[Vocabulary] "blue" meaning "indecent"

[stares-at-stars]

Does somebody know since when "blue" is used with this meaning?
Is this usage typically British or American?

 

[cereal_chick]

Pardon my French, but quoi? Blue meaning indecent?! Where in the world did you get that from?

 

[konungursvia]

Maybe from Blue Velvet, or blue movies. It doesn't mean indecent, it means sexually hot. To me, that's not indecent, it's just AA14+.

 

[Barb_D]

If you say that a comedian is blue or uses blue humor, it means he will use a lot of profanity and perhaps sexual inuendo. Ricky Gervaise is one example - so, so funny, but so, so foul.

 

[thincat]

Does somebody know since when "blue" is used with this meaning?
Is this usage typically British or American?

According to the OED, the indecent connotation of "blue" seems to be able to trace back to 1864.

Indecent, obscene. Cf. blue n. 14 and blueness n. 4.


1864 J. C. Hotten Slang Dict. (new ed.) 78 Blue, said of talk that is smutty or indecent.
1935 Economist 16 Mar. 584/2 The songs sounded not vulgar exactly, but‥‘a bit on the blue side’.
1959 Spectator 14 Aug. 180/1 It meant that the theatre-going public were deprived of‥outstanding contemporary plays, yet allowed to visit ‘blue’ variety shows.
1965 Punch 2 June 799/1 He also wanted to see a blue movie.
​

 

[Tullia]

If you say that a comedian is blue or uses blue humor, it means he will use a lot of profanity and perhaps sexual inuendo. Ricky Gervaise is one example - so, so funny, but so, so foul.

I'd use the phrase "blue language" to talk about RG's profanity as well so it sounds like it's both an AmE and a BrE concept.

There's also the lovely phrase "turned the air blue" which you would see in sentences like:

"He was effing and jeffing so much the air turned blue!"
or
"He turned the air blue with his constant profanity."

 

[emsr2d2]

It's interesting to see that Barb considers Ricky Gervais to use a lot of profanity etc. I know he got lambasted for his language when he presented some award ceremony or other, but here in the UK, I wouldn't consider him rude at all. Most of his TV shows have been pretty restrained profanity-wise. His live stand-up routine could be very different, I've never seen him on stage.

 

[Barb_D]

I've seen his stand-up on cable TV specials. Oh my... I had tears streaming down my face from laughing half the time, but I was glad there were no children in the room.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've seen his stand-up on cable TV specials. Oh my... I had tears streaming down my face from laughing half the time, but I was glad there were no children in the room.

Fair enough! I should really track down some live stuff because I love his TV shows.

I think Roy "Chubby" Brown and Jim Davidson would be the two "bluest" comedians I have ever heard. Billy Connolly in the 70s and 80s used "f*ck" as if it were going out of fashion but something about his accent and the endearing way in which he incorporated it into his stories meant it was commonly overlooked.

 

[Barb_D]

I think The Invention of Lying is one of the more intriguing movies I've seen in a while. Oddly touching at some points.