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.
Alternative title:
"The fawn tweed's nice. Why not fawn?"
"On him? I wouldn't cheapen meself."
2 comments:
Never knew "Reseda" was anything but a particularly uninspiring portion of Los Angeles.
Also (it emerges) the Mignonette genus of flowering plants.
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