red rubber bands?

[fflo]

Did the default color of rubber band used to be red, or am I having some kind of crazy Lisa moment?

If they did, when did they start being another color, and why?

Comments

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

When I was a little kid, the newspaper always came in either a red rubber band or a green rubber band, equally often. Red seemed to me slightly more like the default though, because I also saw red rubber bands in other contexts.

The first time I saw tan rubber bands was at the orthodontist's office. They would always but rubber bands on my braces, and those rubber bands were always tan, never red. However, I assumed this was specific to the medical/dental industry, because tan rubber bands match the color of teeth better than red ones.

It's true that during the 15 years or so since then, I've been increasingly seeing tan rubber bands more often than red or green ones in all contexts. Despite this, however, I never really mentally processed tan as being the new default. To me, red is still the default. It's just that, er, the default isn't very common anymore. :p

[fflo.livejournal.com]

You're so queer, G.! (I hate to give up the old-style sense of the word entirely---but I do mean it in a good way, too, almost always.)