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tsuwm, thank you for vindicating the dust in my junk drawer. Now, about the red and blue...?
yeah, yeah, never satisfied.....
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Nice one, tsuwm. I was just about to look for something to back up my view that left-wing and right-wing originated in the French National Assembly - my untidy memory at work again. However, the continuation of the usage of the words and the seating of the parties in assemblies in other countries is interesting, particularly since England would have had a fit were one to suggest, in the late eighteenth century, that their seating arrangements were copying those of those dastardly cads, the French. Relax, you USns, my memory also suggests that Congress' seating doesn't copy the English parliamentary arrangements. It was a deliberate nod to the French, who, your history lessons will no doubt tell you, were much admired by Jefferson and co. The Red and Blue are also explained by the French tricoleur, but you had probably already guessed that. I've never heard "out of pocket" used in the sense that someone can't be reached. I find it rather difficult to believe that it's used that way by anyone! 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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The Red and Blue are also explained by the French tricoleur, but you had probably
already guessed that.No, or we wouldn't have asked.  OK, Mr Smarty Pants, how was it decided which colo(u)r would be assigned to which group?
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Just a short anecdote. I occasionally give my friend, Ruby, a ride home. As I drive, we normally chat, laugh and giggle. Sometimes, as is my wont while chatting and driving, I do some things without being aware of what I'm doing. Several times, I have found myself making a left turn when what I really wanted to do was continue forward. I say "Ruby, why didn't you warn me I was doing this?" Sixties hippy that she is, she says, "Heaven forbid that I should be the one to curb your leftist leanings!"
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To the tune of O Tannenbaum, or either the White Cockade, one.
The people's flag is deepest red,
It shrouded oft our martyred dead,
And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
Their hearts blood dyed its every fold.
Then raise the scarlet standard high. (chorus)
Within its shade we'll live and die,
Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
We'll keep the red flag flying here.
Look round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
The sturdy German chants its praise,
In Moscow's vaults its hymns are sung
Chicago swells the surging throng.
It waved above our infant might,
When all ahead seemed dark as night;
It witnessed many a deed and vow,
We must not change its colour now.
It well recalls the triumphs past,
It gives the hope of peace at last;
The banner bright, the symbol plain,
Of human right and human gain.
It suits today the weak and base,
Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
To cringe before the rich man's frown,
And haul the sacred emblem down.
With heads uncovered swear we all
To bear it onward till we fall;
Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn.
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old hand
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I wouldn't think that the early Congress would have
copied what the Brits were doing, seeing as the new nation was trying to be completely different.Tell that to those of us who still cling to the British(antiquated) system of weights and measures. Base 10 good, base 12 or 16 bad! Nobody believed Franklin when he came back form seducing half the French court and told Congress (not the congress he'd been having in France) that the French had a good idea! 
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a se'f-yart! well done, hyla-hyla!!
;)
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dxb: Come to think of it, why is left wing red and right wing blue?
AnnaS: Maybe red comes from Communism? and blue to be as distinct as possible from red?First off, green is the most distinct color from red. They're opposites on the color wheel. Course, they're also called complimentary colors because they go so well together. (Same for yellow/violet and blue/orange.) I doubt that has anything to do with it. Red and blue are just the two prominent colors in the Brit, US, French, Aussie, Zild, etc. flags. White is obviously not used because one, it's not a color, two, it wouldn't show up on white paper and three, it stands for purity. About colors being assigned to parties, I distinctly remember an electoral map in TIME magazine just after the 2000 election that had Bush's states in red and Gore's in blue. I think it's pretty arbitrary. Here's one: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/2000vote/general/president.html
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