Shades of Grey

Colour names and connotations 2

If you have looked at the previous page on colour names here and here now investigate the colour grey.

Grey is often thought of as a neutral colour, but it has many connotations, as the varied names in the following lists confirm:

There are 31 shades of grey in the pallette at sofa.com and 42 at John Lewis.
Home interiors magazines tell us that grey is a fashionable colour. But how to describe each shade?
It is a classic example of using positive connotations to sell a product.

From sofa.com
Baltic, Flint, pigeon, shell, rock, granite, pewter, ash, cloud, slate, peregrine, merlin, cuckoo, charcoal, hazelnut, heat and dust, grey marl, stone, squirrel, Hudson, smoke, mist, frost, rubble, silver, mouse, coyote, elephant.

Farrow and Ball
Mole’s breath, elephant’s breath, Purbeck stone, French gray, lamp room gray, dimpse, pavilion gray, blue gray, pigeon, skimming stone, great white, skylight, parma gray, calluna, manor house gray, plummet, down pipe,
Note: Dimpse is named after the quaint west-country dialect for the colour of twilight
Calluna takes its name from the beautiful heather so prolific across the moors of Scotland.

Dulux
“Deep Cool Neutrals”: Found Fossil, Misty Mountain, Dove Slate, Warm Pewter, Concrete Grey, Urban Chic, Wishing Well, Deep Fossil, Urban Obsession, Warm Graphite, Gallant Grey, Bowler Hat, Creative Coal …
“Soft Cool Neutrals”: Cornflower White, Clouded Sky, Just Walnut, Frosted Steel, Polished Pebble, Thimble Case, Pebble Shore, Muted Stone, Misty Mirror, Engraved Locket, Goose Down, Chic Shadow, Steel Parade, Monument Grey.

Crown Paints
Blue Gravel, Cloud Burst, City Break, Fade to Grey, City Life, Cloud Burst, Film Noir, Little Black Dress, Rebel, Smoulder, Silver Mine, Smoky Mist, Night Fever, Soft Shadow, Spotlight

1. If there are any words you don't know check on their meaning.
2. If there are any words you believe do not describe grey satisfactorily, explain why / not
3. What differences can you identify between the groups of words by each manufacturer? What are the similarities within each group and the differences between them?
4. Are there any colours that you would prefer by their name alone?
5. Any colours you do not like from their name alone?
6. Compile your own list of words for the colour grey. Choose seven words to describe grey from very pale to very dark without using any of the words in the lists above.