The power of words

Some colours are given power.

Given preference.

Out of the blue you can

Paint the town red.

Be the black sheep in the family,

Pass on your green thumb,

Argue about the grey areas,

See the silver lining.

Be tickled pink or

Black out.

But what about the nuanced colours?

The long-forgotten hues known only by connoisseurs and cognoscenti?

Not the gaudy, gimmicky stains mixed by pimpled teenagers at hardware stores.

Nor the colours made trendy by Pantone digits and accolades of designers.

No. Not them.

I mean the delicate and meticulous distinctions that separate

Magenta, Mauve and Maroon.

Cobalt and Turquoise.

Carmine and Rose.

Cadmium Yellow and New Gamboge.

Use words to build a brighter picture and a better world.

Try it yourself. Tell your friends about the

Cerulean sea.

Viridian glass.

Starry indigo sky.

Saturate language with the overlooked and the misunderstood.

Exploit the iridescence of language.

Be vibrant and lustrous.

Be extraordinary.