While gazing into a shop window with my occasionally holy friend admiring a shirt he warned me that it was probably too aquamarine for me. Later on that day he told me a story involving a copper coloured tie he had.
I could never imagine using either of those words to describe the colour of something. I generally stick to five of the seven colours of the rainbow – I tend not to need indigo and violet. If it is a complicated variation I’ll just stick -ish on the end. The shirt was blue-ish and the tie brown-ish.
Richard of York would have had one hell of a battle in his world.
And then if you start looking at the names of paint colours the rainbow explodes into a million pieces. Lime Zest, Grecian Spa, Flamingo Fun, Buttercup Fool, Nervous Blue, could all end up on your living room wall if you so wished.
How the hell can blue be nervous for heaven’s sake? Perhaps the Flamingo was having a little too much fun with it? Who can tell.
Why is life so complicated?
I reckon Caterpillar Highway Yellow is the new black.
I’m partial to a bit of burnt sienna myself
I think we secretly like complications. Also, look at the plus side – it gives us things to blog about!
My own Grandmother was very fond of “Sky blue scarlet”
enda – we’ll all be wearing it within a month. yellow is the colour of intelligence I’ve heard – not sure about Caterpilar Highway Yellow though.
alan with the lovely legs – I’m trying to imagine what that might look like – I’m going for orangish
minge – never happier than when we’ve got something to moan about sure
grannymar – I wouldn’t ever know where to begin with that one…
Slightly off post but I had noticed recently that the descriptions of the shades of make up have changed dramatically since I was in my teens, I wore sparkle blue eye liner and heather blush lipstick, today my daughter covers her eyes in a shade called polyester bride and mauwi wowie.
Aqumarine and copper, both sound a bit too gay for a man conversation!
That’s what I thought – but then again I suppose we are both gay, so there you go. What the Samantha Fox is Mauwi Wowie supposed to be?
the formica countertops in our remodeled kitchen are “mouse dust.” UGH. and the green paint in our remodeled bathroom is called “inchworm.” UGH.
seems like if we’re going to make up elaborate names for what is basically speckled black, and lime green, we should try to avoid names that invoke pictures of creepy crawly things.
I’m going to start calling people Buttercup Fools. Nervous Blue? I don’t know about that one. I tend to look to Miles for my shades of blue. I used to like to ask people what color the sky was in their world (I was doing drugs then). I stopped when a friend answered “Puce.” That’s just wrong.
As if the names aren’t mysterious enough for those of us with normal sight, how on earth does someone who’s colour blind cope? Nervous whatsit and Grecian thingummy? Or give them numbers instead?
laurie – mouse dust is wrong beyond belief – urghhh
sassy – hehehe I guess it’s quite nice really – you buttercup fool you!
nick – well the names seem to be so arbitrary that you may as well be colour-blind – maybe numbers really are the way forward!
When choosing the name of a shade of paint, Dulux probably just randomly take a word from the Oxfgord English Dictionary and put a colour after it:
Siphon Blue
Perfect.
Oxfgord. Yeah, the Oxfgord Dictionary.
“mauwi wowie” is an eyeshadow shade, somewhere between metallic brown and army green.
“we are both gay” – then you should both be using much more descriptive language. Gay men have an eye for colour!
Alan you stole my favourite Crayola colour! Conor it’s a very nice browny-peachy colour. I obviously prefer to add -y to my colours.
dario – I bet you’re right – they probably have a big laugh about it
ellie – Alright that sounds like a challenge – I’m going to try and work mauwi wowie into a converstion this week
Beth – oohh yes -y works wonders too you can combine them beautifully – bluey – brownish
Browny-peachy
Read: Mustard
what colour are 20 pound notes? thats my favourite colour
Navy brown, like a sailor’s arse.
Everything I know about colour I learned from the Crayola 64-count crayon box.
All that other stuff in years of art classes was just a waste of time.
alan – mustard’s just dirty yellow isn’t it?
manuel – I like your style
primal – hehehe quite
sparrow – I haven’t held a crayon in my hands for an age – time to rectify this I reckon
mr savannah says things like…no, not THAT red..something less red and somehow i’m supposed to know my lipstick is too tarty to wear out to dinner…as if…
You are lucky you are not a lady and do not have to deal with the plethora of choices confronting you at every lipstick counter. I mean, why don’t you try choosing between Coffee Gleam, Nude Lustre, Gloss Rose, Pearl Plum and Raisin Glaze? It quite makes one’s head spin. It’s enough to make me stop buying lipstick (but not quite).
savannah – too tarty? no such thing surely
emma – nude lustre? The mind boggles – and not in a good way. Lipstick smells yucky too.
too tarty? no such thing surely
may i quote you?
Speaking as an artist typing this in a room full of tubs and things of paint, I couldn’t tell you what they’re called beyond the basic rainbow names.
Ok, I’ve just checked – that dark pinky mauvy thing is called Alizarin Crimson, and what I call Green is Phthalo Green which I can’t even pronounce. And of course the white isn’t just white.
House paint is a different matter however, and I was very pleased to paint my dining room American Cheese a few years back.
this post and the related comments gave me a laugh in a day that could only be described as sombre grey