This week I have a meeting middle about all the different meanings of the word blue, and

a tidbit about the phrase kith and kin which will help you make great conversation with

your kin around the dinner table this week.

And now onto our meeting middle by Bonnie Mills which is a fun look at the color blue and

10 different meanings of or associations with that word.

First up is politics.

Whenever there's an election in the United States we hear about red states and blue states.

These days red refers to Republican or conservative states whereas blue refers to democratic or

more liberal states.

Labeling the states with such partisan colors began with the TV station NBC, the first all

color network in 1976.

The anchor explained how states that voted for the Republican incumbent Gerald Ford were

going to be blue and those in favor of the democratic challenger Jimmy Carter would be

red, the opposite of how we think of it today.

In subsequent elections other TV stations adopted their own color schemes.

No official standard was adopted however and so the public became confused.

It wasn't until the year 2000 that red definitively meant Republican and blue democratic in

political discourse and on TV.

Number two on our list is the phrase blue in the face.

When someone does something until she is blue in the face she's feeling frustrated and

exasperated.

For example a mother can tell her slavvnly son to clean up his room until she is blue

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