A color question someone asked me recently: What color are tennis balls?
I replied “yellow green.”
But some people reply “green yellow.”
The debate is… when you describe a color using two words, where do you put the major color? First or second? So if something has more yellow than green, do you say “yellow green” or “green yellow”?
I always thought that the first word is the dominate. But some may argue that the first word is merely describing the second word. Like the first word is an adjective.
Chartreuse
an ancient crayola cunundrum(sp) i think you put the majority color first
Although the dictionary.com entry for yellow green says: “a shade of green tinged with yellow.” They are SOO wrong!
oh man! I used to have this debate with a classmate in high school. Remember Dave Kooyenga, Spudart? He claimed tennis balls were green. I said they were yellow. When you purchase a can of tennis balls, they are most certainly yellow! Go to Target or Sportmart and check it out for yourself. YELLOW! However, after extended use, the tennis balls will turn into a shade of yellow green or perhaps green yellow.
They are green!!
Hi Dave! The timing of your comment is incredible! Just two days ago I was playing catch with my daughter. We using a tennis ball, and she called it “green.” I laughed, and thought back on our debates on the color of tennis balls. Then I explained to her, “honey, the ball is yellow. Yes, it has some green in it, but it’s primarily yellow.” Looks like you have my daughter on your side!
They are yellow!!!
Yes, I remember David Kooyenga debating that item. However, the debate here is not whether tennis balls are green or yellow. We all know that they are primarily yellow with a little bit of green. The question is the linguistics of how to describe that color.
The primary color should come before the secondary color. If the item in question is more yellow than green then the color is “yellow-green”. Why in the world would anyone say it the other way around? That simply doesn’t make any sense. My original answer was to point out that over time many colors have been given their own name, like chartreuse for “yellow-green” and aquamarine for “green-blue”.
hey, spudart, remember when we used to hit tennis balls at cars on route 83 during tennis practice? It’s funny that I’m in Elmhurst now and Route 83 runs through Elmhurst.
semi trucks were alway the easiest target. One time i think someone in a car actually pulled into the parking lot and complained. We just said that we all really stink at tennis.
Ok, the second word is the main colour. The first word is the adjective of the main adjective, I forget what the proper word for that is. To see what I mean, saying ‘green yellow’, is just a simpler, or less silly sounding way of saying ‘greenish yellow’ or ‘greeny yellow’. You see? without the ‘ish’ or ‘y’ at the end it still means the same thing, the first word is saying the second word is slightly that colour. Ok, I’ll shut up now, oh, and I’ll just add that tennis balls are yellow, their not green at all. 🙂
I’ve debated for the past 2 weeks of scool, my teacher says it yellow, but another teacher insists its green. Clearly you can tell in YELLOW though:)ha.AND THIS PROVES IT. thanks everyone who said it was yellow.Your correct.