Buffy (color)

Buff (latin ''bubalinus'') is a light brownish yellow, ochreous colour, typical of buff leather. Buff is a mixture of yellow ochre and white: two parts of white lead and one part of yellow ochre produces a good buff, or white lead may be tinted with French ochre alone.

As an RYB quaternary colour, it is the colour produced by an equal mix of the tertiary colours citron and russet.

Etymology

The first recorded use of the word ''buff'' to describe a colour was in '' The London Gazette'' of 1686, describing a uniform to be "...a Red Coat with a Buff-colour'd lining". It referred to the colour of undyed buffalo leather, such as soldiers wore as some protection: an eyewitness to the death in the Battle of Edgehill (1642) of Sir Edmund Verney noted "he would neither put on arms rmouror buff coat the day of the battle". Such buff leather was suitable for '' buffing'' or serving as a '' buffer'' between polished objects. It is not clear which bovine "''buffalo''" referred to, but it may not have been any of the animals called "buffalo" today.

Derived terms

The word ''buff'' meaning " enthusiast" or "expert" (US English) derives from the colour "buff", specifically from the buff-coloured uniform facings of 19th-century New York City volunteer firemen, who inspired partisan followers among particularly keen fire watchers.

"In the buff", today meaning naked, originally applied to English soldiers wearing the buff leather tunic that was their uniform until the 17th century. The "naked" signification is due to the perception that (English) skin is buff-coloured.

In nature

Geology

Sand, rock, and loess tend to be buff in many areas.

File:Sand Drawings.JPG, Buff sand
File:Short Cliff - geograph.org.uk - 881661.jpg, Buff rock at the top of a cliff
File:LoessVicksburg.jpg, Buff loess

Natural selection

Because buff is effective in camouflage, it is often naturally selected.

File:AB Keeled Scales.jpg, Buff bands on a snake
File:Phalera bucephala MHNT.jpg, A moth with buff wingtips ('' Phalera bucephala'')
File:Phalera bucephala, Mondvogel 6.JPG, The buff wingtips of this moth aid in camouflage.
File:Panellus_stipticus_8445.jpg, Buff fungi

Many species are named for their buff markings, including the buff arches moth, the buff-bellied climbing mouse, and at least sixty birds, including the buff-fronted quail-dove, the buff-vented bulbul, and the buff-spotted flufftail.

File:Nomascus-gabriellae.jpg, A pair of northern buffed-cheeked gibbons
File:Buff-banded Rail LEI Jan08.jpg, The buff-banded rail
File:Theristicus caudatus (Coclí) (5145728595).jpg, The buff-necked ibis
File:Tangara cayana1.jpg, The burnished-buff tanager

In culture

Architecture

In areas where buff raw materials are available, buff walls and buildings may be found. Cotswold stone is an example of such a material.

File:The Street - geograph.org.uk - 350549.jpg, Traditional buff stone buildings
File:Poplar, Follett Street, E14 (1) - geograph.org.uk - 934243.jpg, Modern buff brick buildings (centre)

Stationery and art

Unless bleached or dyed, paper products, such as Manila paper, tend to be buff. Buff envelopes are used extensively in commercial mailings.

File:ManilaPaper.jpg, Manila paper
File:SayilmisSecimZarflari.JPG, Buff envelopes

Buff paper is sometimes favoured by artists seeking a neutral background colour for drawings, especially those featuring the colour white.

File:Portrait of a gentleman by Sir Peter Lely.jpg, Red and white chalk portrait on buff paper
File:Waterfall at Tivoli by George Hayter.jpg, Black chalk with brown wash, heightened with white on buff paper
File:Tour de St Romain Rouen cathedral by William Froome Smallwood.jpg, Graphite drawing with watercolour wash on buff paper

Artificial selection

Buff domesticated animals and plants have been created, including dogs, cats, and poultry. The word ''buff'' is used in written standards of several breeds, and some, such as the Buff turkey, are specifically named "buff".

File:American Cocker Spaniel buff portrait.jpg, A buff gun dog
File:Shaded Tan Maine Coon cat.jpg, A buff mousing cat
File:Buff_Orpington_chicken,_UK.jpg, A buff chicken
File:Orpington Duck 2014-10-20 001.jpg, The Buff Orpington Duck
File:Rosa 'Buff Beauty'.jpg, The rose cultivar 'Buff Beauty'.

Clothing

In 16th- and 17th-century European cultures, buff waistcoats ("vests" in American English), were considered proper casual wear. In the 17th century, the traditional colour of formal dress boot uppers was often described as "buff".

File:Musician Holding Bagpipes 1632.jpg, 17th-century English musician wearing a buff waistcoat
File:Piccolomini_5.jpg, 17th-century Italian nobleman wearing buff dress boot uppers

John Bull

Clothing depicted on John Bull, a national personification of Britain in general and England in particular, in political cartoons and similar graphic works, has often been buff coloured. Bull's buff waistcoats, topcoats,"AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion," Metropolitan Museum of Art (2006), exhibition brochure, p. 2. trousers and boot uppers were typical of 18th- and 19th-century Englishmen.

