the.com/pink slip
The one piece of paper that reads your résumé's obituary in advance.
means An employee's termination notice — informal shorthand for being fired or laid off.
from American in origin, from the literal color of the paper some employers used for dismissal notices, distinguishing them from other colored forms in payroll or personnel paperwork. The phrase was established in American English by the early 20th century; the exact first workplace to use pink paper is undocumented, but the image stuck hard enough that 'pink slip' now means termination even when the notice is an email.
- origin myth
- No proof it was ever actually pink
- car meaning
- Also slang for vehicle title in street racing
- euphemism rank
- Softer than fired, harder than reassigned
- first recorded use
- Traced to early 1900s factory slang