oops paint

n. house paint sold at a discount because it is deemed of low quality or unsatisfactory color, has been returned by a previous customer, or was specially mixed but never sold. Subjects: English, Retail, Slang

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Citations: 1991 Jan Glidewell St. Petersburg Times (Florida) (Apr. 19) “Hitching a dream to a rural railroad” p. 1: I scour around places like Home Depot or Scotty’s,…and I buy their “oops” paint…you know, mixing accidents. I pick it up cheap, and when you need 750 gallons of paint, cheap is nice. 1995 Al Carrell, Kelly Carrell Dallas Morning News (Texas) (Jan. 20) “What to do when cleaning a ceiling is a tall order” p. 3G: I wanted to do some interior painting, but a good can of paint or two is a little more than I could afford. I noticed what my paint dealer labeled as “oops” paint set to the side. It was paint that he made a mistake mixing. 1996 [Bob] Usenet: alt.aquaria (Nov. 10) “Re: Painting back of tank?”: I went to Home Depot and found a rack of oops paint. Mixed but never bought. I think I paid less than $2 for a quart. I was going to use black but only found a very dark purple. 1998 [Kevin] Usenet: alt.home.repair (Apr. 21) “Re: Home Depot Stories?”: Just for the record, that can of stain should have never been put on the shelf. It should have been “Oops’d” and put with all the Oops paint, marked down to like $1 or something. 1999 [Sparky] Usenet: alt.gothic.fashion (July 4) “Re: Interior Paint?”: I’ve had good luck finding the RL line at a discount on the “oops paint” shelves at Home Depot—apparently some folks think they want bright gold or metallic walls and then decide it looks too much like a Wild West whorehouse. 2007 Rubén Rosario Pioneer Press (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota) (July 18) “Gang scrawls fade as mural grows”: Hirschfield’s paint store donated what is called in the trade “oops” paint—paint that customers brought back or was improperly mixed or is substandard.

Posted 19 Jul 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Just so you know, I work at Home Depot and our policy is to change all Oops Paint to a totally different color then what it was originally ;) I’ll take a nice smooth green and make it Pea Green! Hey, it’s policy:)

by Business Cards 27 Jul 07, 1146 GMT