How do you define what blue is? What even IS colour? Turns out, the quest to define colours was happening along with a standardisation crisis and a dictionary crisis at the venerable Merriam-Webster. Lexicographer and author Kory Stamper tells us all about it, and about her new book True Color.
Timestamps
- Start: 0:00
- Intros: 1:17
- News: 12:40
- Related or Not: 33:34
- Chat with Kory Stamper, author of True Color: 50:43
- Words of the Week: 1:41:58
- Comment from Lauretta: 2:04:57
- The Reads: 2:08:14
- Outtakes: 2:16:48
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Very similar; ones and twos
- Stan → tan (distance 1)
- Amir → amber (distance 2 from here on down)
- Chris L → cerise
- Kory is here → corn
- Rach → peach
- Lucy → puce
- Ben and Rene → red
- Manú, Sam, and Tony → tan
- Whitney → white
Threes
- Amy → amber
- Aldo → aqua
- Keith and Nigel → beige
- Luís → blue
- Rodger → copper
- John K → corn
- Daniel, Kevin, and O Tim → denim
- Xekri → ecru
- Elías → flax
- Helen → green
- Larry → grey
- Diego → indigo
- James C → jade
- Mignon → linen
- Martha → maroon
- Fiona → pink
- Iztin → tan
- Kelly and Steele → teal
Fours
- Amanita → amaranth
- Andy B and Rachel → amber
- Ayesha, Joanna, Kathy, Laura D, and Lyssa → aqua
- Hedvig → beige
- Nasrin → carmine
- Colleen and Wolfdog → celadon
- Sydney → cyan
- Nikoli → gold
- Ignacio → indigo
- Rosemary → rose
Getting to be a bit of a stretch
- Meredith and Faux Frenchie → amaranth (distance 5)
- Kristofer → bistre (distance 5)
- John Mac → coral (distance 5)
- gramaryen → gamboge (distance 5)
- Molly Dee → gold (distance 5)
- Johntroy → tomato (distance 5)
- Pharaohkatt → charcoal (distance 6)
- Ariaflame → chocolate (distance 6)
- Canny Archer → cinnabar (distance 6)
- LordMortis → apricot (distance 7)
- Sonic Snejhog → olivine (distance 8)
- Linguistic Chaos → indigo (distance 11)
- Andy from Logophilius → asparagus (distance 14)
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Become a Patron!Show notes
Photo finally solves the black and blue/white and gold dress debate
https://www.9news.com.au/world/photo-finally-solves-the-black-and-blue-white-and-gold-dress-debate/15465485-dad8-45d2-8da0-8d20558b5013
Visual field | XKCD
https://xkcd.com/1080/
Why are blue and indigo shown as separate colors on some spectrums?
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-blue-and-indigo-shown-as-separate-colors-on-some-spectrums/answer/Rob-Brown-13
What Is Indigo and Why Is It in the Color Wheel?
https://handwovenmagazine.com/what-is-indigo/
English Language Bill
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2026/198/en/latest/#LMS1493976
English doesn’t need protecting in New Zealand – but other languages do
https://theconversation.com/english-doesnt-need-protecting-in-new-zealand-but-other-languages-do-276951
The debate NZ should really be having about language policy
https://theconversation.com/the-debate-nz-should-really-be-having-about-language-policy-277074
Lālanga | YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/@lalanga5233
China’s new language law to criminalise advocacy of ethnic minority rights
https://www.tibetanreview.net/chinas-new-language-law-to-criminalise-advocacy-of-ethnic-minority-rights/
Callers to Washington state hotline press 2 for Spanish and get accented AI English instead
https://apnews.com/article/washington-dol-spanish-accent-ai-3a1b8438a5674c07242a8d48c057d5a3#
Washington roasted for using AI feature with heavily accented English instead of actual Spanish on state helpline
https://fortune.com/2026/03/02/washington-state-accented-english-with-spanish-accent-amazon-web-services/
True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color–from Azure to Zinc Pink, by Kory Stamper
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914/true-color-by-kory-stamper/
Himba color perception
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=18237
Dependency | XKCD
https://xkcd.com/2347/
The vibe coding hangover is upon us
https://www.fastcompany.com/91398622/the-vibe-coding-hangover-is-upon-us
Microsoft gets tired of “Microslop,” bans the word on its Discord, then locks the server after backlash
https://www.windowslatest.com/2026/03/02/microsoft-gets-tired-of-microslop-bans-the-word-on-its-discord-then-locks-the-server-after-backlash/
Microsoft Bans the Word “Microslop” on Copilot Discord, Gets So Humiliated That It Locks Down the Whole Server
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/microsoft-bans-word-microslop-discord-lock
There’s a Grim New Expression: “AI;DR”
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/aidr-meaning
How we discovered three poisonous books in our university library
https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-three-poisonous-books-in-our-university-library-98358
Transcript
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