You guys know I was a professional writer. As such, I've had many conversations with other writers and editors about effective writing, which I summarize as, "Be clear. Be concise."

 

So, it drives me crazy to see how lure makers describe colors. Whereas "red," "blue," and "green" are all clear and concise, luremakers chose descriptors like 'Double Butterscotch Wavy Gravy Palooza.' Okay, I exaggerate, but here are some real lure color names: 

 

Sexy Ayu: no clarity here

 

Clear Lake Hitch: neither clear nor concise

 

California 420: Huh?

 

They're not cute. They're cutesy. 

 

25 years ago, women's clothing manufacturers succumbed to goofy, meaningless color names too, like "canteen" and "crush," but have largely reverted to clarity, going nowadays with "black" and "white." I wish the boys would follow the girls and use words that convey, not dismay this old writer. 

 

 

4 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

You guys know I was a professional writer. As such, I've had many conversations with other writers and editors about effective writing, which I summarize as, "Be clear. Be concise."

 

So, it drives me crazy to see how lure makers describe colors. Whereas "red," "blue," and "green" are all clear and concise, luremakers chose descriptors like 'Double Butterscotch Wavy Gravy Palooza.'

 

 

 

Nothing more than sales gimmicks pandering to people's likes and dislikes. Psychological keys to unlock specific minds... I agree with ya on this one, but I never pay attention to sales pitches anyways. Its one reason I have a hard time watching any pro bass shows. Every word out of their mouths is per contract and designed to sell, sell, sell.

 

A lot of time when I watch pro bass fishing I just keep it on mute.

 

Changing subject, I for one would like to learn more about your past in writing. I have also written professionally for around 30 years or so. Its why my comments around here are so full of words- or something else!

5 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

 

Nothing more than sales gimmicks pandering to people's likes and dislikes. Psychological keys to unlock specific minds... I agree with ya on this one, but I never pay attention to sales pitches anyways. Its one reason I have a hard time watching any pro bass shows. Every word out of their mouths is per contract and designed to sell, sell, sell.

 

A lot of time when I watch pro bass fishing I just keep it on mute.

 

Changing subject, I for one would like to learn more about your past in writing. I have also written professionally for around 30 years or so. Its why my comments around here are so full of words- or something else!

 

I was a schoolmarm for about 25 years and then became a freelance writer. I've written hundreds of magazine articles in business, travel, women's, and even outdoor magazines and have also written a few children's books. When I first started and was desperate for work, I even did pretty unpleasant work like ghostwriting books, editing PhD dissertations, writing for CEOs, writing pamphlets for the Army, etc. Now I'm tuckered and fish. How about you?

I get the color name thing, it’s why I just shop by the colors that I am trying to use for the local forage or what works best. I really don’t know why they call some of the colors what they do.

 

 think that it’s just a sales gimmick in all reality, it’s also why I don’t try to get sucked into just using one color. I don’t want to have a constant go to and just want to keep mixing it up.

 

 

Try looking at house paint colors. Can someone tell me what moth wing gray is or repose gray is, not to mention perfect greige.These are real colors by the way.

Just now, jbmaine said:

Try looking at house paint colors. Can someone tell me what moth wing gray is or repose gray is, not to mention perfect greige.These are real colors by the way.

 

Exactly! 

23 minutes ago, jbmaine said:

Try looking at house paint colors. Can someone tell me what moth wing gray is or repose gray is, not to mention perfect greige.These are real colors by the way.

Speaking of moth wing gray.  I've been looking for a 5 inch ribbon tail worm in moth wing grey,  preferably with morning smoke whispers colored glitter.  😆

2 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

California 420: Huh?

Just a shot in the dark but I’d guess it’s some shade of green. 😂

That's why I've started referring to colors by they're CMYK values.  Just string four numbers together and everyone can assume they come in the CMYK order.  "Wow, that's a beautiful 77,0,6,16 bracelet you have!" 

 

It's specific, concise, and accurate.  No longer will we have to wonder if the oranges on the grocery list are fruit, or a color!

The color thing might be some kind of code.

Maybe there's a special ring that you're supposed to blow in to get the translation. 

Check the very bottom of a box of Captain Crunch. 

If you know, you know.

A-Jay

 

2 minutes ago, MontanaBasser said:

That's why I've started referring to colors by they're CMYK values.  Just string four numbers together and everyone can assume they come in the CMYK order.  "Wow, that's a beautiful 77,0,6,16 bracelet you have!" 

