"Out of the blue" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2023-01-25

0:00 - How to Say, “Out of the blue…”
0:05 - Meaning of “Out of the blue…”
0:37 - Examples of “Out of the blue…”
1:48 - Origin of “Out of the blue…”
3:10 - Life advice regarding “Out of the blue…”
4:42 - More Examples of “Out of the blue…”
5:43 - Conclusion

“Out of the blue…”

If someone says that something happened “out of the blue”, it means that it happened suddenly, without warning, unexpectedly.

This idiom is very common in all dialects of English and even though it’s been around for hundreds of years, can often be heard today.

“I didn’t see that deer, it just jumped out of the blue in front of us,” your dad might be telling your family after a car accident.

Maybe you’re telling a friend how you met your husband, “Well, I was hurt while on vacation in Singapore and out of the blue, he was there to help me!”

“C’mon, you don’t expect me to believe that my skateboard just broke like this, out of the blue?” you might be saying to your friend that obviously smashed your skateboard.

As you can see, if something comes or happens “out of the blue”, it happens surprisingly, without notice, “on the spur of the moment”.

The origin of the idiom, “out of the blue”, is found in England in the 1860s and is quite easy to understand if you know that blue means the blue sky.

It first appeared in the newspaper, The Standard (London) on August 26, 1863 as “a bolt out of the blue”, in other words, a lightning flash in a clear blue sky.

Over the years, reference to a lightning or thunder bolt appearing suddenly in a clear, sunny blue sky to indicate surprises, shocks, bombshells were common.

Finally, however, after many decades, the idiom started to really take shape and excluded description of lightning or thunder and matured into what we have today; simply, “out of the blue”.

In life, we often worry about this and that, but it’s things that come out of the blue that cause the most worries, the most sleepless nights, the biggest crises.

You see, things that we know about, things that occupy our thoughts are things that we either can do something about, or cannot do something about. If we cannot do anything about it, it’s better not to think about it! If we can, then we should plan.

If something happens out of the blue, however, then you’ve most likely not thought about it and certainly have no idea or plan about how to deal with it. Suddenly, you have to drop everything and deal with this unpleasant surprise.

Hopefully, you have the state of mind, the wherewithal, the resources, the friends and family to help you deal with a problem that arises out of the blue. Take a deep breath and think carefully about what can be done.

“I was fine one day, but then out of the blue, my doctor calls to tell me that I have leukemia,” your uncle might be telling you about his blood cancer diagnosis.

Perhaps you’re waiting with your family for an overbooked flight when an employee approaches you, “Good news! A few passengers flying first class cancelled out of the blue, so we will be giving their seats to you and your family.”

“It’s not like the building collapsed out of the blue; water had been penetrating the roof and walls for years due to lack of maintenance,” a structural engineer might be telling an insurance agent.

So, the next time something - whether good or bad - happens unexpectedly, without notice, surprisingly, just say that it happened or came “out of the blue”.

#superduperenglishidioms #englishidioms #idioms #proverbs 

References: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/out+of+the+blue

https://wordhistories.net/2017/07/14/out-of-the-blue-origin/#:~:text=The%20phrase%20out%20of%20the%20blue%20means%20without%20warning%2C%20completely%20unexpectedly.