How many of you know that a blue moon need not necessarily have a blue shine? Beware of any moonshine over this. A blue moon is the full moon that occurs for a second time in a calendar month. This will happen on Wednesday, 31st January 2018. (This year, it is also the supermoon, along with a total lunar eclipse visible in some parts of the world.) As per an old definition blue moon is third full moon of four in a season which also is rare.
The word *blue* has contributed to several phrases. You know what blue film or blue jokes mean; but a blue blooded man is one of noble birth. At Oxford and Cambridge, you get your blue when you represent the University in a sport. That should take the blues away. That will be all the more true if you get a ‘blue ribbon’, a sign of great distinction. For many, distinctions come out of the blue. But a bolt from the blue is something that you cannot easily take.
You know that the blue chips have nothing to do with computers except that they are traded these days using computers. If you knew that much, better be aware that a blue stocking may not be interested in stocks. She is a woman regarded as having superior literary tastes and intellectual interests. She may not like the blue bottle. (The bottle here has nothing to do with liquor; it is a fly.)
We may not find a true blue these days even in the CPI (M) not to speak of the BJP and the Congress. The blue book, we hear of too often during Prime Minister’s visit, need not necessarily deal with VVIP security. It can be any book published by the Government containing a report– a product of white collar workers as contrasted to blue collars.
While some journalists will submit to the blue pencil, others will fight him/her. You had that experience during emergency when some bent backwards to obey him.