ABSTRACT
As I was soon, and repeatedly, informed, it was not correct to call that color "mauve." According to The American Heritage Dictionary "mauve" is "brilliant violet to strong or brilliant purple to moderate reddish purple." I guess, for me, "mauve" simply meant fancy pink, a "fanciness" exemplified by its French name.2 My "mauve" points to high feminine culture at the same time that its incorrect use marks me as outside that realm. I belong as little to the world of "high sewing" as I do to masculine high culture. My fantasy geography locates both in Paris. No wonder I went into French.
