There is personal theory of mine which I have tried to convey to others in my life, particularly women, regarding color selections and the general description of colors. I may have seen this somewhere once long ago but if so, the source has escaped me and now I will claim it as my own.
The theory is thus…
A man’s coloring box contains only eleven colors. They are:
- Black
- White
- Red
- Green
- Blue
- Orange
- Yellow
- Purple
- Gold
- Silver
- Gray
That’s it. No more.
When speaking to men about colors, please be sure to use only those colors in his box. There are a couple of rules I can add here that will make it possible to describe the world in terms beyond a kindergarten coloring book.
- It is permissible to describe something using combinations (i.e “The water was a blue-green color”).
- You may also use adjectives to slightly alter one of the colors (i.e. “The fire truck was bright red”, “Her eyes were light brown”).
- In extreme circumstances, you may refer to an object instead of an adjective. However, it must be a physical thing which can subsequently be looked up on the Internet for reference (i.e. “His shirt was charcoal gray” although you may want to specify that you mean charcoal after it has been lit to avoid confusion).
- The only exception to the physical object rule is sports teams. It is permitted (and even preferred) to use a college or professional sports team as an adjective (i.e. “The car was Jets green, not Packers green”).
That’s it. Pretty simple. Ladies, if you are trying to explain your favorite colors to a man in hopes of recieving clothing, drapes, dishes, towels or other items that you would like to fit in to your decor and or wardrobe, these rules will prove invaluable. If you would like a new dust ruffle for the bed and you tell him to pick up one in Sea Foam you will be sorely disappointed. If instead you tell him to look for something that is “a light blue-green” or even better “a little lighter than the Dolphins home jersey” you will have much better luck.
