pink slip

pink slip

A notice of termination from an employer. He was in total disbelief when he received a pink slip from his boss today, as he had worked at the company for over a decade.
See also: pink, slip
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

pink slip

1. n. a piece of paper giving notice of dismissal from employment; any dismissal from employment. I got a pink slip today. I guess I had it coming.
2. tv. to dismiss someone from employment. (see also pink-slipped.) They pink slipped the whole office force today.
3. n. a learner’s permit for driving an automobile. (In some U.S. states.) You can’t even drive in your own driveway without a pink slip.
See also: pink, slip
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

pink slip

A notice of job termination. The term, used mainly in the United States, originated in the early 1900s but there is no evidence that such a notice was written on pink paper. A holdover from when workers were paid in cash, the termination slip was included in the envelope with their wages, often unexpectedly. The New York Times ran an article by Frank J. Prial on June 18, 1991, stating, “Six thousand New York City municipal employees are getting ‘pink slips’ this week. In other words, they are being laid off.” But, Prial went on to say, their termination was announced not by pink slip but by telex.
See also: pink, slip
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • get a pink slip
  • get (one's) pink slip
  • stare at
  • stare at (someone or something)
  • hand to God
  • If don't that beat all!
  • don't that (just) beat all
  • (my) right hand to God
  • a likely story
  • likely
References in periodicals archive
Sent out by the thousands, the form letter was a call to arms, setting out a plan of action that, with the petition, explained at an emotional--not legal--level why people needed to fight for freedom and liberty against the unAmerican pink slip. Pitcairn knew that a small number of people could sway legislation if they were vocal enough, but he had to convince others of that truth.
Summary: TORONTO -- Even as the pink slips have become a norm across the world in the downturn economy, some Canadians have pinned their hope on Dubai, believing that the global recession would not affect the oil-rich UAE as much as the rest of the world.
In other instances it can be situational--due to a breakup, an HIV diagnosis, or the unexpected pink slip. But researchers say it is also possible that these factors only compound the stress that gay people experience as members of a minority group.
Now, the company has given me a pink slip and I'm a complete mess!
The creation featured a model of the elfin Gail perched on the edge of the cake, a slinky pink slip dress, a bottle of perfume and the logo of the Wish You Were Here travel programme, which Gail stars in.
A judge who worries that an unpopular ruling will yield a pink slip is more likely to trade in our constitutional rights for his own job security.
Rather like receiving your pink slip on Monday morning and being told to leave within the hour without explanation or compensation.
Does this mean that if you're in charge of employee communication, you'll stand by helplessly, watching the castle crumble around you and hoping to dodge a pink slip?
He believes the authorities delayed responding because he told them he planned to apply for citizenship after getting a third pink slip.
Fifty-six percent of Independents said a corporation's board of directors would have already handed Obama his pink slip. 23 percent of Democrats also endorsed the same view.
Los Angeles, CA, June 18, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Instant Pink Slip Loans announced today, they are offering a new type of auto title loan service for car buyers.
Dean Hayes chose to turn a negative experience of getting a pink slip into a positive one.
But when her younger sister, Lisa, 36, was also handed a pink slip less than a month later, the two--who live together in an upscale apartment complex in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Alexandria, Virginia--were left scrambling for ways to make ends meet.
Before receiving a pink slip from the large condom company where he works, a dull, poker-faced straight accountant named Francois Pignon (his name a Gallic signifier of geekiness) first opts to jump from his balcony.
So, if you expect to be canned or to have to work two jobs to makes ends meet, then you won't feel so bad about getting a pink slip. After all, you can't blame companies that are simply "trying not to get overburdened with excessive costs."