Until you are blue in the face
This phrase is used to say that you will not succeed in persuading someone to do something and thus wasting your energy.
“You can tell people not to drop cigarette butts on the floor until you are blue in the face, but they will keep on doing that anyway.
Origin
This idiom probably originated in the USA in the 1970s. Lack of oxygen resulting from extreme physical effort may cause the changes in color in the face and perhaps this is the idea behind this saying.
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