DID YOU KNOW ?

The color white (Safed) is considered a symbol of kindness, innocence, and purity, and for the same reason it is appears in different ways in Urdu idioms. But the case with the idiom ‘Safed JhuuT’ is quite strange. Apparently, Urdu has borrowed this idiom from English, in which it means a lie that has been told with good intentions or to prevent aggravating a conflict. But in Urdu, it means a clear and evident lie; one which is open and shut. Additionally, in Urdu, the contrast between good and bad is also depicted by Safed (white), and Siyah (black). That’s why we say in Urdu ‘Safed-o-SIyah Ka Maalik Hona’ which means that a person is responsible for all that is good and bad. Just like in this famous couplet of Meer:
yaa.n ke sapiid o siyah me.n ham ko daKHl jo hai so itnaa hai
raat ko ro ro sub.h kiyaa yaa din ko juu.n tuu.n shaam kiyaa

Strangely, when it comes to being inconsiderate in familial relationships or acting unjustly towards someone, we come across the idiom ‘Khuun Safed Hona’. No wonder the color white can change so many colors!