There are no new memes. I'm sure someone's created this already, but after I heard Gary shriek "The COUNTER was BLACK with ANTS" three times tonight I realized he never says "covered with ants" or "more ants than you could roll over with a rolling pin" or "a constellation of ants." I started to think about phrases I associate with colors. So, I give you the Roy G. Biv meme.
Blood Red. All reds are blood red to Gary's eyes."Then you pass the house with the blood red door." "She was wearing these heels, they were blood red." And it can be any shade of red. "That plum you are eating is blood red!" We do always buy blood red cars, though.
Little Baby Oranges. Gary's become a Tangerine Snob. (Great Bands of the 60s.) He chastised me for buying the ersatz Clementine "Cuties" tangerines when the legitimate wooden-boxed Clementines were at the Other store. (I imagine they are tangerines; we didn't have Clementines growing up. I think they might be mandarin oranges under an assumed name.)
Yellow-bellied. During his big farewell speech when I was seven, Technical Father said we should always remember that anyone from Missouri was "yellow bellied." I had lived in Missouri for two years by then but I hadn't seen anyone's exposed belly so I took his word for it.
Gary Green. The rest of the world calls it khaki green; it's the shade of green of every pair of Dockers Gary buys. The size may vary but not the color. For a while he had a few Gary green shirts, and they matched his Gary green jacket, but the constant is the Dockers.
Blue-gray-green. No one has asked me what my favorite color is for years, BUT BACK WHEN PEOPLE CARED it was always "blue-gray-green, because that's the color of my husband's eyes."
Indigo. Yeah. I think Indigo is just here because they needed a vowel.
Violet Femmes. When I was at UMSL in the early 80s this band called Violet Femmes came and played at the Student Lounge a few times. "Violet Femmes. What a pretty name," I thought, and I always meant to go but I never did. One day I realized the name was "Violent Femmes." "What a creepy name," I thought and then I never went.
And you would be all over the Violent Femmes today. With lyrics like "I stained my sheets and I don't even know why", how could Leonard Cohen or BNL (minus the cocaine) compete?
Posted by: #3 | April 16, 2009 at 01:16 AM
Now you've done it - seized up my weak little mind with your opening sentence. Are memes, by definition, constantly evolving and therefore new, or as you point out, constantly redundant...? I need coffee.
And have you noticed that olive green and khaki green definitely intersect? This has always bothered me, because we tend to call them all olive green in our house. I think it's all Gary Green from now on. That offends me less, and will help keep my husband confused. Excellent. Thank you.
Posted by: Mare | April 16, 2009 at 04:28 AM
(Ah, so has 'olive drab' finally dropped out of use? I always thought it was such a put-down term for a colour. Perhaps it was because your army types were embarrassed by nancy things like colour. Maybe they're more in touch with their feminine side these days.)
And what about you, Queen? Colourist! Where's white, eh?
Posted by: Big Dot | April 16, 2009 at 06:05 AM
I like Violent Femmes and violent femmes.
Posted by: #0.75 | April 16, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Right now I could use 4 for my headache.
For me, it's always, "Help, Orange!". I can't explain it.
Posted by: Tami | April 16, 2009 at 10:03 AM
3 - Because with LC and BNL there's more than one good line in a song.
Mare - Khaki green, olive drab, gray-green: they all fall under the heading of Gary green.
Big Dot - Well, in Gary's world if anyone blanches or raises an eyebrow she is as white as a sheet.
.75 - But what about violet femmes?
Tami - 4? Is 4 orange? Do you have that synethesisia issue where numbers are different colors? Talk to Hot Mom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
Posted by: TheQueen | April 16, 2009 at 11:56 PM
Queen - How about femmes IN violet?
Posted by: #0.75 | April 17, 2009 at 08:07 AM
Hmmm. 4 is not orange to me, but that's a really interesting condition. Those were actually 2 separate thoughts. See, foolishly, I assumed that you would have been curious enough to check out the Violent Femmes by now, and the first thought was a VF reference.
The second thought is just what I hear in my head when someone says "orange". It's years old, and it's from something silly I was doing with my sister, but all I remember about the day is that one line.
But the Violent Femmes - they have WAY more than one good line in a song. I must share some of this with you.
Posted by: Tami | April 17, 2009 at 08:45 AM
Ooooh! I have not thought about the Femmes in years! I was mildly obsessed with them for a time in high school. Sigh, now I feel old; I need to go download some Femmes onto my MP3 and reminisce about the olden days of cassettes!
Posted by: Mary | April 17, 2009 at 08:50 AM
.75 - Violent violet femmes. Any football teams wear purple?
Tami - 4? Not 3? Yeah, I've listened to Gary's VF album, but only twice. I usually need four listens.
Mary - Ah, cassetes. I think I still have all the cassetes I used in my '91 CRX. All five of them.
Posted by: TheQueen | April 18, 2009 at 11:36 PM