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Re: English colour verbs (was: Adjectives, Adverbs, Ad...)

From:Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>
Date:Thursday, March 18, 2004, 9:20
Staving Tim may:
>Peter Bleackley wrote at 2004-03-17 09:17:45 (+0000) > > Staving Tim May: > > > > > >Mmmm, I don't agree with all of this. "To blue" is to my knowledge only > > >found as a technical term in metalworking, but I think "to brown" has > > >more general applicability; it's principally used in the kitchen, but > > >I find it acceptable for e.g. the action of the sun on skin. By > > >contrast, I'm not sure I can think of an example where I'd find "to > > >purple" natural. > > > > > > > > Vespasian's legions purpled their general. > > > > Pete > >I'm not familiar with such a usage, although I can understand it in >context. I assume this is a direct translation of the Latin idiom?
Simply my own coinage for how "purple" could be plausibly verbed. The expression in use is "raise to the purple". Pete

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Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>