File:Tree_of_liberty.jpg, Early depiction of John Bull with the buff clothing typical of an 18th-century Englishman
File:John Bull - World War I recruiting poster.jpeg, John Bull wearing buff dress boot uppers
File:The Great Rapprochement.jpg, John Bull wearing buff trousers

17th-century military uniforms

File:HGM Saal 1 Musketiere und Pikeniere.jpg, Buff German uniforms
File:Footpath to Hall Hill, near West Keal - geograph.org.uk - 717980.jpg, Dry vegetation in Europe

=The British army

=
The Royal East Kent Regiment was nicknamed "The Buffs" from the colour of their waistcoats. The phrase "Steady the Buffs!", popularised by Rudyard Kipling in his 1888 work '' Soldiers Three'', has its origins during 2nd Battalion's garrison duties in Malta. Adjutant Cotter, not wanting to be shown up in front of his former regiment, the 21st Royal (North British) Fusiliers, spurred his men on with the words: "Steady, the Buffs! The Fusiliers are watching you."

File:Soldier of 3rd regiment 1742.jpg, Soldier of The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) wearing "a new Red Coat lin'd with a Buff colour'd lining, .... Breeches of the same colour as the Coat lining."

U.S. Army

The uniform of the American Continental Army was buff and blue.

Buff is the traditional colour of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps.

The U.S. Army Institute of Heraldry specifies a "buff" tincture for certain coats of arms, often treating it as a metal for purposes of the rule of tincture.

File:Infantry, Continental Army, 1779-1783.jpg, Continental Army uniforms: "The Buff and Blue"
File:Chevron - Quartermaster Sergeant 1902-1909.png, US chevron - quartermaster sergeant insignia (1902-1909) buff on black with blue detail.
File:43rdSBSSI.svg, USAIH illustration which specifies "a buff colored vertical rectangular embroidered item"

U.S. universities, fraternities and schools

The colours of George Washington University and Hamilton College are buff and blue, modelled on the military uniform of General George Washington and the Continental Army. Both General Washington and Alexander Hamilton, as chief of staff, had a role in the design of the uniforms.

Other school colours described as "buff and blue" include Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Buff is one of three colours of the Alpha Gamma Delta fraternity, and one of two colours of the Delta Chi fraternity.

File:George Washington by Peale 1776.jpg, General Washington wearing the buff and blue
File:George_Washington_University.jpg, George Washington University banners featuring the buff and blue
George Washington Colonials logo.svg, The buff and blue logo of the George Washington University Colonials

U.S. state flags

The flags of Delaware and New Jersey, and the former flags of New York and Maine, officially feature buff.

File:Flag of Delaware.svg, The flag of Delaware includes "a background of colonial blue surrounding a diamond of buff"
File:Flag of New Jersey.svg, The flag of New Jersey has "the State seal ... in Jersey blue on a buff background"
File:Flag of New York (1778-1901).svg, Former flag of New York (until 1901)
File:Flag of Maine (1901–1909).png, The 1901 Maine Flag flown from 1901 to 1909

Political usage

The colours of the Whig Party, a British political faction, and later political party, as well as the American Whig Party, were buff and blue.

File:Le_coup_de_maitre.jpg, Depiction of the Whig Charles James Fox wearing buff and blue

White Star buff

The funnels of the RMS ''Titanic'' and all other ships of the White Star Line were designated to be "buff with a black top" in order to indicate their ownership. There is some uncertainty among experts, however, as to the exact shade of what is now called "White Star buff". There is no surviving paint or formula, and although there are many painted postcards and at least seven colour photographs of White Star liners, the shades of the funnels in these varies due to many factors including the conditions under which they were originally made and the ageing of the pigments in which they were printed. Speaking mostly to scale modellers, the Titanic Research and Modelling Association currently recommend a colour "in the range of the Marschall color", meaning the colour in illustrations in a particular book.

As a relatively inexpensive and readily available paint colour, and one which went well alongside the near-universal black hull and white superstructure used on steamships at the time, White Star was far from the only shipping line to use a shade of buff as a funnel colour. The Orient Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd used an entirely buff funnel without the black top, while Canadian Pacific and the Swedish American Line employed a buff funnel with a representation of the company's house flag on them. The Bibby Line and the Fyffes Line are two of several firms to use the same "buff with a black top" scheme as White Star, but with a similar lack of certainty as to the exact shade used and how this differed from the famous White Star scheme.

File:Colorful Oceanic.jpg, Ships of the White Star Line, such as the RMS ''Oceanic'' pictured here, and the ''Titanic,'' had buff funnels with black tops.

In Canadian heraldry

As well as being a colour used by the United States Army Institute of Heraldry, buff is also recognised as a tincture by the Canadian Heraldic Authority. It appears on the heraldic badge and flag of the Correctional Service of Canada.

See also

* List of colours
* Beige, a similar colour
* Fallow
* Tan, a slightly darker, redder colour
*Tawny

References

{{Heraldry
Quaternary colors
Shades of brown
Shades of yellow
Shades of orange
Colours (heraldry)
Metals (heraldry)
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