Where did the phrase, "I am tickled pink" come from?

Question

My mother and grandmother used to say it all the time when I was growing up! And just yesterday I found myself saying it to my daughter and she asked where it came from and I had no answer! Can you help me?

Answer 1

it means that I'm embarrassed/flattered, and it comes from blushing

when you blush, you're cheeks become pink, and so you're embarrassed

Answer 2

According to www.phrases.org.uk, the tickling here isn't the light stroking of the skin - it's the figurative sense of the word that means 'to give pleasure or gratify'. The 'tickling pink' concept is of enjoyment great enough to make the recipient glow with pleasure.

That meaning of tickling has found its way into several phrases relating to pleasure, dating back to the early 17th century.

- Samuel Hieron, 'Works', 1617: "Well might they haue their eares ticled with some pleasing noise."

- Rollin's Ancient History, 1734: "Eating in Egypt was designed not to tickle the palate but to satisfy the cravings of nature."

- Nathaniel Hawthone's 'Passages from the French and Italian note-books', 1864: "Something that thrilled and tickled my heart with a feeling partly sensuous and partly spiritual."

- St. Nicholas (magazine for boys and girls), 1907: "I'm tickled to death to find some one with what they call human emotions."

and, finally, in 1910, in an Illinois' newspaper - The Daily Review, in a piece titled 'Lauder Tickled at Change', we have:

"Grover Laudermilk was tickled pink over Kinsella's move in buying him from St. Louis."

The inclusion of the term in a newspaper, without any explanation of meaning, indicates the writer's expectation that readers would already be familiar with it. It seems that that phrase didn't originate much before 1910 though. There are many references to it in print soon after that date, but we can find none earlier.

Answer 3

I don't know where that came from but I find myself using it too. I have a new one. They always say " It the rule of thumb". I found out, way back in time, it meant that a man couldn't beat his wife with a stick bigger than his thumb. If he did he was fined.

Answer 4

It's because you go pink when you're tickled a lot

Answer 5

it comes from the color your face turns when being tickled