Workmanlike Tang Turquoise

Old English weorcmann, workman — adjectival suffix -like. As a color modifier, workmanlike implies a clear-and-skilled-and-honest quality where the hue carries the visual register of journeyman-craftsman careful-and-competent hand-built craft. Sits at the crisp-and-functional end of the grid, parallel to functional and practical in usage.

Old Norse tangi, sharp-projecting-taste. As a color modifier, tang implies a sharp-and-projecting-and-bright-bite quality, the visual register of Atlantic-and-Hebridean-sea-tang hand-sharp-and-projecting-and-bright-bite Atlantic-and-Hebridean-sea-tang-and-tide-pool-bite tang-and-sharp-and-projecting surfaces under Atlantic-and-Hebridean-sea-tang-and-tide-pool-bite Outer-Hebrides-and-North-Cornish-tide-pool sharp-bite-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to zest and tart in usage.

The hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate mined in Persia and the American Southwest for thousands of years — the firuze of Iran, the chalchihuitl of Mesoamerica, the heart of Pueblo and Navajo silverwork. The color refers to a fine Sleeping Beauty turquoise from Arizona: a saturated, slightly green-shifted blue with the slight matrix of host-rock veining. Brighter than persian, lighter than cerulean.