As white as a sheet
Meaning: When someone is shocked, scared, ill, or in fear (describes
the colour of one’s face).
Example: While crossing the street, I was almost hit by a
bus. I’m sure my face turned as white as a sheet.
Example: After suffering from the flu for 5 days, I was
as white as a sheet.
White as a ghost
Meaning: Used to describe someone who is very pale because of pain,
fear, shock or illnes.
Example: I didn’t think the movie was that scary, but my sister was as white as a ghost!
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Raise a white flag
Meaning: This indicates that one has accepted defeat and surrenders or
gives up (usually a military term)
Example: When arguments last too long, someone should raise the white flag (stop arguing).
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Whitewash something
Meaning: To cover up or try to hide or minimize wrongdoings
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White elephant
Meaning: A term used to describe or refer to a useless possession or something
that is of no use.
Meaning: A white elephant is an expensive burden; something that
costs far too much money to run.
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A white lie
Meaning: A harmless or trivial lie told in order to be polite or to
avoid hurting someone’s feelings
Example: I really appreciate the seafood dinner she cooked for me, but I don’t like seafood. When she asked me if I liked the dinner, I had to tell a white lie and say yes.
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White collar
Meaning: A term used for office workers that traditionally wear white
shirts with a collar.
Meaning: A term used for workers who do not do hard physical work in
a dirty environment.
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Sudeep...
The ad videos are interesting. We used to have similar ads on the radio and TV that used the expression 'whiter than white'. It took me a few minutes to remember the old ads and realize where the expression came from. However, as a former research chemist, I am always left wondering what 'whiter than white' would look like and then what name would we give to the colour that was whiter than white :)
On a side-note, there are many physicists who do not refer to 'white and black' as colours. White is the considered to be the result of all colours combined and black is thought of as the lack of light, hence nothing can be seen by the human eye.
Thank you for the video links and your always imaginative comments.
Michael
I scanned my memory banks 10 minutes after sending the previous message. Out of the blue I recalled the expression "whiter than white" from a time many moons ago.
So I did a quick search, and lo and behold, look what interesting information I found:
Cleaning one’s clothes “whiter than white” has oftentimes been promised by laundry detergent manufacturers in all sorts of print and broadcast commercials over the decades.
In 1903, Professor Giessler and Dr Bauer from Stuttgart, Germany created the world’s first soap powder with a bleaching agent . It was launched in the UK in 1909 with the a slogan that made emphasized that it was an ‘Amazing Oxygen Washer.’ Persil went on to become the first laundry detergent to feature a man in TV advertising and it kept claiming that it would make your whites “whiter than white.”
But Persil didn’t coin the phrase. That honour seems to go to a poem written by William Shakespeare in 1593 entitled “Venus and Adonis.”:
Who sees his true-love in her naked bed,
Teaching the sheets a whiter hue than white,
But, when his glutton eye so full hath fed,
His other agents aim at like delight?
Who is so faint, that dare not be so bold
To touch the fire, the weather being cold?
And so, it was William Shakespeare, once again, who coined a phrase that has made its way into today’s English.
'Whiter than white' is often used in the sense of 'guiltless'.
For example, "You're in no position to criticise what John did. You're not exactly whiter than white yourself."
cf. the expression 'pot calling the kettle black'.
