Color-blind?  Ok, I’ll have to suck it up there – my dad was colorblind (or so I suspect of Mr. Olive Pants-Brown Shoes-Purple Shirt) – but only about 5% of men and less than 1 percent of women are likely to be color-blind so when I hear a reference to something as yellow when it’s orange or vice versa, it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me.  Hopefully, this doesn’t incite the wrath of the color-impaired.

I realize it’s the persnickety designer in me, the part that actually cares about the nuances of ecru vs. tan vs. cream vs. eggshell.  And I realize sometimes people can’t help it and color may be considered somewhat subjective, but I certainly am not going to go outside and declare the sky aubergine simply because that’s how I perceive it (that’s ‘eggplant’ or a deep purple/black with what some might call a slightly red undertone, in case you were wondering).  And no, I don’t think the sky is eggplant.

Teal is another one. Teal and turquoise.  Teal is more green. Turquoise is more blue. And aqua… well, that’s a tough one. Aqua is like turquoise and teal had a very light-colored lovechild.  Don’t tell cerulean.

Pink and coral?   Coral is not orange. Coral is not pink. It’s a combo of the two, hence… coral.  C’mon now.  Ok,  I’ll concede the pink/coral thing could be subjective, I suppose. Some people might see more pink. Some might see more orange.  But basics like yellow and orange? Orange is orange. Yellow is yellow. If it’s more orange than yellow, but it’s still yellow, it’s “orange-ish yellow” or vice versa… yellow-orange.  We have hyphens for a reason. Crayola loves a hyphen. Embrace the hyphen!

Or purple and brown is another. For some reason, I often get references to the color of our business site as being purple.  I see it more in the brown or gray family, leaning toward taupe. “Puce” if you want to get really uptight about it.  But I suspect even seasoned artistes don’t walk around saying ‘puce’ unless they wish to incur a snobbery-induced asskicking.

Why do these minor color infractions bother me so? It’s not the end of the world. It’s just colors. Maybe because color makes up such a prominent part of my life and who I am.  My curtains aren’t blue, they’re pale aqua. My carpet isn’t yellow, it’s Corn Chip. (No, really… that’s the color: Corn Chip. It’s on the label.) My couch is sage, my bedspread is deep rust.  But my living room rug?  That’s orange. If I wanted to get all snooty, I could say it’s “tangerine” or something, but no… it’s straight-up orange at a glance.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with colors being blue or red or green or yellow. The basics have gotten us this far, but descriptions and variations are what make color so exciting for me.

So brown that’s purple or orange that’s yellow?  It’s almost disrespectful to the amazing subtleties of color in everything around us.  It’s color heresy in my book. If you can’t help it, you can’t help it… I feel for you, in fact.

But if you can see all the wonderous colors, why not take a moment to describe them to yourself, to a child, to someone with their eyes closed… or whomever.  Write it down in your journal, whatever blows your dress up.  I find when I stop to admire the little details, I appreciate so much more the tiny differences that make many colors unique in their own right.