A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

blue million • blue money
blue million —(coll.) lots of money: West Virginia taxpayers
have spent a blue million to provide computers to thousands
of offices in state government.
blue money —(U.S.)
1
. money from the states whose residents
predominantly vote for the Democratic Party, as contrasted
blow off steam
– 52 –

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with “red money” associated with the Republican Party:
Urban areas subsidize rural areas, and the rural parts of Amer-
ica are more red than blue. Hence the claim of blue money
flowing into red pockets. 2. (also: old money) said of the in-
herited wealth of people who have been rich for many gener-
ations: We wonder why she isn’t planning on donating all of
her earnings from the tape to charity, since she clearly doesn’t
need the “blue money.”
Note: 
The expression does not correlate in meaning with the
verbal phrase blue one’s money—(sl.) spend one’s money quickly
and recklessly: Men in cotton shirts and corduroys met there
to “blue” their money on fiery colonial rum.
blue sky • sky blue
blue sky —(also: blue skies) 
1
. said of impractical or unfeasible
plans and ideas: The rocket was dismissed as just another blue-
sky project when the concept was unveiled. 2. (U.S. stock mar-
ket) is used of fake or worthless bonds and stocks: They were
what I would term “blue sky and hot air” securities.
sky blue —a deep somewhat purplish blue color: The flag on
one side of the building was sky blue; the one on the other
side was the somewhat darker shade…
board school • boarding school
board school —(UK hist.) free elementary school run by local
education authority and supported by a parliamentary grant:
What guarantee is there that they would not turn the school
into a “provided” or Board School?
boarding school —a school where some or all of the pupils
live during term time: At the Hanover boarding school the
young girls flocked around her and listened to her gentle voice
telling tales from Dickens.