People use colour expressions to show their feelings and describe the world. Many colour-related phrases are common in our speech. Let's see where they came from.
•The Blues
The phrase is a short form of "the blue devils", which also stands for sad feelings. This expression is also used to describe a type of jazz music that became popular in the south of America in the 1940s.
•Black Sheep of the Family
The phrase refers to a member of a family or a group who is unacceptable. In the old days, the black sheep were sold at a lower price than the white ones at the market, because their fleece(羊毛) could not be coloured. This made the black sheep an unwelcome member of the group.
•A Red-letter Day
A Red-letter Day is a day when something really exciting and memorable(难忘的) happens. It came from the practice of marking special western days, holidays, or other festivals in red on the calendar. Today, some calendars still use red numbers for special holidays, even weekends.
•Green with Envy
Writers such as Shakespeare in the 16th century used the colour green to stand for envy, but it was the Greeks who connected it with sickness caused by envy. When a person was full of envy, his or her body produced too much bile(胆汁), giving his or her skin a greenish colour. That is green with envy.
People use colours to express their feelings and describe the world. Many colour-related phrases are often in our speech. For example, the Blues not only represents but also refers to a type of popular jazz music. The expression Black Sheep of the Family means an unwelcome member of a family or a group. In the past, it was impossible to colour the fleece of the black sheep, so the black sheep were less money than the white ones at the market. A Red-letter Day came from the practice of marking a special day in red on the calendar when that day remembering. Green with Envy appeared because the Greeks believed that the colour green had to do with sickness caused by envy. Later writers began to use green for envy.
