True Color

1. Color is a maddeningly slippery sensation, defying simple definition.

Color is so maddening, so beguiling, because what we think we know about color contradicts how we experience it.

Perception vs. Reality. Our understanding of color is deeply intertwined with how we perceive it, often leading to contradictions. Scientifically, color is a complex interplay of light, biology (photoreceptors in the retina), and neurology (brain interpretation), yet we instinctively assign intrinsic colors to objects. This inherent slipperiness makes objective definition challenging.

Triangle of Meaning. The linguistic "triangle of meaning" highlights the indirect relationship between a word (symbol) and the actual thing it represents (referent). For color, this triangle becomes wobbly because we often draw a solid line between a color sensation and its name, even when the physical reality is far more nuanced. For example:

• Rainbows are perceived but intangible.
• Mixing lights (red + green = yellow) differs from mixing paints (red + green = mud).
• White is all colors, black is no colors, yet we don't always think of them as "colors."

Subjectivity and Language. The subjective nature of color perception means that "the blue I see" might not be "the blue everyone else sees." Language attempts to categorize this dizzying experience, but even basic color terms are fraught with complexity. This fundamental challenge underscores why defining color has been such a persistent struggle.

2. World War I exposed the urgent need for color standardization in industry.

Once color became a wartime concern, everything colorful—paints, stains, glass coatings, metal coatings, dyes, enamels—needed to be color coordinated on a national scale.

Dye Famine Crisis. Prior to WWI, Germany dominated synthetic dye production, supplying 90% of the world's needs. The war severed this supply, creating a "Dye Famine" in the U.S. that threatened industries from textiles to money printing, costing the American economy billions. This crisis highlighted America's reliance on foreign chemistry and the lack of domestic standardization.

Tactical Color. Color proved to be a critical tactical element in warfare, demanding unprecedented precision.

• Flare pistols needed colors visible day and night.
• Ship camouflage required specific, consistent hues to avoid U-boat detection.
• Thousands of yards of camouflage covers had to be dyed to exact, consistent shades.
• Chlorine gas, initially yellow-green, was problematic due to its visibility.

National Bureau of Standards. The U.S. government tasked the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) with addressing this national defense crisis. The NBS, initially focused on consumer goods, received a massive funding increase to research and standardize color across all industries. This marked a pivotal shift, elevating color from a "province of Parisian couturiers" to a matter of national security.

3. Early dictionary efforts to define color clashed between scientific purity and practical usage.

Priest insisted that he was not going to define the names of colors. 'These weird and fanciful names are numbered as the sands of the sea,' Priest tersely breaks it to Carhart, 'and I would regard their definition as not only a futile waste of labor but impossible.'

The Lexicographer's Dilemma. Merriam-Webster, aiming for scholarly success with its Second New International Dictionary, hired top scientists like Irwin Priest from the NBS to define technical terms, including color. However, Priest, a physicist, disdained common color names, viewing them as "weird and fanciful" and beneath scientific rigor.

Clash of Philosophies. This led to a direct conflict between Priest's insistence on scientific purity and managing editor Paul Carhart's need for practical, usable definitions for a general dictionary. Priest demanded:

• Complete editorial control over his section.
• A lengthy, signed article on colorimetry.
• Refusal to define common color names.
• Ignoring deadlines.
  Carhart, overwhelmed by managing 200+ consultants, reluctantly conceded to many of Priest's demands, creating a significant gap in the dictionary's color coverage.

Vagueness and Imprecision. Prior dictionaries offered vague color definitions, if any. Samuel Johnson defined "pink" as "a colour used by painters," offering no specific hue. The Century Dictionary defined "puce" as "of a flea-color," which was only helpful with excellent vision and a live flea. This imprecision was unacceptable for a scientifically informed dictionary, yet Priest's refusal left Merriam-Webster in a bind.

4. Isaac Godlove pioneered a pragmatic system to define colors for the masses.

Godlove understood that if you wanted to begin educating people about color, you have to start where they are.

Bridging the Divide. Isaac Hahn Godlove, a chemist and color scientist, was brought in after Priest's partial withdrawal. Unlike Priest, Godlove recognized the need to reconcile scientific accuracy with common understanding. His experience curating a color exhibit at the Museum of the Peaceful Arts taught him that people needed tangible reference points, not just abstract scientific measurements.

