Describing colours is not a black and white issue

There is no doubt that we are in politically correct times so it was all the more surprising that I came across a rather strangely named colour. It was listed on a box that had contained a headboard, which I had found lying on the dirty streets of north London.

Anyone for a Gringo Brown headboard?

Gringo Brown strikes me as rather a strange name and not necessarily one that would be thought up today by the overpaid colour specialists. It sounds rather like a throwback to times gone by. In the times when Robertson’s used a certain doll on its jars of jam and on its advertising campaigns. 

What makes it even weirder is how it has been applied to a design named Vienna. We all know a little about Austrian history that suggests this is a rather inflammatory combination.

So much so in fact that I just can’t see the likes of B&Q or Homebase or Dreams for that matter flogging such an item. Or maybe they do? I’d certainly be fascinated to know where this particular product was purchased.