One man's rose colored glasses are another man's only way of preventing all his chickens from, like, killing eachother
While shopping today, I was trying to decide between two items and somehow managed to use the expression "through rose-colored glasses" while speaking to an extremely mild-mannered saleswoman today. The saleswoman asked if I knew the origin of the expression. After a moment of panic and silently hoping I hadn't somehow used an accidental slur, I cautiously admitted that I had never really given it much thought. She proceeded to explain to me that the expression has to do with chickens. Apparently, chickens are basically tiny dinosaurs, and although usually docile, will become ravenous attack-birds at the sight of a fellow chicken's blood. As in, the pack turns on and tears apart any fellow chickens who happen to nick themselves against a sharp corner. I told the saleswoman that although the information was interesting, I didn't quite understand how rose-colored glasses fit into the picture. She proceeded to calmly explain that chicken farmers have found a way to prevent their chickens from attacking one another by fashioning tiny glasses with rose-colored lenses and sticking them onto each bird. Blood, viewed through the colored glass, appears to be gray instead of red, thus preventing their carnal instincts from kicking in. She said all of this with the casual patience of a grade school teacher explaining to a five year old why she shouldn't eat her glue stick during art class. Realizing that this woman was definitely operating on a different level, I decided that the easiest thing to do was buy both items and move on. I'm not sure why, but I think this was the most effective sales move I have ever experienced.