 

It's specific, concise, and accurate.  No longer will we have to wonder if the oranges on the grocery list are fruit, or a color!

 

Ha!

2 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

The color thing might be some kind of code.

Maybe there's a special ring that you're supposed to blow in to get the translation. 

Check the very bottom of a box of Captain Crunch. 

If you know, you know.

A-Jay

 

You meanThe little Orphan Annie Secret Society decoder pin?

 

Don’t forget to drink your ovaltine. 😁

My brother-in-law is blue-green color blind. He has to take my sister with him when he goes shopping. He understands the concept of blue, green, and shade of blue and green, so he could buy things based on the labeled color when the labels said Blue, Green, LIght Blue, Dark Green, etc.  But he is helpless with the nonsense color names they use nowadays. What color is "forest fern" for instance? How about "sunlit arboreal green"? 

Here’s my take on color names.  This is from the manufacturer’s perspective. You walk into a tackle shop and ask for a green pumpkin worm. If it’s a well stocked shop, you will be asked “whose worm do you want?”  There could be 20 companies who make a green pumpkin worm. By using a different name, the manufacturer will have you asking for their worm ,even if it’s the same color as everyone else. A lot of color  names don’t have anything to do with the actual color. It’s a iut people asking for and buying a specific brand

I think I look at this the opposite way.  Be as creative as you want in naming lure colors.  I don’t shop by the name anyway so make it fun.  Reaction innovations has some fun ones in the beaver lineup.  Sure it doesn’t help someone who is new to the sport to understand what a given color name is but we don’t shop by a catalog name list anymore.

 

Also, once you look at names for a while, you’ll see common themes.  Sexy means a chartreuse stripe, usually with some blue on top and white on the bottom (e.g. sexy shad).  Ayu is a known color that is a specific darker olive over a lighter olive color. California is a green pumpkin variant, usually with red and/or gold flake.  Ghost means it is likely translucent.  

45 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

I think I look at this the opposite way.  Be as creative as you want in naming lure colors.  I don’t shop by the name anyway so make it fun.  Reaction innovations has some fun ones in the beaver lineup.  Sure it doesn’t help someone who is new to the sport to understand what a given color name is but we don’t shop by a catalog name list anymore.

 

Also, once you look at names for a while, you’ll see common themes.  Sexy means a chartreuse stripe, usually with some blue on top and white on the bottom (e.g. sexy shad).  Ayu is a known color that is a specific darker olive over a lighter olive color. California is a green pumpkin variant, usually with red and/or gold flake.  Ghost means it is likely translucent.  

 

Ahh, it's another language. If you ever teach a Lure Colors as a Second Language class, I'll be sitting in the front row...and taking notes! Also, can you explain why words like oaky, butter, chewy, and grippy are used to describe the tastes of wines?

You guys are not poets...  !!!

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Ahh, it's another language. If you ever teach a Lure Colors as a Second Language class, I'll be sitting in the front row...and taking notes! Also, can you explain why words like oaky, butter, chewy, and grippy are used to describe the tastes of wines?

 

Actually I can.  We’re big winos (I’ve got about 400 bottles here).  A lot of wine is aged in oak barrels and depending on how many times the barrels have been used and what they have been used for the barrels will impart characteristics into the wine.  New, unused oak has a very characteristic flavor and smell to it.  A lot of cheaper wines and mass producers will try to get oak aging into wine by putting oak staves into steel tanks instead of properly aging the wine in an oak barrel.  The more sophisticated way is to use used barrels that have a milder oak flavor and age the wine a bit longer.  Oak done properly is what makes some of the most complex and sophisticated wines in the world.  Oak done poorly gets you 1990’s California Chardonnay.  

 

Buttery is one of the characteristics that you can get from wood aging.  It also comes from a specific type of fermentation called malo -lactic fermentation.  Primary characteristics (flavors) are the fruity flavors that come from the grapes themselves.  Secondary characteristics come from the winemaking process itself like fermentation, pressing, etc.  A buttery flavor is a secondary characteristic.

