but it IS red....

For communication that can even approach efficacy  we require a compromise in our insistence of understanding; a neutral ground of relative perception.  I know that when I refer to the firetruck as "red" it is anything but.  In actuality, I am perceiving not the firetruck itself but the reflection of the spectrum of light waves it will not absorb-in this case the lowest of the rainbow.   For the sake of expediency I acquiesce and call the truck red.  "When in Rome..." they say.  Rome will have burnt to the ground by the time we're done dancing around semantics.