Reply to post: Port and Starboard

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Mage Silver badge

Port and Starboard

Should really have been red and blue, but blue was an awkward shade to create a filter for, works poorer in fog and much less bright than green.

Port is red, because it is and is to the left facing towards the pointy bit because it was called Larboard in English for awhile, There may also have been a convention to use a steering oar on the starboard side and tie up to the pier in port on the port side, but I'm sceptical, The changing of larboard to port was obviously needed for shouted orders more than black -> deny.

Red and Green are still often used on machinery for stop and start, though often with differently shaped buttons. Red for an emergency stop may be a Western thing? As is red on gauges and meters for danger or empty. Possibly from typewriter ribbons. Though red, green and black ink was used for dip pens. Curiously commercial "fountain pens" with a nib rather than fine tube come after typewriters and large ballpoint pens for carton marking.

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