to feel blue

[zilak34]

I would like to know what does this idiom mean. To feel blue. Thank you. MZ

[BobK]

Originally Posted by zilak34

I would like to know what does this idiom mean. To feel blue. Thank you. MZ

To feel sad, often (though not always) for romantic/sexual reasons. I think the romantic link came about because blue rhymes with lots of useful words for popular songwriters (you, too, two, through...).

b

[AlainK]

Apparently, the adjective is much older than the songs blues singers sing:

meaning "depression, low spirits" goes back to 1741, from adj. blue "low-spirited," c.1385.

(Online Etymology Dictionary)
And from the Dictionary of Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett (1848)
(Dictionary of Americanisms, by John Russell Bartlett (1848))

BLUE. Gloomy, severe; extreme, ultra.
In the former sense it is applied especially to the Presbyterians, to denote their severe and mortified appearance. Thus, beneath an old portrait of the seventeenth century, in the Woodburn Gallery, is the following inscription:
A true blue Priest, a Lincey Woolsey Brother,
One legg a pulpit, holds a tub the other;
An Orthodox grave, moderate Presbyterian,
Half surplice cloake, half Priest, half Puritan.
Made up of all these halfes, hee cannot pass
For anything entirely but an ass.
In the latter sense it is used particularly in politics.
The bluest description of old Van Rensselaer Federalists have followed Col. Prentiss (in Otsego county).--N. Y. Tribune.

...not to forget Wikipedia that gives this etymology:

The phrase the blues is a reference to having a fit of the blue devils, meaning 'down' spirits, depression and sadness. An early reference to "the blues" can be found in George Colman's farce Blue devils, a farce in one act (1798).

I hope our Usonian friends will forgive my talking a blue streak, ahem...

[BobK]

Originally Posted by AlainK

Apparently, the adjective is much older than the songs blues singers sing...

Yes, the sexual/romantic overtones have only been added in the last century or so. But I think someone who says 'I'm feeling blue' nowadays is probably talking about emotions. Someone who's just sad says 'I'm feeling down/depressed/glum'... ( maybe that last one is strictly BE.)

Referring to that N.Y. Tribune piece, is it just in BE that 'true blue' often means '[politically] conservative'?

b

[AlainK]

Originally Posted by BobK

Referring to that N.Y. Tribune piece, is it just in BE that 'true blue' often means '[politically] conservative'?

b

Apparently, this is (used to be,) the same in the US, for when JRB wrote "In the latter sense it is used particularly in politics.", he probably meant the last word in the list given at the beginning of the definition: "Gloomy, severe; extreme, ultra."

Not being a native speaker, I have no doubt that you understand nuances, or even just can feel without always being to explain them.
Thanks for your input.

[AlainK]

Originally Posted by AlainK

"In the latter sense it is used particularly in politics."

...which, incidently, is a good example of a comparative where we French people would use a superlative.
Not to mention "late, later, latter, latest, and last" (but not least :))

I suddenly feel dizzy...