Trivial Hues
While getting to know some of my SQL teammates this past summer, I was asked, "Why did you choose 'Scarlet'?" At the time, I couldn't think of a good answer. But as the idea for this column started forming, I slowly started to remember.
I have always loved colors. I even opted out of taking AP Biology (and yet, I ended up in a health care profession) to continue to take art classes in high school. So, all those years ago, when I was choosing my HOL name, I decided to choose a color name. I had already decided to use my RL initials, so I had to pick a color that started with S. I had narrowed it down to Sapphire, Saffron, and Scarlet. But, Scarlet just sounded a little more believable as a name to me.
Plus, scarlet is the answer to a handful of quidditch trivia questions! Let's take a look of some of the others.
Although not depicted in the movie, Hermione's Yule Ball dress is periwinkle blue in color. Periwinkle is a very, very pale shade of blue. The periwinkle crayon always tricked me because I love blue. But when I tried to color with the periwinkle crayon, barely anything showed up. Like many colors, periwinkle is also a type of flower. This color appears on some snail shells, which is why they are called periwinkles.
The Polyjuice Potion for Mafalda Hopkirk turns a "pleasant heliotrope color." For the longest time, I thought heliotrope was a yellow-orange color. After all, heliopaths are spirits of fire. When I finally remembered to look up heliotrope, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that heliotrope is actually a pink-purple color, named after the heliotrope flower that likes to turn its head toward the sun.
One of Rita Skeeter's choice robe colors is magenta. Exactly halfway between red and violet, magenta flowers stand out against green leaves. Of course, Rita Skeeter would want to make a statement and show off her experience by wearing magenta to contrast all the other green reporters.
Have you ever wondered if there really is a difference between magenta and fuchsia? In essence, no. The dye was called fuchsine, after the fuchsia flower. In 1859, fuchsia was renamed magenta after the historic Battle of Magenta, where the French army defeated the Austrians to help unify Italy. The color then became extremely popular as magenta.
Dedalus Diggle is the proud owner of a "mauve top hat," which is, unfortunately, dropped. In Doctor Who, mauve is the universal color of danger (except on silly Earth). Mauve was so popular shortly after it was discovered that the 1890s is also called the Mauve Decade.
In 1856, a young William Henry Perkin was challenged by his professor to synthesize quinine, an anti-malaria drug. Perkin thought he had failed after producing a black solid. However, while cleaning out the glassware, Perkin noticed a purplish residue at the bottom. This turned out the be an aniline dye named mauveine, the first man-made dye. The color lead to a revolution in the art and fashion worlds. Aniline was eventually found to be applicable in medicine as well.
Mauve is the pale lavender-lilac color of the mallow flower. There is a jellyfish known as the mauve stinger. Since I couldn't find a good picture of mauve top hat, here is an adorable mauve stinger wearing a top hat!
There you go! Some colorful facts for you to keep in mind. Who knows if they will actually help you or confuse you when you are botting.
