# Color names: is "x-ish y" mostly x, or mostly y? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2013, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535 "2013-11-22T16:20:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/21 "2013-11-22T23:47:33Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Red-Orange is nearly equal parts of red and orange, with maybe just slightly more red, so as to be barely distinct from Orange-Red. Interesting. I would say the other way around. “red-orange” is more orange than “orange-red,” just like Crayola taught me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/22 "2013-11-23T00:25:56Z")
I think of it in the same way I think of the compass points N, NNE, NE, ENE, E. Think of a circle. Blue is at 360°/0°, green is 60°, yellow is 120°, orange is 180°, red is 240°, and violet is 300°. Red-orange is 210°. That would put reddish orange between 211° and 225° and orangish red between 225° and 239°. Sorry. Sometimes I get this way. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/23 "2013-11-23T01:19:33Z")
Reddish orange is mostly orange (the noun is modified by the adjective, and the noun is “orange”); red-orange is “smack in the middle” and equal to orange-red (for that specific viewer’s definitions of “red” and “orange”). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/24 "2013-11-23T03:07:35Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Xish Y is more Y to me (like others said, it’s Y base modified by X); however, X-Y makes me think of a color right in the middle. Wish that was a poll choice. This. I’m an artist and work with color all the time. Reddish-orange is closer to orange, and red-orange is in the middle. And yeah, why isn’t this a poll choice? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/25 "2013-11-23T12:30:03Z")
I haven’t read the thread, but I assume others, like me, couldn’t vote because their choice is missing: “reddish-orange is mostly orange, but red-orange is a even mix of the two colors.” ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/26 "2013-11-23T13:17:56Z")
orange-red is more yellow than blue and orangish red is more green than violet. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/27 "2013-11-23T14:54:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I would disagree with this, because that would make “red-orange” and “orange-red” equivalent to each other, and I don’t think they are. I would say the first is a bit more orange, and the second a bit more red. Precisely. **pulyka** got it right. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/28 "2013-11-23T16:41:45Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Xish Y is more Y to me (like others said, it’s Y base modified by X); however, X-Y makes me think of a color right in the middle. Wish that was a poll choice. > [@H3Knuckles](#): > > Ah, shucks. I should’ve thought of that. :smack: I find it interesting that you didn’t think of what is probably the most common interpretation. FTR, I also agree with **bup**. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/29 "2013-11-23T17:03:07Z")
I will say that, as a kid, drawing with crayons, my first thought was that red-orange and orange-red should be the same color, right in the middle. I acquiesced to the authority of Crayola, but I won’t complain about someone who says they are the same color. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/30 "2013-11-23T21:31:09Z")
I voted for the last: “reddish orange & red-orange are both mostly orange” If the third"reddish orange is more orange, but red-orange is more red" means that red-orange is more red than it is orange, I disagree. If it means red-orange is is more red than reddish orange is, then I agree that this is also true. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/color-names-is-x-ish-y-mostly-x-or-mostly-y/674535/31 "2013-11-24T02:52:33Z")
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