Color outside the lines

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Grammarist

Color outside the lines is an idiom that has risen sharply in popularity over the last forty years. We will examine the meaning of the idiom color outside the lines, its origin, and some examples of its use in sentences.

To color outside the lines is an idiom that means to not follow the rules, to think creatively, to behave in an unconventional manner. The image invoked by the idiom color outside the lines is of a child who does not fill in the pictures in a coloring book in a conventional manner. The coloring book was invented in the 1880s by the McLoughlin Brothers, when these books were called painting books. Crayons had not been invented yet, and so these books were meant to be painted. Binney & Smith invented the wax Crayola crayon in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, and painting books became coloring books. Coloring books have been popular ever since. During the 1970s, coloring books came under fire in some educational circles as stifling creativity. Others believe that coloring books are a good way for children to practice fine motor control. Related phrases are colors outside the lines, colored outside the lines, coloring outside the lines.

Examples

She punched in for nearly two decades before a realization dawned: The O&G world was black-and-white, and she wanted to color outside the lines. (Houstonia Magazine)

It is not a guarantee, though, and it doesn’t allow for winemakers who like to color outside the lines. (The Augusta Chronicle)

As we all know, those who are willing to color outside the lines, while looking for competitive advantages, love to tell on themselves, likely at the expense of their own careers. (Forbes Magazine)