What does the expression “on a platter with a blue border” mean?
Who doesn't dream of getting something they really need without any hassle? You just want to get it “на блюдечке с голубой каемочкой” (“na blyudechke s goluboi kaemochkoi”) or “on a platter with a blue border”!
This expression first appeared in the novel ‘The Golden Calf’ by Ilf and Petrov. The main character, a swindler named Ostap Bender, ponders how he is going to get a million rubles from underground millionaire Koreiko. “I will not smother him with a pillow or beat him over the head with a blued revolver. And, in general, nothing stupid will happen. Ah, if only I could find an individual! I'll arrange it so that he’ll bring me his money himself, on a platter with a blue border!”
The expression quickly became popular. This is how they began to talk about what can be obtained without effort.
An English equivalent would be: “On a silver platter.”
