Connotations of the Color Blue . . .
FAST-US-7 United States Popular Culture (Hopkins)
Department of Translation Studies, University of Tampere
- Consider the Finnish concept of a sininen hetki ("blue
moment"?) . . .
And its translatability into English, vs the following English expressions
involving the color blue.
English-speakers (at least American English speakers) have been
conditioned toward the following connotations of "blue" due to the popular
[culture] thinking in which they live
- blue dream, blue movie, blue jokes, blue laws (Puritan heritage)
- 'cursing a blue streak', blue balls (venereal disease)
- 'blue book' (U.S. higher education exam answer booklets)
- having the blues, feeling blue, playing the Blues
- a blueblood, having blue blood (aristocratic)
- blue pills (cf. the 'boingg effect')
- blue bullets, bluebirds (vs red devils, yellowjackets, etc.)
drug capsules (cf. also blue heaven, blue angel)
- blue darter, blue blazer (baseball terms)
- blue envelope (vs pink slip) notice of losing job . . .
- blue highways (cf. Blue Highways, by William Least
Heat-Moon)
- blue eyes (pure, bright, innocent) vs. blue-eyed (naive)
- IBM blue, 'Big Blue'
- blue(s) (sailor), blue(s) (police; cf. "NYPD Blue") other
blue-colored "uniforms" . . .
- "blue" vs "red" states (liberal vs
conservative)
- "Blue Monday" (plus "pink slips")
[PDF]
Consider also other colors: red, white, brown, green, purple,
yellow, pink, black . . . (including the different connotations of Black Monday,
Black Tuesday, Black Wednesday,
Black Thursday,
Black
Friday, Black
Saturday, and Black
Sunday most of which have numerous 'identities' of their own)
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Last Updated 07 January 2010
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