[00:10.00]Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:15.50]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:18.34]Every people has its own way of saying things,
[00:23.39]its own special expressions.
[00:26.53]Many everyday American expressions
[00:30.26]are based on colors.
[00:32.75]Red is a hot color.
[00:36.14]Americans often use it to express heat.
[00:40.57]They may say they are red hot
[00:44.30]about something unfair.
[00:46.24]When they are red hot
[00:48.44]they are very angry about something.
[00:51.37]The small hot tasting peppers
[00:55.27]found in many Mexican foods are called red hots
[00:59.20]for their color and their fiery taste.
[01:02.48]Fast loud music is popular with many people.
[01:07.71]They may say the music is red hot,
[01:11.64]especially the kind called Dixieland jazz.
[01:15.78]Pink is a lighter kind of red.
[01:20.11]People sometimes say they are in the pink
[01:24.40]when they are in good health.
[01:26.34]The expression was first used in America
[01:30.32]at the beginning of the twentieth century.
[01:33.06]It probably comes from the fact
[01:36.34]that many babies are born with a nice pink color
[01:40.33]that shows that they are in good health.
[01:43.22]Blue is a cool color.
[01:46.65]The traditional blues music in the United States
[01:51.48]is the opposite of red hot music.
[01:54.22]Blues is slow, sad and soulful.
[01:59.06]Duke Ellington and his orchestra
[02:02.34]recorded a famous song – Mood Indigo
[02:05.03]– about the deep blue color, indigo.
[02:08.77]In the words of the song:
[02:10.86]"You ain't been blue
[02:13.75]till you've had that Mood Indigo."
[02:16.29]Someone who is blue is very sad.
[02:20.37]The color green is natural for trees and grass.
[02:26.34]But it is an unnatural color for humans.
[02:30.23]A person who has a sick feeling stomach
[02:33.97]may say she feels a little green.
[02:36.96]A passenger on a boat
[02:40.88]who is feeling very sick from high waves
[02:43.37]may look very green.
[02:45.05]Sometimes a person may be upset
[02:49.96]because he does not have something
[02:52.40]as nice as a friend has, like a fast new car.
[02:56.19]That person may say he is green with envy.
[03:01.01]Some people are green with envy
[03:04.60]because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks.
[03:08.49]Dollars are called greenbacks because that is
[03:12.82]the color of the back side of the paper money.
[03:15.64]The color black is used often in expressions.
[03:20.66]People describe a day in which everything
[03:24.05]goes wrong as a black day.
[03:26.63]The date of a major tragedy
[03:29.87]is remembered as a black day.
[03:32.75]A blacklist is illegal now.
[03:36.64]But at one time, some businesses refused
[03:40.42]to employ people who were on a blacklist
[03:43.65]for belonging to unpopular organizations.
[03:46.59]In some cases, colors describe a situation.
[03:51.37]A brown out is an expression
[03:54.80]for a reduction in electric power.
[03:57.09]Brown outs happen when there is
[04:00.33]too much demand for electricity.
[04:02.43]The electric system is unable to offer
[04:05.56]all the power needed in an area.
[04:07.05]Black outs were common during World War Two.
[04:11.59]Officials would order all lights in a city
[04:15.32]turned off to make it difficult for enemy planes
[04:18.46]to find a target in the dark of night.
[04:21.45](MUSIC)
[04:28.91]I'm Warren Scheer. Listen again next week
[04:32.35]for another WORDS AND THEIR STORIES program
[04:35.69]in Special English on the Voice of America.