 

Chewy and grippy are largely describing the same thing- tannin.  Chewy can also relate to the mouthfeel (does it feel thin and watery or rich and ‘coating’ on the inside of your mouth).  Tannins are molecules in the wine that come from either the oak barrels or from the stems and skins of the grapes.  Tannin molecules (the same tannins that make your bogs dark) are big organic molecules that come from woody/stemy plant stuff that grab onto other organic molecules.  Picture a hand and that’s what tannins look like at the molecular level- a central chunk with fingers of atoms stemming out that grab stuff.  When tannins go into your mouth, you can feel them gripping onto your tongue.  They give the same sensation as bitters and bitter things. That’s why grippy and chewy are good descriptors- the tannins are literally gripping onto your tongue and cheeks and it feels like you have to chew through them to get them off.  

@casts_by_fly: Ah, you're a polygot!

 

I don't think I have a discerning enough tongue...or I'm simply not willing to rave about the emperor's new clothes. I'm going with the former, but am not going to toss the latter as I've never drank any wine that tasted like butter. 

 

I do appreciate your explanation of grippy and chewy and they seem apt, but butter....

 

10 minutes ago, Reel said:

You guys are not poets...  !!!

 

Actually, I am. I've had poetry published in several journals, but publishable poetry is precise. "Clear Lake Hitch" is sloshy. 

8 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

You guys know I was a professional writer. As such, I've had many conversations with other writers and editors about effective writing, which I summarize as, "Be clear. Be concise."

 

So, it drives me crazy to see how lure makers describe colors. Whereas "red," "blue," and "green" are all clear and concise, luremakers chose descriptors like 'Double Butterscotch Wavy Gravy Palooza.' Okay, I exaggerate, but here are some real lure color names: 

 

Sexy Ayu: no clarity here, Sexy means it has a chartreuse stripe.

 

Clear Lake Hitch: neither clear nor concise, Fish that lives in Clear Lake, light blue-gray.

 

California 420: Huh?, Reaction Innovation Sprayed Grass, copied by Zoom.

 

They're not cute. They're cutesy. 

 

25 years ago, women's clothing manufacturers succumbed to goofy, meaningless color names too, like "canteen" and "crush," but have largely reverted to clarity, going nowadays with "black" and "white." I wish the boys would follow the girls and use words that convey, not dismay this old writer. 

 

 

Not much help!
Tom

7 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

Clear Lake Hitch: neither clear nor concise

 

Clear Lake Hitch are a subspecies of hitch.  Hitch are native to California.  I would argue that it is a precise color description.  However, I agree with you that many color descriptions do not help.  "Silver" would be better.  

 

 

54 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@casts_by_fly: Ah, you're a polygot!

 

I don't think I have a discerning enough tongue...or I'm simply not willing to rave about the emperor's new clothes. I'm going with the former, but am not going to toss the latter as I've never drank any wine that tasted like butter. 

 

I do appreciate your explanation of grippy and chewy and they seem apt, but butter....

 

Rhombauer carneros Chardonnay.  It smells and tastes like butter (and kinda smells like buttered popcorn).  On top of Chardonnay flavors of course.  

8 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

California 420: Huh?

 

I can’t imagine what stupid company came up with this. Dumb.

14 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

You guys know I was a professional writer. As such, I've had many conversations with other writers and editors about effective writing, which I summarize as, "Be clear. Be concise."

 

So, it drives me crazy to see how lure makers describe colors. Whereas "red," "blue," and "green" are all clear and concise, luremakers chose descriptors like 'Double Butterscotch Wavy Gravy Palooza.' Okay, I exaggerate, but here are some real lure color names: 

 

Sexy Ayu: no clarity here

 

Clear Lake Hitch: neither clear nor concise

 

California 420: Huh?

 

They're not cute. They're cutesy. 

 

25 years ago, women's clothing manufacturers succumbed to goofy, meaningless color names too, like "canteen" and "crush," but have largely reverted to clarity, going nowadays with "black" and "white." I wish the boys would follow the girls and use words that convey, not dismay this old writer. 

 

 

I mostly agree with this..except your gripe with the Ayu one. Ayu is an actual Japanese fish species and everyone there knows the basic color of an Ayu. Just as everyone here in North America knows the general colors of shad, shiner,  perch or baby bass. 

 

I presume that the bait with Ayu color was from a Japanese brand..or those seeking Japanese tackle.

 

 

 

 

Colors catch the angler first.  Dumb names are just branding and they reflect what we as anglers are buying!  😉😉😉