Query: "blue laws"

[Baker, John]

        There's no consensus on this.  The most plausible answer (IMHO)
is that it's a straightforward collocation, where "blue" has the meaning
"Puritanical" (see, e.g., blue, adj. 6, in M-W).  The theory that the
term derives from the use of blue paper is very old and goes back at
least to 1788, see my ADS-L post at
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0410A&L=ADS-L&P=R10100
&I=-3.  However, nobody has ever found such a set of laws.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 10:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Query: "blue laws"

   A colleague has asked me about the origin of the term "blue laws."  A
check of Google shows that the explanation of those laws being written
on blue paper is a myth, But what is the real etymology? Would anyone
know?

    Any help would be very gratefully received.

Gerald Cohen

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