put in blue
v.— «Question: “Is there any indication that if the discussions within the whole Security Council now won’t bear fruit, that the United States might be willing to force a vote to sort of change that text of the resolution to what I believe they call in the United Nations the blue text, printing it on blue paper, and thereby forcing a vote?”…Mr. Reeker: “…We continue to work, as you said, from the US-UK-sponsored resolution, which was put in blue, as your colleague mentioned. And I still haven’t quite figured that out. It is because it’s on blue paper or—” Question: “On blue paper (inaudible).” Mr. Reeker: “Blue paper. Anyway, the text was set down and it’s an operating text that you’ve all seen and has been distributed.”» —“Briefing for New York Foreign Media” by Philip T. Reeker in New York City US Dept. of State Oct. 28, 2002. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...