i'm going to have to give you the pink slip
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To fire or lay someone off from their job
Literally: a pink slip of paper used to notify termination
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “i'm going to have to give you the pink slip” mean?
To fire or lay someone off from their job Literally: a pink slip of paper used to notify termination
Is “i'm going to have to give you the pink slip” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.