I don’t call that purple, I call it maroon. Or burgundy. Or whatever.

It’s a kind of dark red color. It does have some purple in it. But — in my eyes, at least — it is really more of a red. But not quite. It was a popular color back when I was in junior high. I definitely called it burgundy then. I had a burgundy/white/pink sweater (it was prettier than it sounds) from Traverse Bay Woolens and I found some wool that was an exact *match* to the burgundy color and made a skirt to go with it. I *loved* that outfit. I wish I had a picture of it. If I remember right, I might’ve even had some burgundy tights too. In sixth grade, I had a burgundy sweatshirt. It was oversized and I think I made a sketch of a banana on it with black marker. I wore it with cut-off jeans and, to complete the outfit, I pasted a Chiquita Banana sticker on my forehead. And yes, I used to actually ride my bicycle around the neighborhood dressed like that. Kids? Are y’all embarrassed yet? 😉

I was gonna blahg something else today. I was writing about that and Mouse was talking to me about the “purple” striped linen fabric she bought at Haberman Fabrics on our little field trip over to Royal Joke this morning. We got over there a half hour before it opened, so we initiated my Starbucks gift card while we waited. Thanks, Jean! 🙂 Haberman’s was totally overwhelming but Mouse managed to narrow things down to three pieces of fabric and I was coerced into buying an African-looking cotton print with crocodiles and lots of metallic gold for my stash. Mouse’ll probably post pictures of all this stuff on her blahg, so I’ll just link you to that. You’ll know immediately which fabric is mine.

Anyway, she was talking about her “purple” fabric and I was a little grumpy. I *am* a little depressed today. Don’t worry, it’s just a garden variety of depression. I wanted to whine on my blahg. It’s my blahg and I can whine if I want to but this is not the travelin’ funeral blahg either. So Mouse said “purple” and I grumped, “I don’t call that purple, I call it maroon.” Or burgundy. Or whatever. And suddenly, I had a new and better blahg entry. I’ve been thinking about how people often attach different color names to what are identical colors and how hard it is to talk about color and have someone else get the idea of what color you are actually talking about. And then to try to translate any particular color from one medium to another: fabric to yarn to beads to paint to RGB. A color that makes a fabulous silk dress might be totally over the top in a fuzzy wool sweater. Or vice versa. Or maybe a *little* of it could provide a much-needed spark to a fuzzy sweater using mainly less vivid colors.

I could go on and on about this. Don’t even get me started on the Crayola Crayon box colors. I knew all 64 by heart when I was a kid. Overall, it was a pretty good day with our little field trip and I did actually get a few chores done and some work on coding my internship layout. And then, Lilmagg *made* my day.

The next few days are busy and Sam may be around (and if she’s not, I hope to see her in the Yoop) and then we’ll pick a passenger up on the red-eye and drive to the beach and cousins and all kinds of people will be around and life will be just fine.

One Response to “I don’t call that purple, I call it maroon. Or burgundy. Or whatever.”

  1. Webmomster Says:

    I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who’s wondered about how others perceive what I see. Not just colors, either. Sounds. Shapes. Who’s to say that we are all wired alike, especially when there is that documented phenomenon among some people who see colors when they listen to music? Why does a shape that I think is attractive get shudders from others? Why can I not stand Picasso or Bob Dylan while other people adore them?

    And along those lines, who says that dogs are color blind? How would they know? Color perception of a sort is part of survival in the wild, isn’t it? I think – with no proof or anecdotes – that dog vision includes color; it’s probably perceived differently from our mechanism, just as they have better night vision than we do (think of that reflective green shine from their eyes!!).