Re: What counts as a basic color word?

Adam Walker scripsit:

> Well the English word "blonde" is only used for hair and wood. Other things that
> color are gold or beige or yellow or anything but blonde.
And "addled" is applied only to eggs and brains, more often the latter.
Languages are full of these lexical oddities, and English perhaps has more
of them than most languages, because of its huge multi-sourced lexicon and
endless diversity of near-synonyms.

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_