Purple Idioms

Add colour to your language using these idioms related with 'purple'.

Purple squirrel

A term used by employment recruiters to describe a job candidate with precisely the right education, set of experience, and range of qualifications that perfectly fits a job's requirements. The implication is that over-specification of the requirements makes a perfect candidate as hard to find as purple squirrel.

Перевод: идеальный соискатель.

Пример: Learn how your organization can capture purple squirrels, or the most sought after candidates, by adjusting your recruiting strategy.

Purple prose/purple patches/purple passages

A figurative reference to florid literary passages, added to a text for dramatic effect. Purple was chosen because, as well as being a distinctive color, it was the color reserved for emperors and other distinguished statesmen in imperial Rome. Most of the early references to 'purple patches' contain clear evidence of classical origins, many of them including Latin text.

Перевод: (в литературном произведении) яркое место, цветистый.

Пример: I’m a sucker for purple prose. I’m not proud of it, but alliteration makes me swoon, as does a prettily described sunset.

Purple patch

A period of time when someone or something is successful and doing well.

Перевод: успешный период.

Пример: He has hit a purple patch in his career.

Purple state

A state whose electorate votes in roughly equal measure for Republican and Democratic candidates in a statewide election.

Перевод: колеблющийся штат.

Пример: Purple states will tend to have a mixture of blue and red America, resulting in the different electoral outcomes each time.

To be born in the purple/born to the purple

Someone who is born to the purple is born in a royal or aristocratic family.

Перевод: быть знатного рода.

Пример: Compare this with his grandfather, the old Emperor, who, if he had not been born in the purple, could only have been a soldier, and not, it must be added, one who could have held very high commands.