So I didn't post a "Word of the Week" yesterday, but I promise this will make up for it (not that anyone necessarily cared, anyways).
I was filling out the crossword at work today (yes, I know, I'm an old man), and ran across a couple strange colour names in the answers to the puzzle. It got me thinking about weird colour names, and I realized that there are alot more out there than I first thought. Now, these are NOT crayola (or other art suppliers) names for colours--these are honest-to-goodness, for reals colour names. Like for colours that we see every day. Weird, right?
Some of them may be familiar, but I'm willing to bet that some of them are brand-new to you... and that if you follow the links, you'll find even more that you had no clue existed.
CYAN-- (pronounced "sigh-an") Okay, so we're all familiar with this one. It's in our printers. But what happened to just calling it light blue? What made it so special that it needed to be called something new?
MAGENTA-- (pronounced "ma-jen-ta") Again, in our printers. And again, why so special that it could be called "light red", or "dark pink"? And what's with this... your printer cartridges come in black, cyan, magenta, and (wait for it) yellow. Why does yellow not get a fancy name?
KHAKI-- (pronounced "ka-ki") We're all fairly sure that this is a shade of tan... but what shade is it? And are khakis (the pants) really khaki (considering their shades vary), or are they tan? Or beige? Or something else entirely?
TAUPE-- (pronounced "tope") Here's one that I was always wrong on. I assumed it was some sort of tan colour as well. Apparently, though, it's a grey, with a brown tinge to it. Kinda looks like something I'd like to do siding or trim for a house in...
ECRU-- (pronounced "ekk-ru") This one was straight out of my crossword. What on earth is it? Well, apparently, "In the 1930s and before, ecru was considered to be the same colour as the colour a synonym or alias for beige), but since the 1950s ecru and beige have been regarded as two different colours." (source) Huh. We needed a new one there, for sure.
MAUVE-- (pronounced "mowve") A pale lavender/lilac colour.... which I always thought could just be called "light purple"...
PUCE-- (pronounced "pyuce") Sounds appetizing, doesn't it? It's apparently a light reddish/purplish brown... so about the same colour as the first thing that came to mind when you read how this one was pronounced.
GAMBOGE-- (pronounced "gamboje"...like the "g" in "portage") This one is apparently similar to ragweed, or dandelions... only a little darker... so maybe closer to a mustard... I still think "dark yellow" would have worked just fine...
FALLOW-- (pronounced "fal-oh") I thought this was a word used to describe a field after it had been plowed... but apparently it's a colour, too...and got it's name from the fields that I just mentioned. It's kinda sandy, like a freshly tilled field.
RAZZMATAZZ-- (pronounced just like it looks!) Yes, it is possibly the most ridiculous one on the list. But apparently it's a bright purply-pinky colour found in alot of garden flowers.
FELDGRAU-- (pronounced "feld-gr-ow"...think German) This is apparently a military colour, like the green used in the uniforms of many nations. I'ma go ahead and guess that it was a German invention...whatever happened to "army green"?
XANADU-- (pronounced "zan-a-doo")...Also a green, so I'm told. More of a "planty" type green, though... like living things...not killing things... huh.
So that's that... crazy stuff. Check out the links below to see even more crazy colours (the second one, especially... it has like TONS of them)...
I think I'll go sit on my ecru couch and eat some gamboge apricots that I just picked off a xanadu tree in someone's front yard. Yay for free apricots!
Links:
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-weird-colors.php
http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2009/03/19/lesser-known-color-vocabulary-a-through-c/
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