# Blue

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 28, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686 "2004-10-28T16:14:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![enlighten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@enlighten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enlighten)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686/1 "2004-10-28T16:14:48Z")

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what is the origin of the phrase “Blue Language”

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686/2 "2004-10-28T16:56:09Z")

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Unknown.  
[http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20031003.html](http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20031003.html)

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**Author:** ![meowpossum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/848f3c/32.png) [@meowpossum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meowpossum)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686/3 "2004-10-28T17:03:06Z")

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Wild guess: I’ve often heard people say things like “his cursing turned the air blue for miles,” and have always assumed it referred to the color of smoke, e.g. the person’s language was so hot it smoked like hellfire.

Then again, there are “blue laws” and “blue murder.” Maybe “blue” is sort of a polite version of “bloody?”

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**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686/4 "2004-10-28T21:49:04Z")

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[Blue](http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&newwindow=1&selm=884r5ugnkhbahdn281fuiajj7rj1ngs869%404ax.com)\*laws \* refer to the color of the paper upon which the faith-based laws were written in 16??, New Haven colony. I’ll see if I can cook up an entertaining follow up and tie in for blue LAWS, blue NOSE, blue BLOOD and blue CAJONES. Hell, it might even be right!

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue/271686/5 "2004-10-29T01:57:10Z")

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Probably the early 1800’s.

> **[World Wide Words: Blue](http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-blu2.htm)**
>
> Why do we say something pornographic is 'blue'?

This is a link to a rather good article by Michael Quinion, who writes one of the 2-3 best linguistic sites out there. Generally, state of the art.

Notice he sorta poo-poos the blue laws=blue paper theory.