goluboi

Goluboi is the Russian word for light blue (such as a daylight sky blue) as opposed to "sinii" which is the Russian word for dark blue (like the blue of the American flag). This is similar to how English differentiates pink and red and does not say red and light red. They are considered two completely different colors in Russian. Goluboi. also seen spelt goluboy, is Russian slang for gay or homosexual. One theory of the origin of this slang is that boys in Russia wear blue and girls wear pink. Homosexuals are thus referred to as "blue" since they like those of the same color. Lesbians are reffered to as rozovyi, which is the Russian word for pink. Another suggests that it first was recorded in the 1950's but began being used in the 1940's in prison camps. Designated homosexuals wore a blue ribbon - "golubaya lenta." Another theory is that it referenced "blue blood" as the nobility saw homosexuals as odd. Yet another is that it comes from homosexuals wearing blue underwear or a story of a girl named Mal'vina who had blue hair in Alexei Tolstoy's story "Zolotoi kliuchik."