TIFU by not understanding what colour mauve is

Submitted by ypash t3_1172wpn in tifu

OK so this one is a bit grim so apologies in advance.

I went halves with one of my housemates on a two pack of toothbrushes when we moved into our new houseshare. I asked which one she wanted and she said "the mauve one". Okay cool, no problem.

A few months goes by, and I notice how my toothbrush, the kinda purpley pinky one, was obviously well used, and her toothbrush, the mauve, or green one, looked pretty much new.

I casually mentioned this to her today when something came up about buying toothpaste.. Needless to say we are now both relentlessly gargling mouthwash all day. I have absolutely no idea why I thought mauve meant green, or like.. pale green, which is what the toothbrush is, but here we are.

TL;DR Thought mauve meant green and shared the same toothbrush with a housemate for several months.

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Solid_Look9293 t1_j99v6ug wrote

Might as well kiss and make up.. also, buy new toothbrushes

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kwilks67 t1_j99vfww wrote

I assume you were thinking of chartreuse, which is a green color with a similarly unusual French name.

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G0ldenEye5 t1_j9a6m1d wrote

This is exactly why I stick with just "purple" or "green"

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kmz57 t1_j9ah009 wrote

So what color is Mauve?

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iamamuttonhead t1_j9al0x9 wrote

Well, I make that mistake all the time. In fact, when you wrote "mauve" I thought "green".

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MisteriosM t1_j9apso1 wrote

My dentist told me last time that toothbrush should only be used for up to two months before beeing replaced.

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ClamPaste t1_j9as859 wrote

Have you never seen that Hey Arnold episode?

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J-IP t1_j9ausf6 wrote

In the future just go with rgb values or hex.

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ShinyBlueThing t1_j9axj32 wrote

I think this happens because of words sounding similar: charteuse (yellow green) sounds like puce (dusty pinky red) which looks a lot like mauve (dusty purply pink). Then the brain decides that all three are green, because the first word in the chain of words & meanings dominates.

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AcrobaticSource3 t1_j9az9d9 wrote

In your opinion, between you and your housemate, which one of you got the worst end of sharing a toothbrush?

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Niccolo91 t1_j9c5bnq wrote

Weird that one of you didn’t notice toothbrush looked damp compared to other one? I almost used my wife’s on accident once but toothbrush was already wet so I knew it was recently used.

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KRed75 t1_j9caqh1 wrote

Replying to MisteriosM (#1,884,898)

We go to the dentist every 6 months and the dentist always gives us brand new toothbrushes. My wife and kids leave their little bag from the dentist in the car or on the counter for months. I eventually pick them up and put them in the drawer near my sink. There must be 50 tooth brushes in there. I've never seen my wife buy new ones and non of them have ever asked for a new toothbrush even though, every time I go in that drawer, I mention to them that they need to be swapping out their toothbrushes and to get on from the drawer.

Of course, they have my teeth and mouth chemistry so they've never had a cavity even though they probably rarely brush their teeth. My wife skips a day brushing and she gets a cavity.

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rpbm t1_j9cbkgk wrote

This is one of few circumstances where my husbands insistence that the only colors are primary and secondary colors would be helpful. He’d have said there’s no such thing as mauve, and I’d have told him to use the green one.

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KRed75 t1_j9cd27p wrote

I learned this when I was a kid and Dame Edna was on TV talking about her Mauve hair. Dame Edna is a character played by comedian Barry Humphries. He's almost 90 now and retired from performing back in 2012. Probably not an act you'd have seen if you're younger.

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Spoonyjonson t1_j9czkru wrote

If it makes you feel any better I thought ochre was green.

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