Yellow Idioms

Several words have become part of the language in being used in phrases. Last time we looked at ‘white’ and now look at ‘yellow’.

Yellow peril is used to refer to cowardice and first seen in 1856.

Yellow-bellied is, as above, used to refer to cowardice and first used in 1924. The term yellow-belly had earlier been used by sailors to refer to their colleagues who were of mixed race. Note, while this and the previous examples show the colour as representing cowardice, traditionally (and as late as the 18th century) yellow has been associated with jealousy/envy.

Yellow dog is seen by 1770, and refers to a mongrel pooch. Later, by 1881, it is used to refer to someone seen as contemptible.

Yellow fever is first described in 1748, today we are more likely to say ‘jaundiced’.

Yellow journalism is an American expression referring to sensational chauvinism in the media, first seen in 1898. This began as the press were for aggression against Spain, and representative of the image of the Yellow Kid, the main character in Richard Outcault’s comic strip Shantytown.

Yellow ribbon, is an American tradition where such is worn to show support for friends and loved ones fighting for their country. In began in 1979 with the US embassy hostage crisis in Iran. Despite the oft-told story of it being from the film She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, a John Wayne film from 1949, there is no evidence of it being used prior to this. Of course the one thing which comes to mind when mentioning yellow ribbons, is the song by Tony Orlando and Dawn from 1973. This tells of how the ribbon would be displayed to show a convict returning home after being released from prison that they forgave him or her. Only problem here is, the ribbon had been used to show such forgiveness since 1959 but until the early Seventies had always been white. Yellow was a fictional account first told in a newspaper in 1971, the following year dramatized on television.

Yellowcake is first described in 1950, it’s an oxide of uranium.

Yellowtail is a name attributed to a fish, first described in 1709.

Yellow streak is simply another way of describing cowardice, first seen in the New Orleans newspaper the Daily Picayune in 1892.

Yellow brick road is the route followed in order to fulfil your hopes and dreams. The question is what came first, the film or the idea. We can be sure it wasn’t Elton John’s single and album of the same name. Although it is uncertain just when the metaphor was first used, it is quite clear the film The Wizard of Oz based on the book by Frank L. Baum followed the use of the phrase to suggest the streets of America was where a fortune could be made for those who chose the right path. Probably beginning around the time of the gold rush, the Emerald City in the land of Oz represents the US dollar.

Just to confuse matters in Middle English the word ‘yellow’ referred to a closer to blue-grey or even grey – used specifically to refer to the colour of eyes or of frogs.