Tickled pink means delighted, extremely pleased. People say it about a nice surprise, a present or praise: the person is so happy they seem to glow pink with pleasure. Pink here is about joy, not shame. The phrase is playful and warm, fine for conversation and messages to friends, but not for an essay.
When would you say tickled pink?
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be tickled pink + to + verb; be tickled pink + with/by + noun; be tickled pink + (that) + clause
- My grandmother was tickled pink when we sent her flowers for her birthday.
- I was tickled pink to get a thank-you card from my old school teacher.
- The kids were tickled pink with their new puppy and played with it all day.
What changed
First versionWhen the teacher read my mistakes out loud, I was tickled pink.
RevisionWhen the teacher read my mistakes out loud, I was really embarrassed.
Turning pink or red usually means being embarrassed, so the pink in the idiom seems to point that way. But tickled pink only means delight. When you feel ashamed, you're embarrassed. The idiom was replaced with a word for embarrassment.
Without pink, tickled can also be about pleasure, but it often means amused: His joke really tickled me. With pink, only delight and pleasure remain.
Your turn
Dad smiled all evening and kept thanking everyone: he ___ that his old friends had organised a surprise party.
Show the answer
was tickled pink — Dad smiled and thanked the guests, so he was very happy about the party: was tickled pink. In the pink means in good health, and it says nothing about being pleased by a surprise.
Write about a present or piece of news that made you very happy. Say who it was from.
I was tickled pink when my brother sent me tickets to a concert of my favourite band.
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