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Color name translator

Convert the fancy color name to its principle components.
 
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As an mathematically minded person, I find it easier to memorize the few basic definitions, and build the rest of the structure from there.

No surprise, I define colors the same way. I dont know the difference between 'Mauve', 'Peuce' and 'Chartruce' and I certainly don't know how to spell them.

I propose a chart, especially located in clothing stores that break down all fancy color names into the following primary components:

Red / Redish / Dark-red / Light-red / Ummmm, sorta red Orange / Orangeish / Dark-orange / ... Yellow / Yellowish / ...

and the rest of the colors of the rainbow. Any combination of them is also acceptable.

So if you asked the sales person for a Slightly Orangeish / almost Light Red, tinted with Ummmmmm, Blue-Greenish sorta Yellow, BOOM, the color name 'Acqua Chrimson Sunset' would be cross referenced and we can all speak the same language.

Epimenides, Dec 03 2003

The language of colour http://www.gretagma...unsell/index.asp#a7
Piece of piss, mate. Piece of piss. [Guy Fox, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

[link]






       Those huge arrays of descriptive names for colours in the paint store must be quite distressing for the colourblind.
Captain_Ignorant, Dec 03 2003
  

       I know I'm going to start another 1984 argument here I know it: limit the number of ways to describe a color, and limit the creative expression of the color itself. But I dont care.   

       Reddish orange is Reddish orange, no matter how you spin it.
Epimenides, Dec 03 2003
  

       I think we should paint this wall Duckshit Green and maybe use Dysentery for the curtains...
Captain_Ignorant, Dec 03 2003
  

       Can we bake this idea like this? ......   

       Ooh, no, not those tomatoes, they are too "#EE2200" can you sell me these riper, "#FF1100" tomatoes?   

       ...but he just sat there at the lights, so I leaned out the window and yelled: Hey, buddy, waiting for any particular shade of "#00FF00"?   

       Roses are "#FF0000", violets are "#0000FF"....   

       Are you gonna take me on, or are you too "#FFFF00?"   

       The problem is very simple, the solution is "#000000" and "#FFFFFF".
not_only_but_also, Dec 03 2003
  

       I've kind of thought something similar myself. You should actually be able to do this without too much hassle.   

       Most of these big clothing retailers / manufacturers already have "palettes" of this season's colours picked out by some designer bloke on a fancy computer system designed to give accurate on-screen colour. Each shade as well as being defined in the marketing / design flouncespeak - mauve, chartreuse, cerulean, etc. - is defined clearly and precisely in the RGB values Mr Designer has taken a fancy to on-screen. In order to dye these shades, straightforward algorithms can be used to convert those RGB values to any number of colour-space models - XYZ, LAB, LCH, etc.. In fact, they *have* to do this to get the fabric dyed properly and consistently - you need to define the colour precisely so the guys who're dyeing it can do their order, stick a sample in a spectrophotometer, measure the reflectance curve and see whether it's within a set tolerance.   

       Now the nice thing about these colour spaces is that some of them can be turned into really rather simple 3D charts. Check out the Munsell Colour Space diagram on the link and imagine the "spokes" as pages, extending up and down the central axis from light at the top to dark at the bottom. You could easily have a really cool model in any store that the customer could flip through to find the colour they want. Or good sales staff that could find the colour quicker from fairly basic questioning:   

       Slightly orange - almost light red? <<flip, flip, flip>> How's this? More red? <<flip, flip>> How light? Up here? A little lower? Ah, yes, we call that one Buddhist Saffron.   

       Even assuming that the actual palette of this season's colours is only a tiny subset of those on the model, (highlighted? labelled with the poncey names?) I reckon there would be some fairly useful market research potential in having something that customers can point to and say "Can I get it in this colour?"
Guy Fox, Dec 03 2003
  

       Hey [Epimenides] - if you don't believe in our democratic freedom to name colours however we please why don't you move to Russia with all your communist friends? Then you won't have to worry as everything is grey over there!   

       Seriously though, I think the problem is partly the effeminate overtones to the names - which has lead to them being called 'poncy' etc in the annotations. I suspect that if the colours were called "bruise purple", "lager yellow", "burger brown" etc then there would be fewer complaints (from men).
dobtabulous, Dec 03 2003
  

       Two all-beef-patty shoes, special socks, lettuce see your boxers, cheese tie, pickle jacket, onion shirt on a sesame seed bun trousers, right?   

       *Burp* Yeah.
thumbwax, Dec 03 2003
  

       I always wondered how paint and cosmetics manufacturers come up with the names. They must employ loads of people to be creative in this way. My personal favourite is a kind of unpleasant grey colour from Dulux called 'Speculum'.
hazel, Dec 03 2003
  

       I'd like some way not to get made fun of when I tell a story to the guys about the hot chick in the Eggshell button-down, and matte black pants
Letsbuildafort, Dec 03 2003
  

       I'm hoping this device will translate the various shades of white too. Maybe by using the percent scale for how much non-white is in the white.   

       So eggshell whould be 5% yellow and bone would be 3% brown, etc...
GenYus, Dec 03 2003
  

       [lbf] - make the story about how she turned you down, spat in your face and laughed haughtily and they will pity you instead of laughing.
dobtabulous, Dec 03 2003
  
      
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