color (noun, 13th century) – 1 a: a phenomenon of light (as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects b (1): the aspect of the appearance of objects and light sources that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light sources <the changing color of the sky>; also: a specific combination of hue, saturation, and lightness or brightness <comes in six colors> (2): a color other than and as contrasted with black, white, or gray 11: the quality of timbre in music <the color and richness of the cello> 13: a small particle of gold in a gold miner’s pan after washing 15: a hypothetical property of quarks that differentiates each type into three forms having a distinct role in binding quarks together
colorful (adjective, 1880) – 1: having striking colors <colorful scenery> 2: full of variety or interest <a colorful description> adverb – colorfully, noun – colorfulness
colorific (adjective, 1676): capable of communicating color
colorway (noun, 1952): a color or arrangement of colors <fabric sold in a variety of colorways>
There are many, many definitions for the word “color.” I don’t know what they all mean. Here, I skipped the ones I don’t like or don’t care about. And added three variations that I think are spectacular. Colorific? Yes.
I’m old enough to remember the transition from entirely black-and-white television to Walt Disney’s “Wonderful World of Color”—one of the very few shows we were allowed to watch. It ran from 1961 to 1969. We didn’t have a color television, so I’m wondering what the excitement was in that regard. Content, maybe? Peer pressure?
Sometime around 1970, we three siblings were watching something so intently that we didn’t respond when Mom walked into the living room and spoke to us. Hence, the TV was thrown out to the curb. It seemed outrageous, but we didn’t miss it all that much and we were better off without it. Love, Cat
01 Cat Color Classic, 02 Delicious Detail
Text and images © Catherine Rutgers 2020
Definitions: Mish, Frederick C., editor in chief, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th edition, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, Mass., 2003, p. 245.
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