The colour of a squashed flea

A friend told me in e-mail today that his condo association was threatening to make him paint his walls puce, and it got me to thinking about why "puce" is such a funny word. Is it because it sounds like "puke"? Maybe, but then I idly googled it, as you do, and of course quickly arrived at the Wikipedia entry. I had no idea, for instance, that "puce" derives from the French word for flea. "It is speculated that it refers to the colour of a squashed flea or the colour of a flea full of blood."

Hm. Paint your walls in squashed fleas? I'm afraid the very suggestion turns me positively chartreuse.