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Jun 21, 2011 · The longer, and original, form of the expression is "a bolt out of the blue", which is a line from Thomas Carlyle's history of the French Revolution. A bolt from out of the blue literally would be lightning (= lightning bolt; thunderbolt) that struck from a sky with no storm clouds, and figuratively means something --often, something surprising and difficult -- that happens without any warning:
Apr 30, 2011 · Dear forum, You probably know the song from Adele - "Someone like you". I do not know how to understand the phrase "I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited". Theoretically I understand what "turn out of blue" could mean. However that "I hate" and "uninvited" makes me mess. Thank you for your...
Jan 20, 2009 · "Out of the blue" really means "out of a clear blue sky," something hitting you with no warning, such as a lightning bolt with no clouds around, so I think it works on the blue sky/black sky level, but my daughter points out that we ourselves come "out of the blue," i.e., we are born as unique beings, and go "into the black," i.e. nothingness or the unknown, when we die.
Dec 11, 2009 · "The blue" is indeed the sky. This is related to the expression "like a bolt from the blue", which means to happen suddenly and without any warning. The "bolt" in that saying is a bolt of lightning, which you would not expect to come out of a clear blue sky as opposed to a sky full of storm clouds.
Oct 8, 2018 · Therefore, I can see one saying "paint the town blue" more as sarcasm than anything else. I can see someone saying they'll go out and paint the town orange and black on Halloween, paint the town red, white, and blue on July 4th (in the U.S.), or paint the town red, white, and green on Christmas.
Sep 9, 2013 · Hello, everyone. Following is quoted from the book, 'Reality Test.' What's the meaning of it? Does it mean that petrol comes out of the blue from the pump? Help, please. :-)
Mar 1, 2009 · "out of the blue" is a metaphor and has a more restricted use than the adverb "suddenly" and the adverbial phrase "all of a sudden." For instance, one can say, "Suddenly, the road veered to the right," or "All of a sudden, the road turned right," but it would not be appropriate to replace either of the "sudden" formation with "out of the blue."
Feb 25, 2008 · I have heard blue movie once as far as I can recall, from a middle aged lady about 8 years ago. I somehow can't imagine it applied to videos, DVDs or Internet porn, it has to be one in cinema or on a reel for home projector. NB, the origin of the term is apparently from the blue pencil used to censor unsuitable material.
Mar 25, 2008 · This is a phrase that comes from a famous song sung by britney spears, here it is a little bit of context: "That I'm the only one thing you'll see Tell me I'm not in the blue, that I'm not wasting my feelings on You" I know for sure that blue it's commonly referred to indicate sad...
Jun 26, 2013 · Hi there! I work in a company in the UK and I write multiple emails using the phrase "Forgive this email out of the blue". We have some leads in South America and Spain and I would like to use a similar phrase but I don't know if the literal translation would be said in Spanish! I haven't...
