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Vocabulary: black and/ or white? (1)

Not long ago, I felt like writing a lesson about colours, adding, of course the idioms which are linked to them. I've found a lot and decided I would do TWO lessons: this first part will deal with "non-colours": WHITE and BLACK. Then, in lesson test, we'll deal with "Primary Colours" and the matching vocabulary and idioms. 

COLOURS : an introduction to colours isn't an easy task... because there are several points of view to consider... You may either deal with the "colours of light" or with the "colours of pigments".

If you're trying to go further, you'll hear about "additive primaries" and about "subtractive primaries". The following links will tell you more about colours, if you feel like it.  

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-the-primary-colors-of-light-and-the-primary-colors

http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question68124.html

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_color

Remember: Primary colours can't be created when mixing other colours. 

In light, BLACK is the absence of colour, and WHITE is the presence of all colours. To scientists, WHITE is a bunch of colours, and BLACK is not.)

  colour= :pgb // color= :pus //

// grey=  :pgb // gray= :pus

"When all the colours are combined, it makes white."

"Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet: if you were to take these colours on a wheel and spin the wheel, you would see white."

                  White                                                      Shades of grey                                                    Black

                To whiten                                         To grey/ turn grey/ go grey                                       To blacken

(GREY is an intermediate colour between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic colour, meaning literally that it is a colour "without colour.")

* Vocabulary and idioms:

- a white lie= an unimportant lie...

- as white as a ghost= very white or pale

- a white flag= surrendering!

- a "white elephant"= Dirty Santa (offering and swapping cheap Xmas gifts)

     Christmas White Elephant                                  White as a ghost                                         A white flag: admitting defeat

- a grey area= an undefined area where things are difficult

- the grey dollar= The purchasing power of former baby-boomers

- to play in the grey= on the verge of illegality

                                               a greyhound race                                                        a grey area

- the black sheep = someone different in the herd

- a black eye= result of a blow, a bruise

- a black tie event= a formal meeting

- as black as coal= very black

- black market= illegal buying or selling of goods...

      Getting a black eye                                             Black as coal                                                  A black sheep

Come on, now!   I have tried to be as simple as possible,  (giving those who are craving for chromatic studies the possibilitiy to start them, or not!  ) In any case, you're now ready to face the test. Then, you'll have a right to go and see "real Colours"! (The lesson is much easier)   THE FORCE is with you! 

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1. Tim and Tom were throwing balls at each other. They did well and even so well that Tom ended up with a wonderful black eyeblue facewhite facered eyeI don't know... Boys will be boys...

2. 'Our grandparents are Babyboomers, they’ve worked their whole life and want us to take advantage of their gray watersgrey cellsgrey dollarsWhite ElephantgreyhoundsI don't know... I think they’re still quite ' green ', all of them, I mean...'

3. At the end of the battle, the beaten soldiers waved a black flagwhite flagwhite ghostred flagI don't know and surrendered.

4. Water is rare in summer here. Most gardeners then empty their rainwater tanks, from the rains of autumn and the snow of winter. In some countries, they use ' greywaterblack waterswhiteningblack goldI don't know' from the sewage of the farm itself.

5. ' For Xmas, this year, the family have decided to organise ' a splashes of coloursa Greyhound raceWhite ElephantI don't know ' gift exchange. It’s quite funny... '

6. Many people are fighting against ghostsgray watersGreyhound racingblack marketI don't know in the US. These people find the practice so crual that it’s now illegal in 40 states.

7. The more he listened to what the doctor was saying, the paler he was becoming and he greyishedturned so whitewhitenreddenedI don't know that he turned as fast as a greyhoundpale as a sheepwhite as a ghostI don't know.

8. On Lucy’s painting were bright red cellsblack cellssplashes of coloursI don't know and the little girl was quite proud of her masterpiece...

9. In Agatha Christie's novels, Hercule Poirot solved some very puzzling crimes using only his ' red cellsgrey arealittle grey cellswhite cellsI don't know ', his cap and a magnifying glass...