Updating my Crayola Crayon Box
Have you heard? The Crayola Crayon 64 box is 50 years old. Yep, it made its debut on The Captain Kangaroo
Show in 1958. Ah, those were the good ol' days when the red crayon was
called "Red" and the bluish green crayon was called "Blue Green." We
learned about exotic colors like "Magenta," "Burnt Sienna," and my
personal fav -- "Periwinkle." We could transfer that color knowledge
into real life. The sky really was the color of "Sky Blue" and lavender
plants really have "Lavender" blooms. It was a life skill. It got us
through until we had to pick out house paint colors and realized that there a myriad of whites and beiges.
Over the years, in order to keep things fresh and current colors have been added, "retired" and re-named. Just for giggles see if you can guess all 64 colors. Some colors were changed to be PC ("Flesh" became "Peach" back in 1962. "Indian Red" -- named afer a red/brown pigment from India used in oil paint --
became "Chestnut" in 1999 because kids assumed it was the color you should use to draw Native Americans). For the 50th Birthday Box Crayola has re-named colors using nebulous terms like "Awesome," "Famous," "Best Friends" and "Bear Hug." Don't try to figure out which color is which. It defies description and logic. Those poor kids. Can't you just see it now? "OK class, please take out your crayons we're going to do a worksheet. Color all the triangles 'Fun in the Sun,' all the squares 'Happily Ever After,' and all the circles 'Super Happy' oh and don't forget to print your name in 'Giving Tree.' " Huh? Are you confused? Me too.
Why can't they use names that kids and moms can all relate to? I've put together my own suggestions: 
I've also decided that over the years the colors change priority. I
haven't seen "Amoxicillin" or "Spaghetti O's" in a decade but I can
still identify them. I don't think I could come up with a color for
"Colic" or "Tantrum" but somehow I can conjure up "Hot Flash." 
I think my favorite colors now are "Little Black Dress," "Mascara," "Merlot" and "Happy" (the color of that little blue box from Tiffany and Company). I'll let you know when I come up with a color called "Empty Nest." For now I'll just use "Silver" -- the real color of my hair.
Fun post--I'll need that empty nest color in 2 years ::sniff,sniff:: also, What about a color for martini?
Posted by:Sandra | April 30, 2008 at 07:57 AM
Is it really "PC" to call a color "peach" instead of "flesh"? It makes perfect sense to me, since only about 60 percent (and shrinking) of the American population has peach colored flesh.
Posted by:Gunfighter | May 02, 2008 at 05:19 AM
Sure it's PC. It's the same line of reasoning as Indian Red. The company was saying that flesh comes in more colors than peach. Mine would be, depending on time of year, either "Notebook Paper" or "Vanilla Frappuccino."
(FYI according to the US Census Bureau the "peach" colored population is actually increasing and as of 2005 was 80% not 60% of the US:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762156.html)
Posted by:Lollie | May 02, 2008 at 08:36 AM
Sure it's PC. It's the same line of reasoning as Indian Red. The company was saying that flesh comes in more colors than peach. Mine would be, depending on time of year, either "Notebook Paper" or "Vanilla Frappuccino."
(FYI according to the US Census Bureau the "peach" colored population is actually increasing and as of 2005 was 80% not 60% of the US:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762156.html)
Posted by:Lollie | May 02, 2008 at 08:36 AM