Talk:Khaki/Archive 1

Both this article and Khaki (color) are in the Category Colors. Any improvement to this article?? 66.245.11.4 23:39, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)

LACK OF GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
This is a very Anglo-Saxon orientated article...in my experience the average European and Japanese person if asked about khaki colour, it will bring in mind a GREEN shade, like olive and olive drab! I guess that comes from the French definition of khaki... Please confirm if I am right. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.23.5.243 (talk) 14:10, 6 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I looked up Khaki on the English wiki, as denoted by en.wikipedia, so I don't care.

Dark khaki
Is it just me, or does "dark khaki" as represented here appear to be a lighter shade than normal khaki? --Yar Kramer 02:18, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes, I found that too. It also looks a different colour, not just lighter.
 * The problem seems to come from the fact that 'darkkhaki' is one of the X11 names: X11 color names. It is darker than the X11 'khaki' (#f0e68c), which is a very different shade from the main khaki referred to in this article (#C3B091). --David Edgar 12:02, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * Hmm ... should the normal 'khaki' in this article be altered to fit that, then? (Not that I know how to work out the CMYK or HSV color schemes, but ...) --Yar Kramer 15:51, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't know where the first shade (#C3B091) comes from - so I'm not sure which is correct (or most commonly used).
 * I added Khaki (X11), for the moment as an alternative shade, but it could be switched to be the main one? If they are switched, List of colors should be updated too.
 * (No, I don't really know how to work out the CMYK values either; GIMP gave me the HSV values. This site converts between formats, I guess it's just a case of multiplying the CMYK values by the appropriate factor...?) --David Edgar 17:11, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

Wait, doesn't 'khak' mean dust only? I believe it means dust only, rather than dust colored. Khaki, I suppose would mean dust-like.

photos would be nice
In addition to the RGB codes. Jon 20:40, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Shade of
Shouldn't this also be included in the "shades of brown" template? I've always thought of khaki (and beige) as browns, not yellows. DrGaellon 15:39, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I'd agree. That shades of yellow template really needs a trimming: too much green, orange and brown. Jimp 02:59, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Average person
Can you adduce any evidence of the average persons perceptions? I suspect this is the average US view: in the UK the light khaki would be what springs to mind.
 * I'd second that the usual "khaki pants" on the rack look closer to (but still darker than) the "light khaki" sample. But since "khaki pants" can be any color this may not be saying much. 70.15.116.59 (talk) 17:16, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

de rigueur?
I'm not sure that khaki is quite "de rigueur " and two American arms are hardly good examples of "worldwide". More than a hint of Americacentricism (if there is such a word) here. Epeeist smudge 06:09, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I am not sure that comments on a 'greenish' colour are correct? the word itself is from an Indian word meaning earth or dust coloured and this was the common UK usage for many years

If memory serves correctly, the British military created this "color" by accident. I've read (though I cannot provide a quote) that soldiers serving in colonial India, dyed their "whites" using tea or red clay to serve as pigment, to create the khaki tint in their uniforms. Can anyone verify this?

Never mind this-or-that-centrism, the description of khaki 'in Eurpean parlance' as 'dark brown' is simply nonsense. There as everywhere else it roughly denotes a range of slightly green-tinged sand colors.

About the pronunciation...
Isn't the "k" in most dialects of English aspirated? I've changed it for now. Twin Bird 14:28, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Don't think so :) e l e v e n z  e roo n nechat / what i've done / [mailto:unclemontezuma@hotmail.com email] 19:23, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

In Western Canada khaki is pronounced as kär-ki as in ignition key. Source, my father, Oxford Dictionary of Canadian English, Websters--74.127.239.29 (talk) 01:49, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

a picture would be useful
of some sort of khaki uniform such as the USN "khakis". Jon 20:37, 20 June 2006 (UTC)
 * That should definately be on the other khaki page. e l e v e n z  e roo n nechat / what i've done / [mailto:unclemontezuma@hotmail.com email] 19:22, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Proposed Merge
I agree that both Khaki and its color should be merged into one post. The Khaki post has information about the color, so I think it would be better off if we merged it together. Otherwise, we would simply be having two posts about the same thing. Also, I've noticed that both entries are quite short. If we merged them into one, it would make the entry longer, and more informative. cutienemo04

Keep This is information about the Color, not the fabric. It may be relevant to both, but either put a see also, move the information to this article, or put the information in both articles. It's not going to make it unweildy, unless you consider the complete history of every article unweildy.--Nintenfreak 16:07, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Origins of Khaki
I think that a few old soldiers' tales have crept into this article. (i) The Irish origin suggested for the word "khaki" is extremely unlikely - does it need to be included at all? (ii) the British army wore grey shirts in India and elsewhere throughout most of the nineteenth century and these would not have required staining or soiling for reasons of camouflage; (iii) the Boers wore ordinary civilian or farming clothing during the First Boer War, not khaki dress.

The origin of khaki among the Guides regiment of the north-west frontier is well-attested. They were a special unit devoted to irregular warfare and found the standard British red coat of the time unsuitable, instead adopting the mud coloured coat as a form of camouflage.Cavort (talk) 07:14, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation
In many parts of the US and Canada (especially) it is pronounced with a faint "r" like "kharki" but still spelled the same. I personally say it this way but I'm not good with pronunciation notation. Could somebody add this? It is also referenced in Canadian English. The Person Who Is Strange 00:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Pants/Trousers
Throughout the article one finds this: "pants/trousers". Is there some (clever?) reason for this? 188.155.160.78 (talk) 15:49, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

There is nothing here on material or weave
Khaki is not a separate material. My dictionary gives: "a textile fabric of a dull brownish-yellow color, in particular a strong cotton fabric used in military clothing." So khaki = cotton pure and simple, in line with its Indian origin. The outside references below do not say a word on the material used. I strongly suggest to take out any and all reference to khaki as a material: British khaki uniforms in WWII and later were made of wool; khaki army shirts are normal cotton shirts (I wore them in the RNLA) ; khaki slacks can be purely synthetic.

If one wants to make khaki a material, please give evidence. This article does nothing of the sort. and should be considered a mistake. VNCCC (talk) 00:56, 25 August 2010 (UTC)


 * And that's the problem with the seperate articles: there's no such thing as a material called khaki. Khaki is a color (a tan with a hint of green, darker in British usage than American), and the dressy casual trousers that originally came in that color are often called "khakis" even when they are other colors because they are still constructed the same in material (which is chino cloth) and cut. But there is no cloth that is distinctly khaki. We really ought to clear this mess up by a)merging this article with the one on the color, and b) including proper links to chinos in the text. This will make the accurate description clear: the pants are called chinos (because they're made of chino cloth), khaki is the color that they often are (though they also commonly come in stone grey, olive green, navy blue and black). oknazevad (talk) 01:51, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Pakistan Army
Note; The article needs a section on Pakistan army's use of Khaki uniform from independence (1947) till recent change to camouflage. -- lTopGunl (talk) 19:37, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Not really; maybe it belongs in the Pakistani Army article, but a lot of militaries use shades of khaki in uniforms, and Pakistan making a change isn't notable enough to an article that is supposed to be very general. oknazevad (talk) 17:45, 27 August 2012 (UTC)