It's petrel, not petrol, when talking about the colour...

[MirandaGoshawk]

It's spelt wrongly in all the bloody clothes catalogues. Have they not noticed that petrol, if you spill a drop a fiver's worth is clear?

A petrel, OTOH, is a bird. A blue one. Petrel blue. Can we start a campaign?

[gobbin]

Showing my age now, but anyone over 40 not remember the Esso ad in the 70s that went 'Bum bum bum bum....Esso blue'.

My dad always said that it was because petrol has a blueish tinge to it.

[CatWithKittens]

Could the answer to all this be that there are in fact two colours and everybody is right, except in saying that they alone are right? By the way there could very well be a Patrol Blue - from the old Army uniform dress colour of very dark navy blue.

[BananasInNegligees]

Patrol blue could be a colour.
Better than Petrel blue anyhow

[ohmymimi]

Jayne - love is not the word that comes to mind.

[ohmymimi]

Muffry is stalking me - HELP.

[ohmymimi]

I've either invented a new colour and itrm of clothing or Muphry is trolling again.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Patrol blue
Don't you just love typos/autocorrect

[ohmymimi]

I've either invented a new colour or Muphry is trolling again.

[ohmymimi]

Just got irrationaly excited that weather lass on 'Countryfile' was wearing a patrol blue card. I definitely spend too much to time on MN.

[LynetteScavo]

Petrol was blue, it's now red

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

[ShowOfBloodyStumps]

[Blu]

It's for people who are not cool enough for Morston Car Park Mud Splattered Skoda, I think.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

And even the locals can't agree whether it's said stookey or stiffkey. Same with cley, is it cly or clay?
Is stiffkey blue for people who can't afford to paint their houses in burnham market land rover green?

[Blu]

It's petrol blue

I have always visualised it as a dark grey oily patch of petrol with the blue rainbow reflection as it appears when petrol floats on water.

I think it unlikely that a colour be named after an obscure Hawaiian sub species of blue-greyish petrel.

OP, would you like to take on Farrow and Ball about the endless publicity for their new blue, Stiffkey Blue? They claim that the phrase 'Siffkey Blue' (pro "Stookey Blue") is after the mud on Stiffkey mudflats. It isn't. Any local or regular visitor knows that Stiffkey Blues are the local cockles, dug up on said sand and mud flats. The mud is black!

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

I just realised this is in pedants' corner and then reread what I had written in my stupor last night.

[VoiceofRaisin]

He, he, I love Muphry's Law! Thanks.

Hey, in the States, is it called "gasoline blue" do you think? Somehow it doesn't have the same ring about it...

[BananasInNegligees]

Aww, OP leaves pedants corner for a holiday.
It's too crowded apparently :-)

No, not at all OP. Fairly quiet to be honest.
Being wrong is tough.
It's ok to admit it.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Even my phone chances it
Never heard of petrel blue before I mean

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

Never heard it called petrol blue before

Rusty I might just love you, I thought of we didn't mean to go to see too

Miranda - hope you've packed your passport. Us bumpkins don't just let anyone I'm

[ZingDollyChops]

Raisin

you mean like Muphry's Law?

(I didn't mis-spell it. Google Muphry's Law)

[FriskyMare]

Ahem.

According to QI, kingfishers are actually a murky brown.

[Cooroo]

Definitely petrol. Posting a link to a commonly misspelled word proves nothing. I used to typeset clothes catalogues and people used to get it wrong then too.