Munsell and Maerz & Paul. Godlove proposed using the Munsell system, a visually intuitive color space, as an explanatory framework, combined with the extensive commercial color names cataloged in Maerz and Paul's A Dictionary of Color. This approach aimed to:

• Provide a scientific basis for color relationships.
• Incorporate a comprehensive list of industry-relevant color names.
• Make definitions comprehensible to the average reader.

Usage-Minded Approach. Godlove challenged rigid scientific definitions that ignored common usage. He argued for including "orange" and "purple" as core color terms, despite their non-spectral nature, because people widely understood them. He also developed a system of comparative definitions, relating lesser-known colors to more common ones, such as:

• "a [color category] that is of higher/lower saturation and higher/lower brilliance than [a commonly known color]."
  This innovative method aimed to guide readers through the color spectrum using familiar anchors.

5. The ISCC-NBS method aimed to bridge scientific rigor with common language.

It is possible to name any color on a scientific basis and with the use of 12 ordinary English words, the adverb "very," and the suffix "ish."

A Universal Rubric. Godlove's work with the Inter-Society Color Council (ISCC) led to the development of the ISCC-NBS method, a plain-language system for describing colors. This method sought to standardize color descriptions using a limited set of common English words, making it accessible to scientists, artists, and industry professionals alike.

Core Components: The ISCC-NBS method defined colors using:

• Eleven basic color terms: Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, pink, gray, white, black.
• Modifiers for lightness/darkness: Light, medium, dark, pale, brilliant.
• Modifiers for saturation/intensity: Weak, moderate, strong, vivid.
• Directional modifiers: "-ish" (e.g., yellowish green).
  This allowed for systematic descriptions like "light, weak yellowish green" for "seafoam."

Adapting to Reality. The committee realized that strict scientific accuracy sometimes clashed with common perception. For instance, "brown" was re-included as a basic term despite its complex spectral nature, because "dark reddish yellowish orange" for "chocolate" was impractical. They also found that modifier boundaries (e.g., between "dark" and "medium") varied across different hues, requiring flexible mapping. This pragmatic evolution aimed to make the standard truly useful across diverse applications.

6. Uncredited women were instrumental in shaping color science and dictionary definitions.

Dictionary making is not a romance, even between a man and a language. It is a rhetorical and material production that…was underwritten by women’s labors even as it foreclosed on their participations in dictionary production and content.

Hidden Labor. While men often received public credit, women performed crucial, often unacknowledged, work in both color science and lexicography. Margaret Noss Godlove, a chemist and IHG's second wife, was pivotal in defining colors for Webster's Third. Despite her scientific background, she was initially paid a "stenographic wage" of $1/hour, even as she performed extensive research, measurement, and definition writing.

Beyond the Typewriter. Margaret's contributions extended far beyond clerical tasks:

• She indexed thousands of color names for the ISCC-NBS system.
• She meticulously measured and mapped colors onto the Munsell system.
• She co-authored a technical paper on the Munsell glossy standard.
• She managed the ISCC newsletter, familiarizing herself with the entire color field.
  Her work was so integral that after IHG's death, she completed his remaining dictionary definitions and continued to be a respected figure in the color community.

Systemic Erasure. Margaret's story reflects a broader pattern of women's contributions being downplayed or appropriated. Anne Driscoll, a highly capable Merriam-Webster editor, effectively acted as managing editor for Webster's Third but was relegated to a secretarial role in official records and a demeaning caricature in a company play. This systemic erasure highlights the gendered nature of scientific and academic recognition during the era.

7. The creation of an unabridged dictionary exacted a heavy human toll.

The press of editorial duties was a-cranking, which meant that everyone was getting crankier.

Relentless Pressure. Producing an unabridged dictionary like Webster's Third was a monumental, often soul-crushing task. The project was perpetually behind schedule, over budget, and plagued by high staff turnover. Managing editor Paul Carhart, overwhelmed by the "enormous correspondence" with consultants and the relentless pace, tragically died by suicide.

Health and Burnout. The intense workload and stress led to widespread burnout and health issues among the staff. Edward Oakes, a dedicated associate editor, suffered from worsening post-polio syndrome, exacerbated by the demands of the job. He eventually resigned, citing his inability to "concentrate sufficiently on the work" due to pain and fatigue.

