black ink

English translation: making a profit

11:40 Mar 27, 2003

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Finance (general)

English term or phrase: black ink

Amrika"s return to black ink is partly result of kegislative action

merih

Selected answer:making a profit

Explanation:
their return to black ink to me means they are back 'in the black' = making a profit (as opposed to 'in the red' = making a loss)

Selected response from:

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 05:53

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

3 +10

making a profit

Cilian O'Tuama

5 +1

prosperity, on the credit side

Fuad Yahya

profit

Chris Rowson (X)

can't we at least use a spell-checker before posting ?

Ildiko Santana

surplus

#41698 (LSF)

Answers

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +10

making a profit

Explanation:
their return to black ink to me means they are back 'in the black' = making a profit (as opposed to 'in the red' = making a loss)

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 05:53
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.

9 mins confidence:

profit

Explanation:
Sorry, I can´t explain in Turkish. It comes from the pre-computer days, when losses were written with red ink and profits were written with black ink.

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 05:53
Native speaker of:

English

12 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

prosperity, on the credit side

Explanation:
Black ink and red ink are used (in this case figuratively) for the credit and debit sides of the ledger. To be "in the black" means to have a positive bottom line (credit exceeds debit).

The sentence probably should read "America's return to black ink is partly the result of legislative action."

Fuad Yahya
Native speaker of:

Arabic,

English
PRO pts in category: 8

8 hrs confidence:

surplus

Explanation:
If you mean 'America' in the context of 'budget surplus', then 'black' means 'surplus (vs deficit)'. If 'Amrika' is a company then 'black' means 'profit (vs loss)'.

Usage:
- in the black
- returns to profitability
- mired in red ink
- deeper into the red
- bounced back into positive territory

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-03-27 19:47:38 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

If \'Amrika\' is a company, then the field is not \'budget surplus\' but \'company balance sheet\'.

#41698 (LSF)
Malaysia
Local time: 11:53
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

20 hrs confidence:

can't we at least use a spell-checker before posting ?

Explanation:
How sad........

Ildiko Santana
United States
Local time: 20:53
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Hungarian,

English

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English translation: making a profit

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