Sheaffer Violet vs Purple

On 10 Jul 2003 at 23:14:34 GMT, Dik F. Liu scribbled:
-I teach a color theory course in two universities.

Do you use "real" names for colors, as opposed to those fakey,
euphemistic (or worse, Politically Correct) names that seem to be
everywhere these days!? grin It seems to be difficult nowadays
to find color charts with "real," old-fashioned color names.

-Most people use these terms interchangeably. However, for some
-colorists, purple is of a hue between violet and red.

"Colorist"?! I wonder if that's good or bad. Would Senator
Joe McCarthy have asked, "Are you now or have you ever been a mem-
ber of the Colorist Party!?" In my salad days, a colorist party
would've been a pretty good description of kindergarten. grin

But seriously, stamp collectors distinguish between violet and
purple. In my opinion the 1939 New York World's Fair 3-cent com-
memorative stamp was the quintessentially most purply purple stamp
of all time. The Scott stamp catalog calls it "deep purple."
Between the mid-1930s and early 1940s there were many stamps issued
of more reddish tints, variously called violet, red violet, rose
violet, and the like, by the philatelic experts.

Simply put, purple is more bluish, whereas violet is more red-
dish. That's my rule of (purple) thumb, which I admit is influ-
enced by the stamp catalogs. The professor's posted statement
above appears to run counter to this. I'm suggesting a spectrum of
blue - purple - violet - red, whereas he seems to be saying, or
seeing, (blue -?) violet - purple - red. Perhaps all this proves
is that the professor isn't a stamp collector!?
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david moeser -- erasmus39 on yahoo
Censornati, Ohio - USA
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* One Size Does NOT Fit All! *

(Headers munged to foil spammers; real info in taglines)

Edward Bonaventure wrote in message news:Pine.GSO.4.56.0307111527240.6265@shell1...
On 10 Jul 2003 at 23:14:34 GMT, Dik F. Liu scribbled:
-I teach a color theory course in two universities.

Do you use "real" names for colors, as opposed to those fakey,
euphemistic (or worse, Politically Correct) names that seem to be
everywhere these days!? grin It seems to be difficult nowadays
to find color charts with "real," old-fashioned color names.

-Most people use these terms interchangeably. However, for some
-colorists, purple is of a hue between violet and red.

"Colorist"?! I wonder if that's good or bad. Would Senator
Joe McCarthy have asked, "Are you now or have you ever been a mem-
ber of the Colorist Party!?" In my salad days, a colorist party
would've been a pretty good description of kindergarten. grin

But seriously, stamp collectors distinguish between violet and
purple. In my opinion the 1939 New York World's Fair 3-cent com-
memorative stamp was the quintessentially most purply purple stamp
of all time. The Scott stamp catalog calls it "deep purple."
Between the mid-1930s and early 1940s there were many stamps issued
of more reddish tints, variously called violet, red violet, rose
violet, and the like, by the philatelic experts.

Simply put, purple is more bluish, whereas violet is more red-
dish. That's my rule of (purple) thumb, which I admit is influ-
enced by the stamp catalogs. The professor's posted statement
above appears to run counter to this. I'm suggesting a spectrum of
blue - purple - violet - red, whereas he seems to be saying, or
seeing, (blue -?) violet - purple - red. Perhaps all this proves
is that the professor isn't a stamp collector!?

Edward, I'm not sure who's that professor you are talking about, but
in any case here I go :-). Synonims do-not-exist. Each word has a
semantic field which produces a complex mental process on the
hearer/reader. Try to see them as snow flakes. They may look
identical, but they are not. Hence all those ways to describe a
colour.
If we consider several languages, then things get even more
complicated. A language is the result of the interaction of a group of
individuals in a given environment. It's that simple. Change one thing
from that formula and you'll get something different. One more
example: "blue" in spanish does not have the sadness connotations it
has in English. The colour is the same; it's the way we treat it that
changes. I'd like to know what does Dik think about this.

Juan