Caspian Blue - Blue in World Culture - Associations and Sayings About Blue

Associations and Sayings About Blue

• Surveys in Europe and the United States regularly find that blue is the favourite colour of respondents, who associate it more than any other colour with sympathy, harmony, faithfulness, friendship and confidence. For example, a survey taken in Germany and published in 2009 found that blue was the favourite colour of 46 percent of male respondents and 44 percent of women.
• True blue is an expression in the United States which means faithful and loyal.
• In Britain, a bride in a wedding is encouraged to wear "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," as a sign of loyalty and faithfulness. A blue sapphire engagement ring is also considered a symbol of fidelity.
• Blue is often associated with excellence, distinction and high performance. The Queen of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of Germany often wear a blue sash at formal occasions. In the United States, the blue ribbon is usually the highest award in expositions and county fairs. The Blue Riband was a trophy and flag given to the fastest transatlantic steamships in the 19th and 20th century. A blue-ribbon panel is a group of top-level experts selected to examine a subject.
• A blue chip stock is a stock in a company with a reputation for quality and reliability in good times and bad. The term was invented in the New York Stock Exchange in 1923 or 1924, and comes from poker, where the highest value chips are blue.
• Someone with blue blood is a member of the nobility. The term comes from the Spanish sangre azul, and is said to refer to the pale skin and prominent blue veins of Spanish nobles.
• Blue is also associated with labour and the working class. It is the common colour of overalls blue jeans and other working costumes. In the United States "blue collar" workers refers to those who, in either skilled or unskilled jobs, work with their hands and do not wear business suits ("White collar" workers).
• Blue is traditionally associated with the sea and the sky, with infinity and distance. The uniforms of sailors are usually dark blue, those of air forces lighter blue. The expression "The wild blue yonder refers to the sky. On the first flight into space, the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin told ground control, "The earth is blue. How wonderful - it is amazing."
• Blue is associated with cold water taps which are traditionally marked with blue.
• Bluestocking was an unflattering expression in the 18th century for upper-class women who cared about culture and intellectual life and disregarded fashion. It originally referred to men and women who wore plain blue wool stockings instead of the black silk stockings worn in society.
• Blue is often associated with melancholy- having the "blues".

• Madame Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV of France, wore blue myosotis, or forget-me-not flowers in her hair and on her gowns as a symbol of faithfulness to the King.