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Is there any other similar expression beside White Paper, Green Paper, Yellow Pages and Blue Book? What is relation between their color and their meaning?

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It's not really clear what you're asking for here. Can you clarify what you mean by "relation between their color and their meaning". – Urbycoz Sep 24 '12 at 7:29
@Urbycoz I mean what is their etymology? – PHPst Sep 24 '12 at 7:37
My guess would be pretty easy: the first (widely used) "color subject" was a subject that was colored in color. So the first "yellow pages" where pages, that where colored yellow. – Joachim Sauer Sep 24 '12 at 7:39
It's also pretty common in technical writings. For example the standards related to compact discs (CDs) are described in the rainbow books (red book = audio CD, yellow book = data CD, ...). – Joachim Sauer Sep 24 '12 at 7:40
I think this is general reference, and am voting to close. – Barrie England Sep 24 '12 at 8:11
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closed as general reference by Barrie England, Urbycoz, coleopterist, tchrist, MετάEd Sep 25 '12 at 18:58

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Green book - CCITT

Pages of gold (maybe not paper) - biblical metaphors

Black book(s) - out of favour. Noted for punitive action.

Little Black Book - contact list. ...

Blue (touch) paper - fireworks fuse
Go to bed.
Somewhat contrived example** Here ->

Purple paper - Canadian CCID (Collaborating Centre for Infectious Diseases)
H1N1 pandemic weekly newsletter.

Black Paper - anti-education policy newsletters - name intended to contrast with white-paper. UK 1960s-1970s

Red Paper
Canadian aboriginal peoples counter paper to Canadian government white paper * Here ...**

Ugandan daily tabloid newspaper Here ...

Also here

Purple pages - obscene, erotic. More recently = Gay friendly lists etc. Asheville Purple Pages

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The Irish, unsurprisingly, have a green paper (as apparently do the US) - a 'tentative government report and consultation document of policy'. And we mustn't forget brown paper, especially if we're going up the hill for a pail of water. 'Little Red Book' is another three-word collocation. – Edwin Ashworth Sep 24 '12 at 8:30
The USAF uses the term "dirty purples" to refer to study sheets written by – and distributed among – fellow students. Its etymology goes back to how they were at one time reproduced on mimeograph machines, which usually printed in purple ink. The name stuck long after photocopiers and electronic documents became the preferred method of reproduction and distribution. (I don't know if this really answers the O.P.'s question, but it seems related to Russell's answer, and some might find the history interesting.) – J.R. Sep 24 '12 at 9:50

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