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Blue blood?

All right. Take a look at the back of your palm and see if you canyou're your blood veins. If your skin is of a lighter complexion, you can spot them, greenish and blue. And that's actually where the term "blue blood", as in "blue blood runs in his veins" comes from. And it originally came from Spain.

From my archive of saved articles, I found this piece from The Hindu, India's national newspaper (February 11, 2003):

"Blue blood" is actually a translation of the Spanish term "sangre azul". At one time, the Moors (people of the Arab race) ruled over much of Spain. The Moors were dark complexioned and during the seven centuries that they ruled Spain, a lot of interracial marriages took place. But the Spanish aristocrats who lived in Castile did not intermarry with the Moors. As a result, they remained extremely fair and began to distinguish themselves from their rulers and fellow aristocrats by calling themselves "sangre azul". What they meant by this was that because of their very fair complexion, the veins in their arms looked blue. It was as if blue blood was running in their veins. How vain can one get!

Anyways, that is that. Blue blood stands for nobility and aristocracy. That's why Japan's opposition accused Aso of "being out of touch with the people." In other words, he is not one of the common folk.

Here are two more media examples of blue blood:

1. Ever since Ronald Reagan the right wing has been looking for a candidate whose conservative values mirror theirs. They thought George W. Bush was that person, but he turned out to be the most profligate spender ever in the history of the presidency, the man who oversaw the greatest wealth transference from government to private capital since 1776. Besides, unlike Palin, Bush 43 was to the manor born, a true Yale/Harvard blue blood. Palin's story, coming as she does from modest means, more closely parallels Reagan's - Main Street and small town American mythology come to life.