Reddish Green

Imagine an autumn leaf changing its color between green and red. The color of some of your garden’s roses is advertised as bluish white, so you describe the color of the autumn leaf as reddish green. (The pattern is familiar from referring to a music style as “bluegrass”, i.e. a mix of blues and country music.) You are surprised when someone tells you that there is no reddish green on account of the fact that those are (according to common doctrine) complementary colors. They cannot blend into each other, just like you cannot simultaneously take the direction right and left at an intersection. Calling something reddish green violates received opinion, disregarding the color scheme governing much of ordinary discourse and hence losing control as far as color terms are concerned.