Gove's Unyielding Schedule. Philip Gove, as managing editor, imposed an impossibly ambitious schedule, demanding that 400,000 entries be defined or revised by the end of 1955. This meant editors had to produce an average of 24 definitions per week, a blistering pace that ignored the complexity of many entries. His unyielding approach, coupled with a strict, silent office environment, contributed to the exodus of 81 editors within four years.

8. Philip Gove's vision for a "pure language" dictionary faced immense internal and external pressures.

Gove’s changes were entirely oriented toward high scholarship, but the press release billed the dictionary as a book that was 'Planned to Be Read and Enjoyed by Students, Housewives, and Business Men.'

Scientific Lexicography. Philip Gove, the driving force behind Webster's Third, aimed to create a "pure dictionary" based on modern linguistic and scientific principles. He sought to describe language as it was actually used, rather than prescribing how it should be used, leading to the inclusion of slang and informal terms. This objective, data-driven approach was revolutionary for its time.

Marketing Missteps. Despite Gove's scholarly intentions, the dictionary's marketing department, eager to boost sales, highlighted its "revolutionary" inclusion of slang and informal words like "ain't." This created a public relations disaster, with critics accusing Merriam-Webster of "sabotage" and "debasing our language" by abandoning its traditional role as a linguistic authority.

"Scientism" Controversy. Critics like Wilson Follett and Jacques Barzun derided the Third's "scientism," arguing that its objective, descriptive approach stripped language of its cultural and moral value. They saw the dictionary's embrace of scientific rigor as a betrayal of the humanities, reducing words to "algebraic signs." This backlash, though often misinformed, deeply affected the dictionary's reception and Gove personally.

9. Commercial and cultural forces profoundly influenced color naming and perception.

The more evocative the color name, the better.

Marketing Psychology. The rise of consumer goods and mass marketing in the 20th century transformed how colors were named and sold. Companies discovered that associative or fanciful color names, rather than basic or descriptive ones, significantly increased consumer appeal and willingness to pay. For example:

• "Josephine" (a dark blush) sounded more romantic than "rose blush."
• Helena Rubinstein's "Crackerjack" lipstick was nearly identical to "Copper Leaf," but the name evoked different feelings.
• "Autumn Haze" fur was described as "the warm tan of a beagle puppy," appealing to emotion.

Fashion Forecasting. Margaret Hayden Rorke, of the Textile Color Card Association, pioneered the color forecasting industry. Her reports, based on market savvy and even "embedded spies" in Paris, dictated color trends for manufacturers. This industry, driven by consumer desire for novelty, often created ephemeral, evocative names like "Ambroon" or "Flambic," which were detached from precise color definitions.

Functional Color. Faber Birren's work in "functional color" demonstrated how color could psychologically influence behavior, particularly in industrial settings. By painting factory machinery in specific hues (e.g., light green to reduce eyestrain, red for danger), accident rates dropped. This practical application of color psychology further blurred the lines between objective color science and subjective human response.

10. Standardization efforts often yield imperfect, evolving results.

The human mind is too expansive, too inventive, too frickin’ squirrelly to be content with what is immediately in front of it.

The Elusive Standard. Despite decades of effort, a truly universal color standard remains elusive. The ISCC-NBS method, though scientifically sound and usage-aware, never achieved widespread adoption, partly because it lacked accompanying color charts in its initial publication. Other systems like RGB, CMYK, CIELUV, CIELAB, and Pantone emerged, each catering to specific industries or technologies.

Lexicographical Compromises. The color definitions in Webster's Third, despite the Godloves' meticulous work, were ultimately compromised by production pressures and staff turnover. Many of IHG's careful distinctions were lost, and some definitions reverted to less precise forms. The final color plates, intended to clarify the ISCC-NBS system, lacked the specific color chips needed to make the system truly accessible to the average reader.

The Persistence of Vagueness. Ultimately, people prefer a degree of vagueness in color descriptions. While scientists strive for precision, common usage often favors evocative, context-dependent names. The debate over "primary colors" (red, blue, yellow vs. cyan, magenta, yellow) illustrates how deeply ingrained cultural assumptions resist scientific correction, even in dictionaries. The story of "pompadour," shifting from pink to blue to reddish-purple, highlights the dynamic, often illogical, nature of color language.