blue movie

A film that contains graphic sexual content. The use of "blue" to mean lewd or indecent dates from the mid-1800s, though the origin is unclear. A lot of kids at school got in trouble for trading blue movies.

A pornographic film. Why off-color movies were called “blue” remains a matter of conjecture. Although one definition of “blue” has been “lewd” since the 19th century, its application to movies might have referred to the 19th-century Blue Laws morality codes and state and local laws based on them, of which dirty movies would certain run afoul. Other explanations include the bluish tint of the early cheaply made black-andwhite movies, and the bluish cigarette and cigar smoke haze in rooms where men gathered to watch such films (the get-togethers were in fact known as “smokers”). “Blue” faded over the years and was replaced by “dirty movie, “adult film,” “skin flick” and “hard- or soft-core porn.”