<ol><li>When you’re drunk you feel dizzy and even can pass out. Nowadays when you are about to faint, you say that it gets black before your eyes (mir wird schwarz vor den Augen) but in former times „blue“ was used for this expression.</li><li>A widely shared story that isn’t supported by etymologists though is this: „The most important blue dye was the indian indigo or the somewhat less intense and locally available woad. Manufacture of the dye involved fermenting the woad leaves with human urine. The fermentation is facilitated by the presence of alkohol in the mixture. The usual method for the dyers was to drink alkohol and use their alkohol enriched urine for the fermentation process. Pieces of fabric were immersed in the woad bath usually on sundays for at least 12 hours. The blue color became visible after a prolonged contact of the fabric with air. Drunken dyers lying around hanging fabric on mondays gave rise to colloquial german expressions such as "Blauer Montag" (blue monday = stay away from work on monday) and "Blau werden" (get blue = get drunk).“ (<a href="http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/blues3.html" target="_blank">http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/blues3.html</a>;)</li></ol>

"Essere al verde" literally to be at green. In italian ot means to be without money left