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old hand
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old hand
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>I was going to make a note about the foxhunter's coat, which is actually scarlet, but Bill beat me to it. I have heard that the reason it's called 'pink' is because that was the name of the tailor who first made one. Can anyone verify or correct this?
Not I, but I find it interesting that you bring up tailoring... this whole thread got me started on the possible link between pink the color and pink the verb, denoting the zig-zag cuts made by tailors' pinking shears ~
Hmmmm...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bob: did the tailor you mention also invent pinking shears?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have heard that a rabbi became famous for circumcising with pinking shears (Please don't hit me, Shoshannah)
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journeyman
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journeyman
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And that leads me to a rant on the blue colors. It seems that no one anymore knows that there is a color called violet, which is not the same as purple. At least 95% of the time, when people say/write 'purple' they really mean 'violet' or some shade of violet, like lavender or lilacI think part of it is because names for colors aren't as nailed down as we'd like to think. If you go hunting for art supplies, you'll find out that truth rather quickly. Heck, go try and buy a can of house paint! Every child that goes to school has classes in the reading and writing of a language, but not nearly so many take classes that go into the classification and composition of color. Even then, it's a confused subject. It's why any smart artist has a look at a proof of a print, before it goes into production, because your idea of "cobalt blue", and the printer's idea of "cobalt blue" isn't necessarily the same. Right and wrong doesn't come into it. I could rant a good while on art and colors, but I think I'll spare the people reading this thread, this time.  I checked my books for "pink", but in art they have more to say about how to make colors, than why they're called that. Ali
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
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The article said that pink used to be yellow!I've mailed them for more information as I can't find anything on the net about it. Here is a reply from a website that I discovered: Hi Jo, You are right, Old Holland still has some pinks that are yellow, PR101- synthetic iron oxide, Italian Brown Pink Lake. They are not opaque yellows. I think "pink" meant duel-toned, changing color when a clear medium is used to lighten the basic color. Don Here is the "Artist on Location" webRing http://www.mauigateway.com/~donjusko/artistonlocation.htmMany thanks to Don Jusko!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I heard Pink and Pinks (even if they were yellow) got there name from their "pinked" edges-- so Fibrebabe was on the right track--
Pinks had pinked edges-- a kind of zig zag or saw toothed edge.. and gave there name to the color. Pinking shears are named because they too, create a pinked edge-- This was a word i remember looking up as a child-- i wondered why "Pinking shears" where pinking shears.. what was pinking? I wasn't sure if Pink the color and pinking were releated-- and didn't know pinks as flower at all! (but now it have them in my garden! -- easy to grow short lived perennial!)
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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I believe pinking shears are from an unrelated verb, meaning prick or pick (holes in...).
There is an old tailory firm in London called Thomas (?) Pink, but another idea I've heard is that only the Sovereign was allowed to use red (= "scarlet") livery, so others had to use a different colour. (We're talking heraldic colours here, where there are no fine distinctions.) But I can't vouch for either of these.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Before the flower "pink" came to be used to describe colours, pink things were probably called red, in fact. Languages vary in how many basic colour terms they have, and English is exceptional in having (about) eleven. Most have less.
The smallest number of basic colour terms is two (warm/dark vs cool/light). Some languages have three, with red as the third term. Then blue/green is the fourth. A language that has six colour terms almost certainly has black, white, red, yellow, green, and blue.
Beyond that, it varies. We have grey, brown, purple, pink, and orange, for a total of eleven. At least, Roget's use those eleven. Many English-speakers would agree they have those eleven. But it does vary a bit from person to person. Some would say purple was a kind of blue, orange was a kind of yellow or red.
By "basic" I mean a set of shades. If you own a scarlet car, you own a red car. If you own an ultramarine or cerulean pencil, you own a blue one. (Here's the answer to another post here: purple is the generic term covering mauve, lavender, and violet, as well as being a specific shade in contrast to violet or mauve.)
Historically you can see the expansion of the English colour system. In Old English there were the six most fundamental colour terms, plus grey and brown. Then came purple (originally = crimson, the dye from the porphyry or murex), and pink from the flower, and orange from the fruit. These have became basic terms in modern English, so for most people, if something is pink, it isn't red. (Ignore borderline cases: think of the pinkest pink and the reddest red. It's been demonstrated across languages that's its focal shades, not borders, that are important for colour naming.)
This usage is influencing other languages. The European equivalents rose, orange etc are increasingly used as distinct colour names rather than shade names.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I should think women would go nuts trying to keep track of meaning of names for colors that clothing designers keep coining and changing.
It took me a while to find out what beige meant originaly - the color of undyed wool.
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journeyman
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journeyman
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I should think women would go nuts trying to keep track of meaning of names for colors that clothing designers keep coining and changing.No kidding. One year's "avacado" is "misty fern" the next. If only it stuck to clothing, though. One particular color in art supplies that drives me nuts is "indian red". It changed to "tuscan red", then "terra cotta". I have to bring left overs of whatever color I need to replenish, just to be sure I'm getting something close. Car colors can get wierd too (along with the car names). I'm sure there are plenty of other examples for other products as well. I blame marketing "experts".  Ali
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