Red: Stop. Green: Go. These two colors have universally accepted meanings, but only when it comes to traffic. Meanings of colors change across cultures, and even within a culture. If your business is in the black, that's a good thing, but if you are blackballed, well, that's a problem. Red ink is bad news but a red-letter day is a happy occasion. A blue moon is a very long period of time but a blue law has nothing to do with length.
This week we'll meet five terms related to colors -- blue, red, white, purple, and blue again -- and how they affect words' shades of meaning. cordon bleu (kawr don BLOO) adjective Of the highest class. noun A person of great distinction in a field, especially applied to a chef. [From French, literally, blue ribbon. Under the Bourbon kings in France, a blue ribbon was worn by knights of the highest order.] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=cordon+bleu -Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org) "On the one table was the university lecturer, applying critical faculties with academic rigour; on the next was the basic skills lecturer, on auto-pilot to praise every effort, even if the results were not quite cordon bleu." Gill Moore; If You Want Respect Then Wear a Suit; The Times Educational Supplement (London, UK); Sep 22, 2006. A few messages from our sponsors: Brainstorming is like cholesterol. It can be good or bad. Most of us only experience the bad. Learn the good. "Think Better" http://tenkaizen.com It's time you earn your Master's in Education -- 100% ONLINE from an educational master. We've been teaching teachers for 120 years! http://www.uscranton.com/WS ............................................................................ I have never gone to sleep with a grievance against anyone. And, as far as I could, I have never let anyone go to sleep with a grievance against me. -Abba Agathon, monk (4th/5th century) Discuss this week's words on our bulletin board: http://wordsmith.org/board Remove, change address, gift subs: http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/cordon_bleu.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/cordon_bleu.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/cordon_bleu.html This message was sent to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]".
