The Little-Known Meanings of Crazy Color Names vol. 5

Baffling color names often tell entertaining stories, at least to those who are willing to delve beneath the surface. We continue our strange and wonderful adventure into the uncharted fringes of language, where we'll discover new "shades of meaning."

The deep green color called nnnn represents a “closed,” “intimate” hummed sound which “resonates mostly in the head,” as opposed to the “exposed” aaahh sound “which resonates in the chest. You can keep the closed sound a secret, sitting calmly at a committee meeting while others about you are losing their minds” (W. A. Mathieu, The Musical Life).

The light gray color claled nnnnnn refers to the “head guy” of “a bunch of dudes from the nameless planet”: "Nnnnnn moved his green hand in a circle, indicating the stream, the forest, the city. 'I know you feel like an alien here,' he said softly. 'But that is because you are thinking too small'" (Bruce Coville, “I, Earthling,” Odder Than Ever).

The deep blue color called nt represents the word not, written in Roger Bacon’s all-consonant secret code (devised in 1250), as discussed in The Voynich Manuscript by Gerry Kennedy.

The tan color called pff is an indication that one is miffed, as by a failed pursuit: "[W]hen they rounded the corner the bird had disappeared, and though the children searched high and low, there was not a feather to be found. 'Pff! Typical,' Georgie spat, turning back down the stairs" (Justyn Walker, The Magician’s Daughter).

The pink color called pfff refers to a French expression of loneliness, as when everyone is having too much fun to give one a call, as in “Numéro privé” by Erwan Le Goffic.

The magenta color called pfffft recalls the sound of a stabbing hypodermic needle: "She stuck the needle in, pushed pfffft, just like that, and it started burning immediately" (Janet Laurel, Heart and Soul: What It Takes to Promote Health While Confronting Cancer).

The light mauve color called pffft echoes the sound of a balloon deflating: "The volunteer was given a pair of safety glasses and a long bamboo pole to the end of which was secured a match. This was lit, and placed under the balloon. It collapsed with a dull pffft" (D.W. St. John, A Terrible Beauty).

by Chebbs

The light blue color called phhhh refers to a dismissive expression: "Nobody calls me on the house-phone line, not now that I’ve got my cell phone. Phhhh, I’m not answering it" (Grace Dent, LBD: It’s a Girl Thing).

The bright green color called pp means pianissimo (a musician’s directive to perform a passage very softly).

The bright red color called ppp echoes a French expression (usually accompanied by a shrug) meaning “beats me,” as discussed in Street French Slang Dictionary & Thesaurus by David Burke.

All of these color name insights are derived from my Dictionary of Improbable Words, which is available for online reading.

Bolts From the Blue: The Electric Colors of Lightning

Though a lightning bolt radiates pure white light, various atmospheric conditions can tint the brilliant flash into a rainbow of electrical colors. Red, yellow, green, blue, pink, purple, violet, cyan, and orange are all possible lightning colors, depending upon the presence of water vapor, dust, pollution, rain, or hail. Just as lightning is said never to strike twice in the same place, no two lightning bolts are ever exactly the same color. In fact, different branches of the same bolt can exhibit different colors, due to temperature variations. The hotter the bolt, the bluer or whiter it will appear, and the cooler it is, the more orange or red. Because lightning heats the air as it travels, the presence of different gasses will also lend color as they ignite.

Weather expert Dan Robinson explains that different film stocks, exposure times, and camera types can also bring color to lightning. "The same lightning channel can appear blue, purple, red or orange depending on the type of film, length of exposure, and other factors. Slide film is more likely to produce a more purple/blue image, while print film tends to give lightning a more yellow/orange tint."

Fun facts:

• A lightning bolt can travel 60,000 miles per hour.
• Lightning temperatures can reach nearly 30,000 K (55,000° F), which is five times hotter than the sun.
• In addition to thunder storms, dust storms and volcanic ash eruptions can trigger lightning. So can rock launches, aircraft flights, and nuclear detonations.
• The exact cause of lightning remains "hotly debated" in scientific circles.

A double rainbow and lightning bolt, by tenfrozentoes.

by jipol

a handful of earth sweet and red / to clutch a world / in lands remote from here

a handful of earth, mute / yet bringing a touch of blue from the hills / of trees offering shade against the sun / of a sky filled with blue sun / and of ripening fruit
—Breyten Breytenbach, A Season in Paradise, on South Africa, 1980.

by Ahron de Leeuw

After so many cities of marble, dazzling white, here is one entirely pink — Jaipur. The eye, weary of excessive light reflected from white walls, rests on these palaces as on the softness of certain textiles faded by time. Our imagination finally finds the city of the legend that has inhabited our dreams since early childhood. . . . Everything is pink, with delicate floral patterns: houses, arches, domes, mosques’ minarets, pagodas’ spires — all pink.
—Guido Gozzano (1883—1916), Journey Toward the Cradle of Mankind, translated by David Marinelli, 1996.