Pink

Pink is what happens when red is asked to calm down. It is made by mixing red with white until the red stops shouting, a process that usually takes three tins, one stick and most of an afternoon.^[1]

Pink is the colour of flamingos, which are born grey and turn pink by eating pink food. Ornithologists note that this makes the flamingo the only bird that is, structurally, a smoothie.

Rose-tinted glasses

Looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses makes everything appear pink. A 2003 trial found that it also makes pink things appear pinker and white things appear pink, and that none of the participants could be persuaded to give the glasses back.^[2]

In the pink

To be “in the pink” means to be in good health. The Pink Health Board (1961–1962) took this literally, painted every waiting room pink, and measured the patients for fourteen months. They were found to be exactly as healthy as before, but in the pink. The rooms were repainted in a shade the final report describes as “grey, defensively”.^[3]

See also

• Red – pink before it calmed down
• Purple – pink that went to a darker place
• Sun – turns the sky pink at sunset, by way of apology

References

1. Salmon, S. (1988). Is Pink Just Red, Diluted? Blush Books. p. 1. (“Yes.”)
2. Rosé, R. (2003). “Through the Glasses, and Keeping Them”. Journal of Tints 7.
3. Pink Health Board (1962). Final Report. Repainted.