Sunday Rest: Word Not To Use Today: puce.

'And here,' said the Duke, leading the way through a pair of gilded doors, 'is the puce drawing room.'

No, not really.

I mean, it's never going to happen, is it? No one is going to decorate a room in puce. And even if they did, then they'd call it recently deceased mole, or murmur something about berry shades, or yearning autumn hues.

Let's face it, the only thing that's ever puce is the complexion of someone extremely angry, and ancient with it.

Poor puce. But then what can you expect from a word that is much too like a mixture of puke and puss?

I'm going to stick with dastardly mauve, I think, myself.

Word Not To Use Today: puce. This word is shortened from the French couleur puce, which means flea-coloured, from the Latin pūlex, flea.

PS The definition of puce in my Collins dictionary is "a colour varying from deep red to dark purplish brown".

An image search on Wilimedia Commons, though, comes out strongly in favour of a dull mauve.





A bit like this flea, really.