Hello again.
I have a question about color. In Spanish, brown things have always been 'carmelita' to me. My family has always used this word (my parents and I were born in Cuba, though I only lived there a year), and within my Spanish-speaking community this has always been the word for brown.
However, I see that 'marron' and 'cafe' are more common outside of Cuba. The first sounds too much like 'maroon' for me to use it, and using 'cafe' just feels weird. 'Carmelita' comes naturally.
Now, my parents told me that a possible explanation for 'Carmelita' was a group in Cuba called the Carmelitas which wore brown robes. I haven't been able to find anything about carmelita being brown (not even a wiktionary entry) or having to do with this group (or maybe I'm just really dense). Does anyone else use this word? Does anyone know the origin of this word? Why is it so obscure outside of Cuba?