Colors color our language — and that is not just a pigment of my imagination. Think of the words we use to describe how we feel. At various times we are green with envy, gray with exhaustion, red with embarrassment or white with rage. We can fall into a black mood, a purple passion or a blue funk. When things start looking up, we feel in the pink and are tickled pink.
Some words describe both a color and an object at the same time, including amber, bronze, cardinal, ebony, emerald, gold, green, honey, lavender, ivory, jade, lemon, lilac, lime, olive, orange, peach, periwinkle, plum, rose, ruby, salmon, sapphire, silver, slate, tangerine, teal, topaz, violet and wheat.
Even the animal world gets painted by the coloring of human imagination:
Have you ever owned a white elephant? Before you shake your head no, remember that nowadays the expression white elephant means an object of some worth that nobody else seems to want, like a huge, out-of-style couch or a pedal-driven sewing machine. White elephant looks back to the albino elephants, once considered sacred in Siam (now Thailand). These creatures were so rare that each one born became automatically the property of the king and was not permitted to work. When a subject incurred the king’s displeasure, the angry monarch would bestow as a gift one of his white elephants. The enormous appetite and utter uselessness of the animal would soon plunge the “gifted” man into financial ruin.
This tale is anything but a red herring. The original red herrings were strong-smelling fish that the fox hunters of Old England dragged across the fox’s trail to confuse the hounds and give the quarry a sporting chance. Today the meaning of red herring has been broadened to signify a misleading statement that diverts our attention from the real issues.
Here’s a golden opportunity for you to show your true colors by ranging over the rainbow coalition of hues that color many everyday expressions. In the colorful quiz that follows, complete each phrase with a color:
1. _____mail 2. a bolt from the _____ 3. a _____horn 4. a _____-bellied coward 5. _____grass music 6. good as _____ 7. true _____ 8. a _____ eminence 9. once in a _____ moon 10. the _____ carpet treatment 11. singing the _____s 12. caught _____-handed 13. _____ prose 14.a _____ lining 15. an ice cream-covered _____ie 16. _____ tape 17. _____-colored glasses 18. in the _____light 19. beaten _____ and _____ 20. People who hallucinate are said to see _____ elephants. 21. The committee gave her proposal the _____ light. 22. _____en oldies 23. the _____ sheep of the family. 24. a _____-letter day 25. _____bloods. 26. a _____ thumb 27. a _____neck 28. a _____guard 29. paint the town _____ 30. talking a _____ streak. 31. Silence is _____en. 32. to _____wash the truth 33. to _____ bag it. 34. Off-color jokes are called _____ jokes. 35. _____ie points 36. _____ journalism.37. When a business makes a profit, it is in the _____. 38. When a business loses money, it is in the _____. 39. _____ matter 40. A woman with intellectual or literary interests is called a _____stocking. 41. a _____ cent 42. _____ as grass 43. _____ magic is evil magic. 44. _____ magic is good magic. 45. The boss is so angry that she’s seeing _____. 46. _____ laws 47. _____-chip stocks 48. a _____ area 49. a _____shoe law firm 50. I hope you’re tickled _____ by how well you’ve answered these questions.
Answers
1. black 2. blue 3. green 4. yellow 5. blue 6. gold 7. blue 8. gray 9. blue 10. red 11. blue 12. red 13. purple 14. silver 15. brown 16. red 17. rose 18. lime 19. black/blue 20. pink 21. green 22. gold 23. black 24. red 25. blue 26. green 27. red 28. black 29. red 30. blue 31. gold 32. white 33. brown 34. blue 35. brown 36. yellow 37. black 38. red 39. gray 40. blue 41. red 42. green 43. black 44. white 45. red 46. blue 47. blue 48. gray 49. brown 50. pink