My 9-year-old daughter came up with this fabulous new word for me today. I’d just begun an explanation of what was a new word to her– superfluous– when she repeated back in a confused tone, “Su-purple-ous?” I corrected her pronunciation, but then stopped to contemplate the deliciousness of her version. Mm, yesssss. Supurpleous. That’s me all over.
I can trace back by obsession with the colour purple to a character in a book I read as a young impressionable child: The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring by John Bellairs. This happens to be the third book in his Lewis Barnavelt series but it was the one I read first. (And I was disappointed to learn that the main character, Rose Rita, took a back seat to Lewis in the first two books.) In this book I was introduced to Mrs Zimmerman. Mrs Zimmerman is a witch. She’s old and clever. And she always dresses in purple, because that’s what she likes. I felt an instant kinship with Mrs Zimmerman, and from that day onward I vowed to fill my wardrobe and house with purple things.
I can’t say that I’ve ever achieved a Mrs Zimmerman level of purpleness. As much as I may wish to buy a dressy purple blouse, sometimes they’re just not available, or not in a style I’m willing to wear. I’ve had to accept that some shades of purple, particularly the lavender tones, just aren’t flattering on me. In the years when purple isn’t on the fashion designers’ radar as the new hot colour, I’ve had to make do with other bits of the rainbow. And for years I complained that although there are so many new colourful accessories for the kitchen, none of them were ever in purple (though I know there is a line of Kitchenaid products now in purple. If I didn’t already own a green stand mixer…). You know how long I’ve spent looking for purple kitchen dish towels? They only ever seen to come in green, blue, or red.
Not everything in my house is purple. My husband likes the colour, too, but I think even he’d get sick of it if I tried to paint all the walls in shades of grape. My bedding is purple. My bathroom towels are purple. Actually, I don’t normally dress all-out purple: usually I’ll pair a purple shirt with black pants or jeans. But, I admit, sometimes things can get particularly supurpleous. Not everything in my wardrobe is purple, but it continues to slowly move in that direction. Maybe by the time I’m as old as Mrs Zimmerman the transformation will be complete.
Supurpleous. Seriously, can you ever really have too much purple?
I do have to get some purple shoes.
(Actually, I have a nice pair of purple runners, but they’re no good in the snow.)
Final note: my husband and I had a debate about whether it should be “supurpleous” or “supurplous.” He argued the first looked like it ought to be pronounced “su-PER-plee-us”, and I said the second looked like it would be pronounced “su-PER-plus”. Neither was really what I wanted it to sound like– “su-PURPLE-ous”– so given that both were flawed I just went with the one that had “purple” in it.
Purple is awesome! I have these purple shoes. They’re no good for the snow either, but they are really cute!
I have rain boots that have a lot of purple (black with multicolored flowers), but I don’t think they’re available anymore.
Good stuff. I agree with your husband, though, I’m afraid: that definitely looks like “su-PER-plee-us.” (But purple!)
So, I guess we can mark you down as a Crockett Johnson fan, huh? (I just saw someone last week who had the cover of that book as a T-shirt.)
On a hiking message board I hang out at, some doofus once complained about purple prose in the trip reports. In response, the site administrator changed the tagline to include the word “prose,” and it’s colored in purple.
Yes! Harold and the Purple Crayon is a classic, though for many reasons other than his excellent taste in colour choice.
Purple prose, heh! I wonder what the equivalent of purple prose would be in comics? Hmmm, maybe a gratuitous splash page? One of those overly-detailed scenes that just feel like the artist is showing off?
I vote for supurpulous, which I’m sure comes from an important Latin root.
I have coordinating purple snow sneakers!
Tell us where you got them! (I should know, but I forgot.
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I don’t know what purple snow sneakers would look like, but they do sound nice and comfortable!
I found purple dish towels at Crate and Barrel a few years ago. They match my purple Converse high tops perfectly.
Purple has always been my favourite colour! I stopped fighting the urge to wear/own/etc everything purple about 20 years ago (I thought I had to be diverse, and went through various fashion phases – blue jeans, peasant blouses and skirts, etc) and have been happily wearing purple ever since. And, yes, everything is purple – all the way down! I often say “Rit Dye is my good friend!” BTW – There is a great resource – the Purple Store Online – which only carries purple stuff (No, I have no ownership in it). I think I own almost every one of their purple t-shirts. At various conventions I attend and work at, I hand out “Purple Gang” ribbons (the ribbons are purple, the printing is gold) to people I see wearing purple or having major purple accessorization (hair, nails, jewelry, etc) to hang from their convention badges. If someone wants one of my ribbons to add to their collection but are not wearing or majorly displaying purple, I direct them to the convention vendor area where they are sure to find something purple. By the end of an event I often have people tracking me down to show me their purple stuff and ask for a ribbon. At a local dollar-type store, they actually had purple (well, lavender) bar towels. My grandson calls me “purple grammy” and even when I’m not around whenever he sees anything purple he points and gleefully calls out “GRAMMY”! My dentist refers to me as “purple-licious”!
I did find the Purple Store online just recently! There were many tempting things. The Purple Gang ribbons sound like a lot of fun. I hope if I run into you at a convention some time, I’ll be wearing sufficient amounts of purple!
Oh, and I did finally (FINALLY) find some purple dish towels for my kitchen at a local HomeSense store. I stocked up, since I will probably never find any again!
Whether it is supurpleous, supurplous, or my preference, supurpluous, I think you’ve definitely hit on something here. It’s my daughter’s favorite color too, so I know she’d approve.