Color
     Many everyday expressions in English are made from colors. We  say
 we are in the pink when we are in good health. It is easy to understand
 how this expression was born. When my face has a nice fresh pink color
, it is a sign my health is good. If I look pale and gray, I may need a
 doctor. "Red: is a hotter color than "pink". And the Americans use  it
 to express heat. In English  the  small  hot  peppers  found  in  many
 Mexican foods are called "redhots" for their  color  and  their  fiery
 taste. We say that fast fiery music is "redhot", especially  the  kind
 called "Dixieland jazz".
     "Blue" is a cooler color. The traditional blue music  of  American
 blacks is the opposite of redhot music. It is slow, sad  and  soulful.
 Duke Filling ton and his orchestra recorded a famous song, Mood Indigo
 about the deep blue color "indigo". In the words of  the  song,   "You
 ain't been blue till you had that mood indigo. To be blue, of  course,
 is to be sad."
     While the color "green" is natural for trees it  is  an  unnatural
 color for humans. When someone does not feel well, someone who is  sea
-sick, for example, we say he looks  green.   When  someone  is  angry,
 because he does not have what someone else has, we  say  he  is  green
 with envy. Some people are green with envy because  someone  else  has
 more dollars, or green backs. Dollars are called green  backs  because
 tha's the color of the back side of the money.
     The color "black" is often used in expressions. People describe  a
 day in which everything goes wrong as a black  day.   A  blacklist  is
 illegal now. But at one time,  some  employers  shared  blacklists  of
 people who should not be given work.
     In some case, colors just describe situation. A black out in World
 War Two was when all lights were turned off to make it  difficult  for
 bomber planes to find their  targets  at  night.   A  brownout  is  an
 American expression for  reduced  electrical  power  which  makes  the
 electric lights dim. American women use the French word for  "red"  as
 the name of the colored cosmetic which they sometimes use to  brighten
 their cheeks. It is just called rough. They  use  it  especially  when
 they are going out for the evening, or as Americans say to  paint  the
 town red. A person's skin may become "yellow" as a result of  diseases
 that attack the liver. Yellow fever  is  one.   In  the  past,   ships
 carrying yellow fever victims raised the flag called the Yellow  Jack.
 In the United States, an activitist organization of older people calls
 itself the Gray Panthers. The name comes form the  gray  hair  of  its
 members and from the panther, a fierce animal of the cat family.
    

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