Go beyond red, green, and blue

How would you call a color that is blacker than black? Unusual Colors 101

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In this day and age, when you can ask for anything online as long as you can express it in words, it is important to be specific about what you are looking for. Colors are no exception. Take a look at the following 12: Did you know that any of these existed?

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The first entry on our list goes to this mustard-like yellow or yellow-orange color named after a gum resin of similar tone, extracted from a Cambodian tree. The word Gamboge itself comes from the Modern Latin cambogium, which is the Latin version of the place name Cambodia.

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The name itself is very evocative of its nature, as it makes us think of the deep blue seas. But the ultramarine color’s name comes from the Medieval Latin word that means "beyond the sea" because the pigment employed to make this dye, called lapis lazuli, was imported to Europe from Asia.

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If you are looking for a purplish-red tone, the Tyrian purple might be just what you need. This particular color was highly valued during the Byzantine Empire, in part because of how difficult it was to obtain. The base to create this shade of purple was in the secretions of a predatory sea snail. Definitely not an easy task if you need a lot of pigment.

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The second unusual blue tone in our list, cerulean, can also be called a "deep blue", but you’ll find it if you look up, as it is described as "sky blue." The word "cerulean" comes from the Latin caeruleus, meaning "dark blue."

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The word brings to mind a mixture of beige and grey, and that is no mistake. The color is much older than one would expect, with references to it in the English language going back as far as 1925.

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While citric fruits include other colors, like orange, the word citreous refers specifically to a "greenish-yellow" color associated with lemons and limes.

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Which word would you use to describe the color of a sunset? Orange? Red? There is a word for such a color, and it is ponceau. It is described as "a vivid reddish-orange color."

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The word puce means "flea" in French. And, yes, the puce color is a dark or brownish purple, not unlike the color of a flea. Perhaps not the most enticing or flattering color name but still, a unique color nonetheless.

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Another color name that comes from Latin, atrovirens is also the name of a coniferous tree. It refers to a dark green or a deep teal, not unlike the one found in these types of pyramid-shaped trees.

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Most people are used to saying "flesh color" when it comes to describing a color that is similar to a pale skin tone, but there is a more accurate word for it: sarcoline.

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A word that is seldom used these days but that describes a much-used color, even if it's named differently. Eburnean is something that is ivory in color. This off-white color is created by adding a touch of yellow to white.

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A color that everybody thought already existed until they saw it, Vantablack is one of the closest colors to black… without being solid black. Vantablack pigment is the darkest man-made substance in the world because it absorbs almost all visible light.

Who said that?

No, the queen didn't say "Let them eat cake": Oddly misattributed quotes

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Some of history’s most often repeated sayings were never actually said. At least not by the people we love to credit. You have probably read dozens of quotes wrongly attributed to Albert Einstein or Oscar Wilde, but Marilyn Monroe also made the list. As did Marie Antoinette! Today, we are setting the record straight on some of the most stubborn quote myths.

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Despite her reputation for extravagance, there’s no evidence that Marie Antoinette ever uttered these words. The quote "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" is often pinned on her as a symbol of her indifference to the hardships of starving peasants.

However, the phrase first appears in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, which he started writing in 1765, when Marie was just about nine years old and still living in Austria.

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The famous story about young George confessing to chopping down a cherry tree is pure fiction, cooked up by biographer Mason Locke Weems after Washington’s death.

There’s no evidence Washington ever said this. Weems simply wanted to craft a moral and visually memorable legend for America’s first president.

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While "The Prince" does argue that rulers sometimes need to be ruthless, Niccolò Machiavelli never wrote "the ends justify the means."

The phrase is a simplified (and distorted) summary of much more complicated ideas he discussed about power and politics.

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The force of the Roman Inquisition fell upon Galileo, the father of modern astronomy who defended heliocentrism. He supposedly muttered this famous phrase after being forced to counter his views, defending that the Earth did move around the sun.

However, there’s no contemporary record of the defiant line being spoken. It first appeared decades later, in a biography written well after Galileo’s death.

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Michael Jackson did sustain that he was starting by changing "the man in the mirror," and Mahatma Gandhi probably would have agreed. But the exact words of the famous line were never said by the real Gandhi.

His advice was much more nuanced about personal responsibility and social reform. The polished quote is a bit of a paraphrase meant to capture his philosophy in a nutshell.

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You can thank Marilyn Monroe for a lot, but not this quote. Although often typed on posters next to her iconic photos, the line was actually written by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in a 1976 scholarly article.

She wasn’t encouraging rebellion either: She was observing that history tends to overlook women who "color inside the lines."

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many lines spoken through his famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. But this one –perhaps the most often repeated line– wasn’t among them!

Yes, Watson was Holmes’ dear sidekick, and probably Sherlock used the word "elementary" at some point. Still, the straight line "Elementary, my dear Watson" cannot be found anywhere in the original texts.

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Oscar Wilde, a master of aphorisms, had wit to spare. Many lines can be attributed to him. This one, however, doesn’t ring like those by the author of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

The saying doesn't appear in any of his writings or documented conversations. It likely emerged around the end of the 20th century, stitched together by fans who loved the idea of Wilde’s spirit.

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"... and expecting different results." You might have read this quote and felt inspired by it. Although often attributed to Albert Einstein, there's no record of him saying it.

Some say that the earliest known appearance is in a 1980s Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet. The internet did its job and blurred the origins of the quote.

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This one is only slightly incorrect. Thomas Hardy fans, take note: The correct line is "far from the madding crowd." And, in fact, Hardy borrowed it from Thomas Gray’s 1751 poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, which read "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife." "Madding" meant frenzied, not "maddening."

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Vince Lombardi gets the credit, but even he said he was misquoted! The original line came from UCLA coach Red Sanders, who reportedly told his team this hard-hitting slogan in the 1950s. Lombardi’s version was similar but way less cutthroat: He said, "Winning isn't a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing."

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Paul Revere didn’t actually yell this because, back in 1775, that would have been confusing. Most colonial Americans still considered themselves British.

What he likely said was something closer to "The Regulars are coming out" or "The Redcoats are on the move." He also didn’t yell, since secrecy was key for his mission.