Title: | The Joy of Lex |
Notice: | A Notes File even your grammar could love |
Moderator: | THEBAY::SYSTEM |
Created: | Fri Feb 28 1986 |
Last Modified: | Mon Jun 02 1997 |
Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
Number of topics: | 1192 |
Total number of notes: | 42769 |
how did the expression "blue blood" come into use?
T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
74.1 | ZENITH::GRIFFIN | Fri May 17 1985 11:13 | 7 | ||
I'll take a guess that it refers to the fact popular regal colors were a dark (royal) blue and purple. Then permutate "He's got nobility in his blood" for a few hundred years. - dave | |||||
74.2 | SUPER::MATTHEWS | Fri May 17 1985 16:52 | 6 | ||
My dictionary says: "Translation of Spanish sangre azul; probably from the blue color of the veins of fair-complexioned aristocrats." (Also, one of you has a bad NOTES$TIMEZONE.) Val | |||||
74.3 | SIERRA::MORGAN | Mon May 20 1985 14:56 | 9 | ||
Any connection between blue blood and hemophelia, the bane of European royalty? By the way, I have heard that "bloody", as in "bloody curious", is a contraction of "By our Lady". If you listen to a Scotsman say "By our Lady" and "bloody", the linkage is much easier to discern, so presumably the contraction is Scottish in origin. This bit of speculation (disinformation?) courtesy of a friend and sometime resident of Scotland. Morgan Robinson | |||||
74.4 | SPEEDY::CRIMMIN | Thu May 30 1985 15:15 | 7 | ||
Isac Asimov, in his non-fiction THE HUMAN BODY, agrees with reply #2. Aristocrats, a group of traditionally untanned people, have produced no keritin in the skin. The result is a more transparent condition which allows more ultraviolet light into the regions that produce vitamin D. (excuse plse, the name is Isaac, not Isac) -pc | |||||
74.5 | Strewth! | MARVIN::WALSH | Tue Apr 25 1989 13:07 | 6 | |
re .3 Compare the derivation of the sadly underused "Strewth!", a corruption of "God's truth". Chris |