Last week I looked at quite a few paint colours, trying to decide which ones to use in my house, and found the names given to the different colours interesting.
As there are so many different colours, paint manufacturers use various whys to describe them.
Whites, for example, come in many shades, including:
- Pure Brilliant White, Strong White, All White, Great White, Just White, Aged White, Stone White, Milk White, Cream White, House White, Lime White, Off-White, and so on
Some paints have more imaginative names, such as:
- Whites: Tallow, String, Slipper Satin, Cupcake, Piglet, Mittens, Straw, Seagull, Fresh Air and Cupboard Love
- Pinks and Reds: Tutu, Lucy’s Scarf, Pink-a-boo and Riding Hood
- Oranges, Yellows and Browns: Flower Pot, Humpty Dumpty, Freckle, Cocoa Pod and Muddy Boots
- Blues and Greens: Polka Dot, Milk Jug, Teacup, Bandstand, Whisper of Dramatic, Urban Obsession and Cricket
What I’ve found is that the same name might be used from different colours. For example, straw is a creamy colour from one paint company, and an orangey-brown colour from another.
I’ve chosen a colour called warm blue for my bedroom, water, a lighter blue, for my music room (the spare bedroom), and buttermilk, a lightish yellow, for my bathroom. The rest of the house is painted magnolia, a kind of creamy-white colour.
Do paint colours have interesting names in other languages?
