Idioms in English - 'Blue'

Hey, this is Alex, and welcome to this lesson on idioms.

Now today we're going to look at specific idioms that deal with the color blue.

Now every single language has hundreds and thousands of idioms.

The English language is no different, and there are actually many more idioms that use

the color blue in them.

These are just a few of the most common ones that you might hear in everyday English conversation.

So, let's look at them.

We have once in a blue moon, feeling blue, out of the blue, blue in the face, and boys

in blue.

Okay, so once in a blue moon, what do you think that means?

If I said to you, "I visit my sister once in a blue moon."

Once in a blue moon means rarely, something that does not happen very often.

Okay, so again, the example that I gave was, "I visit my sister once in a blue moon."

Once in a blue moon, I'll have some ice cream.

I don't eat ice cream that often.

That's not true about me, but you know, some people might say that.

So how about feeling blue?

If you're feeling blue, no, okay.

So if you're feeling blue, it means you're feeling sad or depressed, or we also say another

idiom is, "I'm feeling down, I'm feeling sad."

Last week my cat died, I'm feeling pretty blue, not a happy occasion, right?

So you're feeling sad if you're feeling blue.

How about when something comes out of the blue, out of the blue, it kind of jumps out

at you.

So when you think of something coming out of the blue, think of something coming from

nowhere, like a big surprise just happened.

So I was driving down the road and this car swerved in front of me out of the blue, meaning

from nowhere.

I didn't see them.

They surprised me, utterly shocked me.

So then we have blue in the face.

Okay, if you're blue in the face, it means that you've been trying to convince someone

of something, you're arguing with someone, but you're not winning them over, right?

So let's say I argued with my friend for five hours until I was blue in the face, but he

just wouldn't listen to me.

So basically, no matter how hard you try arguing with someone, they're not going to listen.

Your face goes blue, right?

You're out of oxygen.

You've been talking so much, okay?

And the boys in blue, this is a very, very simple idiom.

Boys in blue simply refers to the police, okay?

The boys in blue came and stopped the riot, you can say.

That's one example.

Okay, so again, once in a blue moon means something rarely happens, not very often.

When you're feeling blue, you're feeling sad, you're feeling down, another idiom.

Something happens out of the blue, it means it surprises you, it comes from nowhere.

If you're blue in the face, it means that you've just been arguing for a long time,

but you're not winning over the person you're arguing with.

And the boys in blue are the police.

So if you'd like to take a quiz on these idioms, just to make sure that you know how to use

them, please check out www.engvid.com.

My name is Alex.

Take care.