Colourful English

Colours colour our language — and that is not just pigment of my imagination. Think of the words we use to describe how we feel. At various times we are green with envy, gray with exhaustion, red with embarrassment, or white with rage. We can fall into a black mood, a purple passion, or a blue funk; when things start looking up, we feel in the pink.

Even the animal world gets painted by the colouring of human imagination.

Have you ever owned a white elephant? Before you shake your head no, remember that nowadays the expression white elephant means an object of some worth that nobody else seems to want, like a huge out-of-style couch or a pedal-driven sewing machine. White elephant refers back to the albino elephants once considered sacred in Siam (now Thailand). These creatures were so rare that each one born became automatically the property of the king and was not permitted to work. When a subject incurred the king's displeasure, the angry monarch would bestow one of his white elephants on him as a gift. The enormous appetite and utter uselessness of the animal would soon plunge the "gifted" man into financial ruin. Can you explain the meaning of red herring"? The original red herrings were strong-smelling fish that the fox hunters of Old England dragged across the fox's trail to confuse the hounds and give the quarry a sporting chance. Today the meaning of red herring has been broadened to signify a misleading statement that diverts our attention from the real issues.