Literary notes about khaki (AI summary)
Literary authors have long employed khaki as a striking color marker, most notably to evoke the utilitarian spirit of military life and the everyday working man. In many texts, khaki is not merely a hue but a defining characteristic of uniforms and clothing that suggest discipline, ruggedness, and practicality. For example, characters are often described in crisp khaki uniforms or trousers that immediately signal their service or solidarity in a collective endeavor ([1], [2], [3], [4]), while other passages highlight the subtle persistence of the color itself—whether in a fragment caught on a bush or dark spots on a blouse ([5], [6], [7]). This consistent use of khaki both grounds characters in a specific social and historical milieu and provides a visual shorthand for resilient, no-nonsense identity.
- All the 600 khaki men on board, and every one on every other ship, and all the crowds on the quay, and in boats and on lighthouses, waved and yelled.
— from Diary of a Nursing Sister on the Western Front, 1914-1915 by Anonymous - And Dorothea appeared one day wearing the khaki tunic, breeches and puttees of the Women's Service Corps.
— from The Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair - So we went back to the first aid post—me holding those khaki trousers up by sheer force of will, and both hands!
— from The Martial Adventures of Henry and Me by William Allen White - The car slowed to a halt at a crossroads, where a motorcycle policeman in the khaki uniform of a state officer sat vigilantly astride his machine.
— from The Mystery at Camp Lenape by Carl Saxon - Dark spots on his khaki blouse showed where the sweat had come through the tough cloth.
— from The Pony Rider Boys in the Grand Canyon; Or, The Mystery of Bright Angel Gulch by Frank Gee Patchin - It was a tiny fragment of khaki, caught on one of the bramble bushes.
— from The Hand in the Dark by Arthur J. (Arthur John) Rees - Against the soiled khaki of his pants his left hand shone like an Easter lily against dark foliage.
— from Right Tackle Todd by Ralph Henry Barbour
