In the pink

If someone's in the pink,

  • their health is poor.

    Votes: 22 15.5%
  • their health is good.

    Votes: 120 84.5%

  • Total voters
    142

svartnik

Key Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2006
Member Type
Student or Learner
to be in the pink means being healthy, as opposed to be as white as a sheet, id est, being pale.
 

_sahra_

New member
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
So can we use such " in the pink ";

- How are you ?
- I am in the pink, you ?

like this...
 

maureenbransden

New member
Joined
Aug 23, 2006
Sarah,
No, you can't use it in this way. Generally you use the expression when talking about a third person who is looking well ie., he's in the pink.
 

Daruma

Senior Member
Joined
May 30, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
idsym.gif
in the pink (old-fashioned, informal) in good health

--------------------------------------------

in the pink
informal + old-fashioned : in very good health
▪ Regular exercise helped to keep her in the pink (of good health).

 

Huda-M

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Urdu
Home Country
Pakistan
Current Location
Pakistan
In the Pink -- The image what I see in my mind from reading it -- good, healthy, plump person with pink rosy cheeks!
 

m3zomo

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Sep 18, 2015
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Arabic
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Palestinian Territory
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Egypt
Thanks for the idiom
 

Rebecca95

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Joined
Sep 25, 2016
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Bulgaria
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Cool! It's opposite to "to feel blue".
 

Lynxear

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2007
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
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English
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Canada
Current Location
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So can we use such " in the pink ";

- How are you ?
- I am in the pink, you ?

like this...

yes... you could say it that way. It can be used for the first person, second person or third person. It is a bit old fashioned tough and is not used much in Canadian English.

A similar idiom would be "on the right side of the daisies".

"You are looking fine today!", she said.

" Yeah, at least I'm on the right side of the daisies." he replied


Perhaps the boy was feeling very sick for a while and the girl is commenting on his looking healthy. The boy's reply is a humourous way of saying that he is still alive. The idiom comes from the fact that daises are often used as flowers on a grave. If you are dead you are buried under the daisies but if you are alive you are above the daisies. So "being on the right side of the daisies" means you haven't died yet.
 
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