Jane comes from Mexico. She is a good student. She like to keep a record of the new words and expressions she learns in English. It is really helpful for her in her study of English. She usually writes them down in a notebook.

One day, she asked her teacher about them. “May I ask you some questions? There are some expressions I don’t understand.”

“Sure. What questions do you have?”

“She is blue today. What’s the matter? You’re yellow? A little white lie. White lie? She has a green thumb. Blue and yellow people with green thumbs?”

After looking at the notebook, the teacher says, “In English, Jane, ‘blue’ sometimes means sad. For example, she is blue today; it doesn’t mean that she is wearing a blue coat. It means that she is sad. ‘Yellow’ means afraid. She has a green thumb. It means that she is good at growing plants. And a white lie is not a bad lie.”

“I don’t understand the last one.”

“For example, I give you some cake. You don’t like the cake, but you don’t say that. Instead, you say, ‘No, thanks. I’m not hungry!’ That is a white lie.”

“I see. Thanks a lot.”