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From: "Jonathan" <jrcdehc@nospam.hotmail.com>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
References: <jj1oi8od30yf$.dlg@news.lillathedog.net>
Subject: Re: [Idioms #4] Colours - Pink
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Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 18:25:46 GMT
Xref: news.nzbot.com alt.languages.english:139
"Enrico C" <enrico.c@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:jj1oi8od30yf$.dlg@news.lillathedog.net...
> There is a code of colours, but I guess it's a bit different in every
> language.
>
> In my own language, Italian, I can say, for instance "She sees life
> through pink lenses", meaning she is an optimist!
> But a "pink team" would be a sport team made of women or girls.
> "Pink novels", in the Italian idiomatic meaning, are books about
> dreamy love stories, usually read by young women. The "pink press" are
> magazines about celebrities, gossip and the like.
> Let me add that "pink" and "rose" (the flower) are just the same word
> in Italian: <rosa>.
>
> I think "pink" has different meanings in English.
>
> "Pink" may be referred to homesexuality, but "Pink elephants" are
> hallucinations. There is no such thing as a "pink elephant" in real
> life!
>
Actually, there is another reference to the "Pink Elephant"...
It is a incredibly obvious thing that no one wants to talk about... Usually
you will hear: "And then there was the Pink Elephant standing in the middle
of the room..."
> Then, "In the pink", looking and feeling healthy and happy. "Last time
> I saw Barb, she was in the pink. She looked great.", says the Wayne
> Magnuson site, a wonderful list of English idioms on the net.
> So, I understand "pink" means "very well, very fine, at the top",
> here.
> Where does that positive meaning come from?
> Is it just because pink is a nice, graceful colour? Or is there story
> behind?
>
Actually, the term 'in the pink' is British, from Fox Hunting... The hunters
used to dress up in flamboyant outfits, and you couldn't go unless you were
dressed accordingly... If you were 'in the pink' you were fit to go
hunting...
I think you are trying to use colors consistently and you shouldn't try...
it isn't the word that has special idiomatic meaning, but the context...
Take the following two phrases:
In the black...
Black Tuesday...
Both refer to money (sorta), the first one means you are profitable... the
2nd one refers to the Stock Market Crash of 1929...
Jonathan
>
> --
> Enrico C
>
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