This document defines and provides examples for several common colour idioms: a green thumb refers to someone with natural talent for gardening; a white elephant is an expensive possession that is hard to dispose of; a pink slip is a notice of dismissal from a job; blue collar relates to manual or working class labor; a black sheep is a disreputable member of a group; and being in the red means spending or owing more money than is earned.

1. Colour Idioms
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2. A green thumb
Someone who has the natural talent for growing plants
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Just look at our
flourishing garden!
My son who has a
green thumb has
been working on it
all summer.

3. White elephant
A possession that is expensive to maintain or
difficult to dispose of
Image by Mampu shared under CC0
We enjoy having a
pool but it is
becoming a white
elephant! Aside
from skyrocketing
water bills, we also
have to pay cleaners
every week. It’s just
too much!

4. Pink slip
A notice of dismissal from employment
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It was clear why
Ursula got the pink
slip. She was always
complaining about
the most minor
things. She was so
hard to work with!

5. Blue collar
Relating to manual work or workers. A blue-collar worker
is a working class person who performs manual labour.
Eliza loves
construction work.
She has been
training for her blue
collar job for six
months now.
She says she has
the best job in the
city!
Image by skeeze shared under CC0

6. Black sheep
A disfavoured or disreputable member of a group.
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Adam had always
been the black
sheep of the
family. He wanted
to get rich quickly
so he got involved
in scams and illegal
transactions.

7. In the red
Spending or owing more money than is being earned.
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Living in a
mansion and
getting a
luxurious car
put the family
in the red for so
many years.