Puce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Puce | ||
|---|---|---|
| — Color coordinates — | ||
| Hex triplet | #CC8899 | |
| RGBB | (r, g, b) | (204, 136, 153) |
| CMYKH | (c, m, y, k) | (0, 33, 25, 20) |
| HSV | (h, s, v) | (345°, 33%, 80%) |
| B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte) H: Normalized to [0–100] (hundred) | ||
Puce (noun, adj.) is generally considered to be dark rose to brownish-purple. A few sources define "puce" simply as "dark brown" (Webster's Dictionary<u>, 1828, et. al.<i>). Occasionally referred to as pinkish-purple.
<I>example sentences: n.<I> "Puce was fashionably popular in 1805, though some later derided it as unflattering."; <i>adj.<i> "The tiny porcelain figure bore a rare puce 'Royal Worcester' mark."
English usage dates from 1787. [from the French puce, <i>literally<i> "flea," (<i>in couleur puce<i> "flea-colored"), from L. <i>pucilem, <i> acc. of <i>pulex<i> "flea"] It is speculated that it refers to the colour of a squashed flea or the colour of a flea full of blood. Another theory is that the color name comes from the flea's droppings of digested blood, which spread out in deep red stain when water contacts them.
The color puce is usually defined with adjectives such as "dark", "deep", "intense" and even "brilliant". The color example above is a lighter tint.
On the other hand, the color may refer to blue-lavender of the Pennyroyal flower, also named puce in French. The name derives from the use of pungent Pennyroyal to ward off fleas. <ref>http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/pennyr23.html</ref>
The mystery behind this colour involves its use in English as a sort of nonsensical-sounding colour name, much like chartreuse, a yellowish-green color.
[edit] Puce in human culture
- The only political party in the world known to use puce as their official colour is the Christian Heritage Party of Canada.
- On the TV show Family Feud, one of the survey questions asked the respondents to name "an ugly color." The contestant responded with "puce", scoring 5 points.<ref>http://sgsa.gameshowvideos.com/feud.php</ref>
- On the TV show Diff'rent Strokes, Arnold once asked Mr. Drummond what puce was. He replied, "Expensive purple."
- In the movie Monsters, Inc. Sully is asked to handle some paperwork with the instructions that end with "Leave the puce", to which he comments, "I have no idea what puce is". After finding the paperwork and seeing the different colored forms, Sully says, "Oh, that's puce."
- In Santa Claus: The movie Patch makes a lolly pop that makes the children fly and asks what color it should be. The assistant replies Puce, then they talk about Puce Juice
