How Do You Do, Blue? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Orange

Some say this is so because yellow is a shade that corresponds to colours with red and green lights. However, on the traditional colour theory, the complementary colour to blue was considered to be orange. Not that I know what they're talking about with either theory. If it's blue, it's blue, and doesn't send letters to anyone.

Answer: Greece

Homer was one of the most noted writers from that period of history. In his writings, for example, he would refer to the blue colour of the sea as wine black.

Answer: Sad

Once again, this relates back to ancient Greece, even though they had no name for the colour blue. One of the colours they described as such was associated with rain, and rain, they believed, occurred when the God Zeus was feeling woeful. He would therefore cry and send the rain down from the blue sky.

Answer: The ship had lost its captain

They also sometimes indicated the loss of their captain by painting a thick blue line all around the hull of the ship as well. This and the flag communicated their sorry news back to the people on the shore, long before the ship had docked. Some ships also used this method of communicating if a senior officer on the ship had been lost.

Answer: Grey

The coat appears to be this colour because, from a distance, the grey hairs in the fur appear to take on a blue shade. Some animals that have been described as having blue coats or fur include dogs, rats, cats, chickens, horses and rabbits.

Answer: Giraffe

A rather unappealing image to be sure. The giraffe is the tallest of all the land dwelling animals on earth. These animals are also the largest ruminants on our planet, with the adult male weighing around 2,600 lbs and his dainty lady weighing in at approximately 1,800 lbs. Both animals have a strange odour, but the males are really hard on the nose, earning old males the title of Stink Bulls.

The reason for this is that giraffe fur is full of antibiotics and insect repellant and, some believe, a type of sex pheromone. And all topped off with a blue tongue.

Answer: To be drunk

This harks right back to ancient times when cloth was dyed blue by using the plants woad or indigo. One other really important ingredient was needed in the dyeing process - and that was urine. And the more alcohol one consumed then (as now), the more urine was produced.

Answer: It was the colour associated with the Virgin Mary in art

This is indeed the case when one studies many of the great paintings from various artists through the ages. The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus in the Christian faith, is often portrayed wearing a blue gown or cloak. By the 1940s, however, the colour switch came into being, and now blue is firmly ensconced with the male gender and pink with the female in western culture.

Answer: The Blue House

Presidents of South Korea are elected to five year terms. This is a once off leadership of the country, however, as no President can serve longer than that period. Should something happen to the President, a new one must be elected within two months, with the Prime Minister standing in, in the meantime.

The Korean translation for the Blue House is Cheong Wa Dae. It's quite a lovely piece of architecture, set within beautiful and exquisitely maintained grounds.

Answer: A supporter of Oliver Cromwell and his strict moral code

Cromwell set up many religious restrictions on the behaviour and lifestyle of the people of his day. Basically it could be said that fun was completely banned. The colour blue became associated with him and his followers, earning them the derogatory term of Blue Stockings as a result.

In the USA and Canada today, an historical echo can be found in what as known as their Blue Laws. These laws particularly target Sunday as the day of rest and church-going. They also include a limit on opening hours for shops on this day.