Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions

(author's note; I am sure I will get back to teh respect question... but idioms are easier when my brain is fuzzy. Strange huh?)

in the red

- to be in debt, to be unprofitable

The company has been in the red for three years now.


out of the red

- out of debt

Our company is finally out of the red and we are now making money.

Both of these idioms have their source in accounting. Before there was triplicate and one had to identify a negative balance with the sideways "v" brackets (can't show ya, the blog thinks it is part of an html code thingy), accountants would identify negative balances with red pencil.

Thus to be "in the red" means your bottom line balance is red. Yeah, you OWE money. Several of the online dictionaries have this one - your dominant hand points and bounces in the palm of your non-dominant hand.

To be out of the red, you actually have a postiive balance (the accountant is writing in normal pencil). I would probably sign it "PAY-OFF". I have not been able to find this one on line, I sign it by drawing a cross on my non-dominant hand with the "FEEL" handshape on my dominant hand.

My web source is The Idiom Connection. For the accounting trivia, thank my paternal grandmother and the stories she told when I was a little girl.