"Purple" or "Blue"

[bainsey]

I came into work today wearing a purple short-sleeve knit shirt. Purple is also the color of two local schools, one public (Hampden, my town), one private (Bapst).

One of my colleagues saw me and exclaimed, "Hey! I see you're wearing your Bapst purple!" I feigned offense, critically stating that I only wear the supreme purple, Hampden purple.

(It's the same damn shade.)

After that banter, we talked about how officials will call purple teams "blue." We both agreed, "they're not blue!" I told her it's an old mechanic, and I will only say "blue" if my parter absolutely insists. (A lack a uniformity doesn't look good.)

A few years ago, during our annual pre-season conference, an instructor mentioned that usage of two-syllable colors is becoming more accepted, and several older officials reacted as if he said 2+2=5. Personally, I don't see the big deal about one syllable. I can see "gold" for yellow, and even "red" for maroon, but what's so hard about spitting out an extra syllable crisply, especially when we should be all about "getting it right?"