Solving arguments through the power of the internets!

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1309180]

Comments

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

My goodness, so far *everyone* likes red hair, but about 20% of respondents don't like freckles ... not sure what I expected, but I was surprised by such an overwhelming "yay" for red hair given the chav culture complaints about "gingers" ...

[pisica.livejournal.com]

I suspect chav culture is underrepresented on Andy's friends list. ;)

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

Until recently I thought the chav ginger thing was just kids & teenagers being nasty little buggers to other kids & teenagers.

That was until I got a heap of verbal abuse from (adult, mid-30s) chavs while walking down the road near my work wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. Bit sad really.

[e-halmac.livejournal.com]

My partner gets abuse from chav adults and kids alike, and he's in his late 20s. Very pathetic and odd.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

No andrewducker posting is complete without an XKCD comic

[channelpenguin.livejournal.com]

Or Andy's flist is just more Scottish than average? I don't recall any ginger-teasing when I was a kid - maybe cos it's about as common as any other hair colour.

[0olong.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure attacks on redheads are at least 95% motivated by jealousy.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Only 95%?

[0olong.livejournal.com]

I figure it's possible that up to about 5% are motivated by the fact the attacker saw someone else doing it so they thought it must be cool.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I rest my case.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Or

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Or indeed...

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Guilty as charged, m'lord.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

I must find these people who dislike freckles and red hair AND DESTROY THEM ALL!

[andrewducker]

No destroying is_not_well - who dislikes freckles because she has them...

[nmg.livejournal.com]

MY WRATH WILL BE SPARED FOR NOONE!!!

Unless they're cute, freckly and red-headed, obv.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

The purge is for the greater good.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

There's nothing in this world beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl.

[grapefruitzzz.livejournal.com]

Yay! Although I prefer them separately (ie: the brown-eyes-red-hair thing and OTOH my ace freckles).

[accordingly.livejournal.com]

I remember as a kid reading one of the Narnia books {I think Voyage of the Dawn Treader} and there was a sentence where one of the characters said "and she had freckles; poor thing" or something along those lines. To my poor wee freckled self it was horrid and the first time I realised freckles weren't good to some people. And has clearly stuck with me for years.

[woodpijn.livejournal.com]

That reminds me: I think it was Pippi Longstocking who saw an advert in a shop saying "Do you suffer from freckles?" She went in and told the shopkeeper "No!"
"What?"
"No, I don't suffer from freckles."
"But you're covered in them."
"Yes, but I don't suffer from them."

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Though as a natural redhead myself, I should point out any "Yay!" is purely for the opposite sex.

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

What's not to like about red hair? (Not biased at all, honest.)

I can live with my freckles & in general I don't think freckles are unattractive. There are some people who could do without them, or at least would look better with fewer: I'm thinking Patsy Palmer here.

[zz]

...assuming we're talking about girls.

[andrewducker]

You have a problem with redheaded men?

[zz]

it's much less likely to look good on men.

[giantbedsprings.livejournal.com]

You haven't seen the red-headed men that I've seen :-DDD

[andrewducker]

Oh - and are we seeing you tonight?

[zz]

signs point to yes.

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

Freckles = cute and fun
Red hair = utterly sexy
Both combined = *melts*

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

freckles on me? hate them. Freckles on other people? Fabulous.

[andrewducker]

Interesting. What do they do to you that they don't do to other people?

[heyokish.livejournal.com]

Being pale and dark haired, I always wanted that whole flawless alabaster thing. Which can't be pulled off when you have a face full of freckles.

also, side note: using wet plate collodion for portraits, man, freckles look extreme. Ever seen the Chuck Close daguerrotypes of Kate Moss?

[andrewducker]

Wow - those are amazing.

And yes, having expectations that are different to reality is always going to lead to self-hate :->

(Almost nobody I know likes their hair - if they have straight they want curly, and vice versa).

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I like my hair. I just wish I had more of it.

[giantbedsprings.livejournal.com]

8 people hate my freckles... :-(

[robhu.livejournal.com]

I love them at least 8 peoples worth.

[giantbedsprings.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Especially Christian girls with freckles...

[giantbedsprings.livejournal.com]

Oh, well I can't help on the christian thing. Gave that up when I was 15.

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Doh.

[the-locster.livejournal.com]

Courtesy of wiki-p:

The pale skin associated with red hair may be of advantage in far-northern climates where sunlight is scarce. Studies by Bodmer and Cavalli-Sforza (1976) hypothesized that lighter skin pigmentation prevents rickets in colder latitudes by encouraging higher levels of Vitamin D production and also allows the individual to retain heat better than someone with darker skin.[18] Rees (2004) suggested that the vividness and rarity of red hair may lead to its becoming desirable in a partner and therefore it could become more common through sexual selection.[19]

Harding et al. (2000) proposed that red hair was not the result of positive selection but rather occurs due to a lack of negative selection. In Africa, for example, red hair is selected against because high levels of sun would be harmful to fair skin. However, in Northern Europe this does not happen, so redheads come about through genetic drift.[15]