Fractured Colours Trivia Quiz

Answer: Violet

Violet is a colour we also tend to refer to as mauve. In shade, it ranges between blue and purple, but visually, it appears to be more of a light purple - unless you're colour blind. In which case, good luck figuring it out. In stone age times, cavemen and women of an artistic leaning made the colour by crushing up the element manganese and mixing it with water and animal fat. Throughout the centuries since then, violet and purple became colours traditionally associated with royalty and priests and other members of the ruling classes, and for long years, members of the lower classes were forbidden to wear it. The nerve of them!

The first non-natural colour violet was discovered in 1856 when an English chemist, William Perkin (1838-1907), was trying to manufacture an artificial form of the anti-malaria drug, quinine. The residue from some of his trials produced a product he called mauveine, or mauve. Oh, this is funny: Because male politicians who wear red ties are usually considered to be very assertive and confident, and male politicians who wear blue ties are looked upon as peaceful and co-operative, many male politicians from the onset of the 21st century, in an attempt to impress the public, have taken to wearing purple ties as the happy medium instead. This raises the question of whether anyone actually notices the colour of a politician's tie in the first place. Apparently female politicians have more sense. They continue to wear any colour.

Answer: Crimson

Crimson is a nice, bright, vibrant red. The colour used to be produced from the dried out shells of the bodies of certain small insects that live off the wood of oak trees in the Mediterranean area. When the more prolific cochineal insect from South America was found to produce the same colour, the little oak insects were left in peace. Cochineal farming appeared to be an industry on the brink of extinction too, until fears about the artificially produced dyes that produced the same colours were raised.

This has led to an upsurge in the production of cochineal farming again. These little insects live off the nopal cactus in South America, and they are collected every three months, meeting their doom to feed the needs of a crimson hungry world. Squish.

Answer: Almond

Almond is a colour best described as a cross between a creamy white and a light brown. It bears a close resemblance to the inner part of the delicious almond tree nut. This tree was native to the Mediterranean area and spread out to the rest of the world from there. Like the fruit from the Garden of Eden's forbidden tree, the wild almond tree also holds a potentially terrible consequence if its warnings are ignored.

Its fruit can produce the deadly poison cyanide. You'll be pleased to know however that it is only the nut from the domesticated, safe, almond tree that you purchase from your grocery stores.

These most delicious nuts are packed full of goodness. They improve the complexion and lower the risk of cancer, heart disease and cholesterol, and they are used in many different food and drink products right around the world.

Their oil is used as a beauty product, as a massage lubricant, and as a wood conditioner. The almond is mentioned many times in the Christian Bible, particularly so in Genesis, in India it is believed to be excellent for maintaining a healthy brain, and in China it is a symbol of female beauty and sorrow.

In Australia, however, the almond is simply considered a downright good nut to munch upon, with sadly no symbolism at all associated with it. We don't appear to be big on symbolism in this country.

Answer: Amber

Amber is a dark yellow colour, with just the hint of brown to its make-up. It's a lovely, rich shade. Its name is associated with the tree resin amber, which can be seen in many pieces of jewellery, and which is also used in the manufacture of some medicines and perfumes. For thousands of years, this fossilised tree resin was traded along the old silk routes of the world, and was a product in much demand. Amber is also associated with ambergris, the substance from the head of the poor old sperm whale.

This endangered species, almost hunted to extinction for its products, either expels the substance through its bottom, or through its mouth if it is too large to go through the other end. It doesn't smell too delectable when first disgorged either way, but hardens through months of exposure to the elements. Because it floats on water, it is subsequently found there, or on beaches to where it has eventally landed.

It can also be taken from the stomach of the whale itself after it is killed. Ambergris too was used by humans as a perfume, food flavouring, and in various medicines.

In some cases it was also used as an aphrodisiac. Dear me, all that from something a whale has rejected and ejected.

Answer: Fuchsia

Fuchsia (or Fuschia) is a beautiful rich colour which is a mix of red, pink and purple. The first record of it being used as a specific colour name was 1892 in England, but no doubt it was used prior to this official date as well. We associate the shade with the lovely fuchsia plant, first found by Europeans in the Caribbean in the late 1600s.

It was named after a famous German botanist, one Leonhart Fuchs who lived from 1501-1566. The colour crops up a lot in various dress styles from time to time, but is infinitely more attractive as a plant in a garden setting.

Answer: Ruby

The colour ruby is a deep, rich red. The word is associated with the gem of the same name which is a form of the hard mineral corundum. The red colour in this mineral which produces the ruby is a result of the presence of the element chromium. The main source of ruby for centuries was the country Burma, now known as Myanmar. Additional finds were eventually found in various sites in other countries as well, with the concentration of same being in Asia and the Middle East. Rubies were once so plentiful in India and China that they were placed beneath the foundations of all new structures to bring good luck, and used freely in everyday equipment, such as harnesses, as an ornament.

In the last few years of the 20th century, huge new deposits of rubies have been found in Greenland. Sadly so, these have been located in areas now being exposed as a result of the receding ice shelf there.

Answer: Apricot

Apricot is a lovely shade that is a cross between yellow and orange. Its name of course comes from the colour of the fruit apricot which it is resembles. Apricots grow on small trees with a simply exquisite flower when in blossom, and are believed to have come originally from the country Armenia.

They then made their way to India and China, were introduced into Greece by Alexander the Great, and from there, elsewhere. That particular gentleman seems to have introduced so many thing everywhere in the known world that it's surprising he had time to fight one battle, let alone the hundreds with which he is credited.

The seed from the apricot fruit in some of the warmer countries around the Mediterranean is so sweet in taste that it is often substituted for almonds.

Interestingly, the oil produced from the seed of this fruit has been used for centuries to treat various tumours and other illnesses. Back in its home country of Armenia, even the wood of the apricot has found a useful purpose. A specific musical instrument and many lovely carvings are produced from it.

Answer: Tangerine

There are several shades of tangerine, but all are meant to resemble the colour of the skin on the fruit tangerine. A tangerine itself is said to have a flavour that is a cross between two fruits of similar colours, that of the orange and the mandarin. Research carried out in the early 21st century at the University of Western Ontario in Canada has revealed that a substance in the skin of tangerine is very effective in preventing obesity in mice, and also works well with type 2 diabetes, so this is indeed promising. Furthermore, and just as excitingly, this same substance offers protection against heart attack and strokes. That's amazing, isn't it? Who knows where this will take us in the world of good health?

Answer: Sapphire

Sapphire is a deep, restful blue. The use of the word to describe the colour on its own has been recorded as far back as the fifteenth century in England. It is associated with the beautiful gem sapphire, noted for its lovely blues, but sapphires can also come in many colours except red. If it's red, it's a ruby.

The use of the word sapphire is mentioned way back in the Bible's Old Testament where God is described, in Ezekiel, as sitting on a sapphire throne. How uncomfortable. The gem is extremely hard.

It's quite an experience to sit and stare into the heart of a sapphire gem. Just like experiencing all the colours of blue that ever existed. They're a quite fascinating jewel.

Answer: Lavender

Lavender is a lovely pale violet colour. It comes in many different shades, from a rich shade that is almost violet, to a cooler shade that is approaching light blue. Hmmm, this is a colour, in spite of all its delicate hues, that came to symbolise a decadent lifestyle from the 1960s. How distasteful.

It really is such a pretty colour. On a nicer level, it has also been immortalised in song, in the lovely old English folk song "Lavender Blue" which first appeared in the 17th century. Now that's more like it.

A delicate lovely colour to fit a lovely delicate song.