blues and twos

English

Alternative forms

blues-and-twos

Etymology

Originally 1960s police slang, from the blue colour of the lights and the two-tone sound of the siren.^[1] Publicised by Blues and Twos, a documentary series broadcast on ITV from 1993.

Noun

blues and twos pl (plural only)

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) The flashing lights and loud siren of an emergency vehicle.
- 2006, Peter James, Looking Good Dead‎^[2], New York: Pan, →ISBN, page 142:
  Five minutes later, Bella, efficient as ever, radioed him back with an address near Hove station, about ten minutes drive away, going soberly, or ninety seconds with the blues and twos on.
- 2019 February 20, MacDara Conroy, “No More Blue Lights & Sirens For Irish Coast Guard Road Vehicles Under New Directive”, in Afloat.ie‎^[3]:
  The new directive says risks associated with the use of so-called ‘blues and twos’ by coastguard vehicles “need to be mitigated”.
- 2023 December 2, Hayden Vernon, “Thérèse Coffey says she ‘came close to dying’ from brain abscess”, in The Guardian‎^[4], London:
  “The hospital rang home and said somebody needs to get here quickly,” Coffey told the paper. “So my mum, who must have been in her eighties by then, came up and we did the flashing blues and twos down to King’s [College hospital] and I was operated on that night.”

Adverb

blues and twos (not comparable)

(chiefly UK, Ireland, informal) [of an emergency vehicle] with the blues and twos switched on
- 1990, Graham Ison, A Damned Serious Business‎^[5], Ulverscroft Large Print, →ISBN, pages 351-352:
  He glanced at his watch. “Blues and twos,” he said. “I want to get there before the train.” [...] They pulled out of the forecourt at the rear of the police office and drove straight across into Vauxhall Bridge Road, ignoring the one-way circuit, their siren and blue light carving a priority passage through the afternoon traffic.
- 2003, Val McDermid, The Distant Echo‎^[6], HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 304:
  If Mondo was alive, he'd be long gone, the ambulance hurtling blues and twos to the nearest hospital.

References

^ Ivan Rendall (1995) Blues & Twos‎^[1], London: Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 2