Is the naming of colours subjective?

Blues and greens are the hardest to decide on, I think.

Some language (I forget which, so this isn't a very compelling factoid) has only one word for blue/green.

In English, the word "orange" was coined only after we started importing the fruits. Before that, orange things (which are fairly rare in nature) were red, or possibly yellow or golden. That's why a redbreast, later called a "Robin" redbreast, is so named although he actually has an orange breast. Fair hair, in days gone by, was described as "yellow", which would sound rather unflattering now.

My DH and myself ‘agreed to disagree’ about blues and greens, as we so obviously were seeing them differently. I often find that a colour that I liked in a shop looks completely different in natural light, and also in the lighting at home.
I recently bought some lovely rose pink wool, to knit a sweater for my GD. It turned into a rather nasty candyfloss colour on the way home.
As for buying clothes online......you just never know what colour will turn up in the parcel!

Optical illusion: Dress colour debate goes global www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-31656935
Does anyone remember this from 2015? The colours in the dress look white and gold to some people and blue and black to others.

The worst thing is when you're half way through painting a room, thinking "hmmm, I'm sure this was more greeny coloured... perhaps it'll dry greener"

Maremia says glas means green in Scotland and Glasgow is often translated as the dear green place. But Alastair Macintosh in his book “Poacher’s pilgrimage” writes about a river called Abhainn Ghlas and says that some translate this as the silver river, or the grey river or the blue or green river. It depends who you ask. He says the feeling that is meant by the Gaelic word ghlas or glas doesn’t map directly onto a spectrum of seven colours. You could perhaps translate it as “the colour of the moods of light from ever-changing skies, reflected on the surface of water.” It is very difficult to talk or write about colours. We have so few words to distinguish the infinite variety of shades. Which is strange because they affect our emotions so strongly.

Teal is green! I hate green and never wear it. I also struggle with turquoise as I sometimes think that's more green than blue. Blue is my fave, especially navy.

If you Google any colour - teal, taupe, beige etc., then hit the Images button, you will always come up with a whole swag of shades relating to just that one name.

I don't think colours have ever been standardised.

I still base my own colour naming system on my old watercolour paintbox. Thus vermilion for orangey red, crimson for more bluey red, cobalt blue for pure tint of blue, and aquamarine for more greeny blue.

'Teal' is a comparatively new name for a colour I agree with original poster it's turquoise with a hint of black, i,e, it's a dark tone of turquoise.
Many people have seen turquoises or faux turquoises but very few people can identify a teal duck. Therefore 'teal' was never a good name for a colour. 'Blackish turquoise' would be good however the advertisers are not interested in accuracy but in image.

Lemon yellow is a good name for a colour as most people can identify a lemon whereas 'canary 'yellow is not so good as not many people are familiar with canaries.

My dad could not see purple. He always called it blue.

DH wrote a whole Master’s thesis on Chaucer’s colour vocabulary do this thread could run and run.

I can carry colour very accurately in my head, one of my few useful skills.

I have a bright turquoise car which is definitely not teal.

I read that as "a bright turquoise ear", which would indeed be a distinctive attribute.

Alexa, I think you have a point about the paintbox colour names. Many of us learned to name and categorise the colours according to what was in our paintbox, our set of coloured pencils, etc at an early age. It's quite possible that most of us see the non-primary colours (purple, teal, lime, rust etc) in the same ways, but we categorise them differently, by matching them in our heads to the set of colours we first learned names for.

I knew a guy who was red/green colour- blind, and saw both of these in a brownish way. He had once caused some mirth in his family by saying that something was "green, like a rabbit", so "rabbit-green" had been added to the family vocabulary.

It's quite common for men to see blue/green differently to women. It's a fascinating subject I agree, and another thought, sorry off piste, if we don't all see colours similarly do we all actually perceive objects in the same way?

Yes Purpledaffodil (apt name for this thread I remember that optical illusion, and if you google there are a few more. The brain works in mysterious ways!

Maroon is colour I loathe - however, when I was child, it was called "grenat" in French or garnet...

DH has a shirt he calls green which I see as grey

There's a cobalt teal, too ..

A friend and I had a discussion today about something we saw which I described as fuchsia pink but she said was magenta.
I've just checked and she was correct.

What is 'correct' Callistemon?

According to an article about Panetone, which is a global authority on colour The colours you perceive depend on everything from the surface they're on, the lighting and time of day. On top of that your own colour acuity, inc. colour blindness, can factor into perception too, so while sky may be blue (except when it's not) it's precise shade can be quite objective

DH has a grey jacket (definitely grey) which he swears is green. We have had many arguments discussions about this. Maybe it is a scientific fact that we just see things differently.

My friend was correct, Greeneyedgirl

As you weren't there, why question what I said?

You are right Callistemon I definitely wasn't there so shouldn't have offered my two penny's worth.

I was just saying that perceptions and descriptions of colours do vary.

It's ok, sorry Greeneyedgirl, I thought about what I posted afterwards and thought, well, that was a bit daft, Callistemon!

It is subjective but yes, I agreed with my friend that the correct term for that particular colour was magenta.
I checked on a colour chart when I got home too.
Of course, she could have been seeing purple and I could have been seeing blue for all we knew, although neither of us has been diagnosed with colour blindness.

I do get a bit carried away sometimes Callistemon, I've been doing a neuroscience course and am particularly fascinated by visual and auditory illusions.

Didn't mean to come across as a clever clogs. You know what they say, a little knowledge.......

That sounds interesting Greeneyedgirl.

Teal is a blue green to me, but we all see colour slightly differently.