Apr 10, 2023 · What is the origin of the term ‘blue movie’ to mean porn film? Were there for example ‘blue photos’ before film? The usage of ‘blue’ for nasty, lewd, deviant, seems to go back at least as far back as 1900, which suggests it could have been (but not necessarily) used to describe pornographic photos. But when did it start?

Jun 9, 2015 · The association of "blue air" with cursing has been around since at least the 1880s. Farmer & Henley, Slang and Its Analogues (1890) offers this brief entry: To MAKE THE AIR BLUE, phr [ase], (popular). To curse; to swear; to use profane language. Farmer & Henley then sends the reader off to look at its entry for sense 2 of the adjective blue, which is as follows: Indecent; 'smutty'; obscene ...

Oct 19, 2020 · If you are sad and describe yourself as "feeling blue," you are using a phrase coined from a custom among many old deepwater sailing ships. If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port. Also, see Origins of …

The phrase “working blue” came into usage at the time. If a representative of the Keith Orpheum circuit objected to the content of an act, a request to cut the material was sent backstage in a blue envelope.

Apr 5, 2020 · The Wikipedia article on sulfur confirms the flame color: Sulfur burns with a blue flame with formation of sulfur dioxide, which has a suffocating and irritating odor. But is that the original rationale for "blue blazes"? Also, when and where did the earliest recorded instances of "blue blazes" and "blue blazes of hell" occur?

Jun 3, 2018 · The true origin is what you’d expect in a business setting: In the early 20th century, “blue sky” was frequently applied to describe fraud — notably, financiers who would inflate and over-capitalize securities based on nothing more tangible than “blue sky and hot air.”

Jul 21, 2017 · According to Green's Dictionary of Slang, "blue ribbon," at one point meant "the very best gin," and later came to mean gin in general. a blue ribbon worn as a badge of honour; thus referring to the quality of the best gin [early 19C] gin. Green's Dictionary of Slang Green attributes this as a precursor to blue ruin, for the ruinous effect of particularly bad gin on a person's health. The ...

Jun 6, 2013 · Here is the definition of off color in Chapman & Kipfer, Dictionary of American Slang, Third Edition (1995): off color adj phr by 1875 Somewhat salacious; risqué; =BLUE: a couple of off-color jokes/ Some of his observations were a bit off color. That same reference reports that blue in the sense of "lewd, rude, suggestive" appeared in American English by 1840. The same sense of blue appears ...

Jun 29, 2019 · To scream blue murder is to shout loudly and make a huge fuss, sometimes with the implication that the fuss is excessive. But does anyone know why murder should be blue?

Dec 21, 2010 · Run around is a common expression meaning to be busy, frantic, or otherwise getting the runaround. But to emphasize how much one is running around, we turn to metaphor. The fly in question is apparently a blue bottle fly, which buzzes around rather frantically, like someone who is running around busily doing errands.