -- a happy color that still stands out on the page.

[gadgetjunky]

Around here green and purple have become popular for teachers at all levels to grade with so that papers don't end up 'a bloody red mess'.

[lapis]

Grey for an announcent of death (even if the evelope has a black margin around it). No joke at least here in Germany).

[dr saleem ali]

In Pakistan , Turquoise ink was used by high government officials (of certain grade) , but now ball-points almost totally have replaced the fps. My citizenship certificate has been signed by turqouise ink in 1976. Red for correction of answers ,and checking exam. papers ,and blue or black for writing notes. Red is also used to sign death sentence here.

Edited February 24, 2014 by dr saleem ali

[ac12]

In accounting in the "old days," for single column bookkeeping

• Black ink was used for the debit entries
• Red ink was used for the credit entries

When photo copier came into the business world, you could not tell black from red on the photo copy....ooops.

So it went to black in for everything.

In 2 column accounting

• Debit was in the left column
• Credit was in the right column

In 1 column accounting

• Debit was an unsigned positive number
• Credit was written as a signed negative number, examples: -123.50, <123.50>, (123.50)

After the transition, there probably were some accountants and bookkeepers who still wrote the credit entries in red ink, out of old habit.

 

I wish I talked to my uncle and mother about those days.

 

Today signing documents depends on the state, regulating bodies, company that records the document, etc.

• Some want BLUE for signatures (one reason is that you can easily see that it is not a photo copy where the signature would be black)
• Some want BLACK for signatures (one reason it that black photocopies well, the early photo copiers did not copy blue very well if at all)

[New_Falcon]

 

In accounting in the "old days," for single column bookkeeping

• Black ink was used for the debit entries
• Red ink was used for the credit entries

-[sNIPPED]-

 

 

That's interesting. I think in England it might have been the other way round and that's why the phrase in the red for being overdrawn or a negative balance was used. Also in the black was and is still used for having a positive balance.

[Just I]

Legend has it that in the mid 70's an editor or copy writer (can't remember which) for the New York times used to use green felt marker to make comments and corrections on writer's copy in a how shall I put it politely - a less than diplomatic way. Corrections at the paper came to be known as "Greenies".

[Inkling13]

Back in the olden days of the medical profession, patient's progress notes were in paper, with entries in ink. Red by nurses, green by pharmacists, and blue/black by physicians.

[ac12]

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That's interesting. I think in England it might have been the other way round and that's why the phrase in the red for being overdrawn or a negative balance was used. Also in the black was and is still used for having a positive balance.

 

Cash is an asset, positive value is shown as a debit.

If the cash balance is driven negative as in an overdrawn account, the negative value is shown as a credit.

 

My mothers brown Sheaffer was probably the red credit pen, and the black Eversharp or Parker 51 was probably the black debit pen.

 

I only know what little my mother and her friends have told me about inks.

There very well could be different methods in other countries.

[lapis]

 

 

That's interesting. I think in England it might have been the other way round and that's why the phrase in the red for being overdrawn or a negative balance was used. Also in the black was and is still used for having a positive balance.

Exactly the same here (on screen): red means minus = loss, black = win. There is the saying "They are now into the black" meaning theyr'e now strarting to get a win/sum of over zero. In my accounts on screen they sometimes use green instead of black. Sounds logical to me!

[fountainpagan]

In France, for official papers only black is accepted.

 

For letters, black or blue, brown / sepia will be accepted.

 

Portugal - writing someone with red is an insult.

[Paul Hurst]

When working at a bank in the 70's, I was told off for using green ink - apparently that was reserved for the auditors.

[ExcaliburZ]

An aside: Red ink for grading is such a cliché, and studies have shown that teachers using it tend to give lower marks than when using other colors.

I would guess that the people using red are more conservative and strict then those using another color and so are more critical in grading then the ink color making a difference.

[chris.hale]

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Cash is an asset, positive value is shown as a debit.

If the cash balance is driven negative as in an overdrawn account, the negative value is shown as a credit.

 

My mothers brown Sheaffer was probably the red credit pen, and the black Eversharp or Parker 51 was probably the black debit pen.

 

I only know what little my mother and her friends have told me about inks.

There very well could be different methods in other countries.

 

It's completely the opposite here, a positive cash value is a credit, a negative one is a debit.

[carlos.q]

I remember another thread with this theme but have not been able to find it. Apparently some years back, the ink color you used depended on your status in a military or industrial organization. As an example, green ink was used only by the top leaders.

Does anyone remember that thread?