Learned essays have been written on the semiotics of colour language of car paints, fashion discourse, and "Nineteenth-century English travelogues about northern Scandinavia", but I am not sure if anyone has tackled the topic of the fanciful colour names applied to university livery to foster an atmosphere of academic timelessness.
Sam Beckett used "reseda" as a colour descriptor twice in More Pricks than Kicks and once in Dreams of Fair to Middling Women, but it is still a surprise to encounter it in a less erudite environment. The Great Gazoogle informs me that "Mistletoe" is a desaturated olive green, and "Lido Blue" is a "inky blue-black" found in the Craig & Rose 1829 Vintage Range. Because of course it is. But "Petunia"?
It's probably better than "Scabieuse".
Distracted by these thoughts, I was on my best behaviour at the Doktorling's graduation ceremony, and did not throw paper darts from our seats in the gallery.
UPDATE: Apparently I was alone in thinking that it would be more fun to sing O Fortuna or Olim lacus colueram instead of Gaudeamus Floreat. My bad,boring people other parents.
Sam Beckett used "reseda" as a colour descriptor twice in More Pricks than Kicks and once in Dreams of Fair to Middling Women, but it is still a surprise to encounter it in a less erudite environment. The Great Gazoogle informs me that "Mistletoe" is a desaturated olive green, and "Lido Blue" is a "inky blue-black" found in the Craig & Rose 1829 Vintage Range. Because of course it is. But "Petunia"?
It's probably better than "Scabieuse".
Distracted by these thoughts, I was on my best behaviour at the Doktorling's graduation ceremony, and did not throw paper darts from our seats in the gallery.
UPDATE: Apparently I was alone in thinking that it would be more fun to sing O Fortuna or Olim lacus colueram instead of Gaudeamus Floreat. My bad,