Why Do We Say We’re “In the Pink”?
If you are In pinkyou feel better, or better Excellent health. With that in mind, it might be tempting to assume that this expression refers to the rosy complexion of someone who is also in good physical condition. But digging a little deeper shows that the way we use this phrase today is not actually its original meaning — and in fact, the origins of this phrase may lie in a completely different (and somewhat unexpected) direction.
The best ever
in Act 2, Scene 4 to Romeo and JulietMercutio exclaimed that he was “too rosy for courtesy.” Shakespeare It is clearly not used Pink color To mean “in the best of health” here, but more generally it means the absolute pinnacle or bottom line of something. This loose interpretation of Pink color “Best” has simply been the norm in the English language for a long time – and not always in a positive context, either. in message To his friend Alfred d’Orsay in 1845, for example, Charles Dickens He described the Italian city of Fondi, near Naples, as “a miserable city of ugliness and misery.”
Various expressions along these lines have been used in English over the centuries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, for example, the phrase “in pink for status” was used to refer to something at the height of fashion. But the specific use of Pink coloror rather in Pinkregarding good health first began to emerge, and in doing so, effectively consigned all these other versions and implications of the color pink to historical footnotes.
Long story short, then, the relationship between pink and health In pink Not some sort of reference to flushed skin, but an extension of an older, more general phrase in use ever since Elizabeth times to describe anything at all considered the best of its kind. But this leads us to another question: How did this happen? Pink color Has it come to mean “best” in the first place?
You may also like…
Add the mental thread as Favorite news source!
Pink Pony Club
There’s an old wives’ tale that makes you think it can all be traced back to the traditional crimson hunting jackets, or “Pink color”, which had long been worn by equestrian participants in fox hunts in rural England. Legend would Do you believe it too? Many of these jackets were designed by a famous 18th century gentlemen’s cloth merchant based in London’s upscale Mayfair district called Thomas Pinke, hence their name (although their design clearly Blood red color). The story goes that the high quality of Mr. Pink’s jackets or his routinely upper-class clients (or their particularly good bank balances) led to Pink color It comes to mean the best of the best.
Although this story is accurate, unfortunately it appears to be little more than London folklore. no A reliable contemporary reference A London riding jacket maker called Pink has been revealed – and what’s more, even if it’s him He was Real, the fact that it was Supposedly The work of the 18th century would still place it some 200 years later Romeo and Juliet. Ultimately, if we want to get to the bottom of all this, we’ll have to go back to Shakespeare’s days.
Flower power
As any good gardener will tell you, in addition to being a color, and another word for the best thing ever, the word Pink color Him too Common name For flowers in Dianthus sex. (In fact, thanks to their often bright red petals, these flowers are… Apparently the reason Why color? Pink color It has its name after all.) Although these hardy perennials are very popular among gardeners today, the pink color was Especially popular In the Elizabethan era. In the famous Hampden portrait of Queen Elizabeth I herself, in fact, the Queen He appears She holds a rose in her right hand.
Ultimately, the Queen’s penchant for flowers – and their more widespread popularity in Shakespeare’s time as a result – may be to blame. Pink color It in turn became associated with excellence. This would explain why the word was once used more generally in this context than it is today – and, contrary to Thomas Pink’s theory, it would also explain why this association emerged around the time of the modern era. Romeo and Juliet. But this still leaves a final question: why Dianthus Flowers called “pink” at all?
Unfortunately there’s not enough to say for sure where this name comes from, but one of the most likely theories is that the slightly pitted or perforated edges of the flower petals are what lies at the bottom of it all. Just as pink sewer shears are used to produce zigzag cuts in a piece of fabric, Pink color It has been used since the Middle Ages to mean to pierce or penetrate something (the word was likely adopted into English from an earlier French or Dutch term, with either Latin or Germanic roots). The “pink” appearance of the flowers, ultimately, earned them their name in English, before all the other associations we’ve looked at here – as well as pink itself – fell into place from there.
Share this content:
Post Comment