meaning - What does "going blue" mean?


I'm familiar with the expression to feel blue, but I recently stumbled upon the expression to go blue on two different websites in one week.



Vork from The Guild goes a bit blue


Source: http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2011/03/24/in-which-i-discuss-the-topic-of-web-series-with-my-head-on-my-desk



The second site:



Our panel from ECCC last weekend. It went a bit blue. Thanks Wil Wheaton, hehe.


Source: http://felicia.posterous.com/eccc-11-the-guild-panel-part-1



Usually I can track down the meaning of expressions myself, but since Google isn't being very helpful I'm turning to you guys. I'd also like to know if this expression is used widely across the English-speaking world or if its use is limited to certain regions.


(Please forgive me if my English isn't flawless... I'm a 19-year-old non-native speaker.)



Answer



This is in reference to a 'blue movie', a euphemistic term for a pornographic film.


It has since been toned down somewhat and phrases like a bit of blue can be used to say that something is 'adult' in nature. Often this includes dealing with sexual material but doesn't necessarily mean visually pornographic; a comedian who tells jokes with a sexual theme could be called 'a bit blue'.


going a bit blue then would mean that the programme/character in question is normally 'clean' but has begun to include more adult themes.


It would appear that the term has been used thus since the early 1800s, originating in Scotland, though a clear connection between the colour and the connotation has not been settled on.


N.B.: Bolton comedian Peter Kay is famous in England and well known for his family friendly stand up material. In his shows he will occasionally tell a joke with some sort of subtle sexual reference or other 'adult' theme and then follow the joke by saying 'a bit of blue for the dads there'.


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