What's the color of your money? In the Spanish of Argentina it's blue
—pronounced as in English — if you have black-market U.S. dollars.
Although the term dólar blue for a dollar purchased illegally has been in wide use since Argentina toughened its currency restrictions in 2011, it has become even more common in recent days as Argentina is facing an economic crisis involving a loss of value of its peso along with strong demand for the safety of foreign currency. Although the official exchange rate is around 8 pesos per dollar, dollars sold on the black market — which is done so openly that Argentine news media quote prices — go today for around 13 pesos.
Although such dollars are also called the dólar negro (black dollar) or dólar paralelo (parallel dollar), the term dólar blue (never dólar azul) seems to have taken hold.
But why blue? I haven't been able to find out for sure,
but the Argentine news site
MinutoUno.com last year gave three possible explanations:
Because "blue" is sometimes used in English
to refer to something shady (such as a blue movie).
Because a dollar might be a good investment in
the way that blue-chip stocks are.
Because the purchaser of counterfeit money
might find blue ink rubbing off.
A black-market euro is sometimes also referred to as a euro blue.
In Venezuela, which has similar currency restrictions, black-market foreign currency
is sometimes referred to as lechuga verde, literally meaning "green lettuce."
Can you give examples of other currencies referred to in colour terms ( not colourful )
