More color confusion

[Evan Bradley]

According to Wikipedia, "Pure topaz is transparent but is usually
tinted by impurities; typical topaz is wine or straw-yellow. They may
also be white, gray, green, blue, pink or reddish-yellow and
transparent or translucent."

I'm a guy, as well, and I don't keep up with the latest jewelry
trends, but perhaps the blue has become more popular than the common
yellow variety, thereby shifting the color associated with the gem
name?

Also according to wikipedia, "A recent trend in jewelry is the
manufacture of topaz specimens that display iridescent colors, by
applying a thin layer of titanium oxide via physical vapor deposition,
this stone is then sold as 'mystic topaz'."  If this catches on, maybe
'topaz' will come to mean iridescent ;)


On 10/30/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: More color confusion
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 8:41 AM -0700 10/30/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >My wife says the color "topaz" is a dark yellow, and OED shows she's
> >right.  The color name has been in use for at least a century.
> >
> >   However, when she recently ordered a fashion item in "topaz" from
> >a well-known catalogue, the item was a light blue, very close to
> >turquoise.  But "turquoise" was an alternative color choice in that
> >very same catalogue!
> >
> >   Customer relations patiently explained that "topaz" really is
> >light blue but no green as turquoise.  Proof?  The manufacturer has
> >indeed designated the light-blue color as "topaz."
> >   And the OED definition, which was read to them, counts for nada.
> >So: credit but no free return shipping.
> >
> >   As a guy, I don't know "topaz."  It's a kinda rock, isn't it?
> >Could be any color. Probably gray.
> >
> >   JL
>
> Support for the cataloguist's theory of "topaz" as against the OED
> version comes from the web site for the Topaz Hotel in Washington
> (which promises guests "a world filled with positive energy and good
> karma" as well as "a gentle yin to D.C.'s vibrant yang", promises I
> turned out not to be in a position to evaluate, since the hotel was
> already booked on the days I was going to be put up there).  A glance
> at the background at http://www.topazhotel.com/ clearly indicates
> they have something like turquoise in mind, and clearly not dark
> yellow (unless it's intended to refer to the color of the highlighted
> lettering on the site, which seems unlikely).
>
> Maybe "topaz" should be added to the "livid" file.  And maybe the OED
> needs to update their entry.
>
> LH
>
> P.S.  Ford/Mercury has a model called the Topaz but it comes in lots
> of different colors, so that doesn't help much.
>
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