January 11, 2005

definitely not cardinal

At the Office Superstore where I am employed, we are selling a brand new chair. Normally this wouldn’t be news in and of it self, but I thought it’s unusual color was worth mentioning. Not that dark red is all that unusual a color, I recently enjoyed a college football game where both teams had a dark red represented on their uniforms, with the lighter shade humiliating the darker; No, what makes this particular particular shade of dark red worth mentioning is that it is referred to in all capital letters as OXBLOOD. It’s comforting to know that if somebody asks, “What color is the inside of an adult castrated Bull?”, I’ll have a reference with which to point. The oddest thing about this color is that I’ve heard it mentioned before; I’ve heard it before and this is the first time it struck me as odd. Every other time this color has been mentioned in my presence I thought it completely ordinary that the blood of a bovine should be used to describe the color of the drapes or davenport that someone saw earlier that day.

The question as to why Staples decided to go with this particular name when so many others would have done just fine does have me puzzled. I imagine the conversation to have gone not completely unlike this:

*One Day in Marketing*
Karl: Hey Marcy, what shade of red would you say this chair is?
Marcy: It almost looks like a deep burgundy…
Karl: ..But not quite.
Marcy: It definitely has hints of maroon.
Karl: But not enough hints to lead me to an answer.
Marcy: Perhaps Cardinal?
Karl: Oh no, that’s not anywhere close.
Marcy: Then wine!
Karl: No, no, NO! None of those are right. It’s something more… more… more Pagan.
Marcy: Pagan?
Karl: Yes, Pagan… or maybe… Old Testament. Something that says sacrifice…
Marcy: Ox Blood?
Karl: PERFECT.

Then again, maybe I’m just imagining things.

No Comments

  1. Every since our trip to LA I have been a closet Trojan fan and have throughly enjoyed watching them trounce any team other than the Ducks, Beavers or CAL. I only like Cal because Aaron Rodgers and one of his Tackles came from our league.

    I watched several bowl games and got tired of Craig James flapping his yap about how the pack 10 was overrated. Craig James Sucks!!

    Gotta go

    Thanks for the quick entertainment

    Comment by Wagnanomos — January 12, 2005 @ 9:10 am

  2. That dialogue is hilarious Red.

    Comment by Patrick — January 23, 2005 @ 8:50 pm

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