As much as it sucks, it's a feeling we all experience, once in a while. For whatever reason, we all have felt sad or in other words we've all been 'blue'. While it is common knowledge that it means feeling sad, sorrowed, depressed and a whole bunch of other gut-wrenching emotions, we've never questioned the association. Why would we use a colour to describe our feeling? So what is it with the colour blue? Why is it associated with feeling sad?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word could be a derivation from the word 'blow'. A blow to your body would generally turn you blue. So will extreme cold or lack of oxygen. None of these situations seem pleasant. In fact, all of them have a very melancholic connotation. Hence, connecting blue to the feeling yet again.

The Navy too has a link to 'feeling blue'. It refers to a custom that many old deepwater sailing ships follow. Which is - If the ship lost the captain or any of the officers during its voyage, she would fly blue flags and have a blue band painted along her entire hull when returning to home port.