Translation: 黒字

[Tsukemono San]

Working on some 2nd grad kanji now and came across this combo: 黒字, still not sure what this means. It's defined as "the black, surplus, balance (figure) in the black", in a sentence: 今月は黒字である (We are in the black this month).. In English black is nearly always bad: black clouds, black omens, black cats.. If I said, in English, that my checking account is in the black this month, that would most certainly be bad. Does "black" sometimes indicate good things? Or is this just a particular phrase concerning monetary subjects? What am I not getting here?
Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Grandpa Frank]

It is an old saying.

In the black means good , in the red means bad. For instance...in the old days when I did inventory by hand(no computers) when someting came in , you wrote it in black. When you sold it , you wrote it in red. So for inventory and finance , black was good (you had some) . Hopefully , someone will give you info on the Japanese meaning also.

Uncle Frank

 

[Mike Cash]

Translation: 黒字

It is your English knowledge that is lacking.

"In the black" indicates a positive balance.

"In the red" indicates a negative balance.

This comes from an old accounting practice of using both red and black ink in ledgers. The two phrases have long been common idioms in the English language and have the identical meaning in Japanese.

 

[Tsukemono San]

Thanks!

I'm surprised that I never heard the phrase before now--I'm actually extremely literate in English, by the way. I've even done some inventory work for a clothing retail store, but maybe I just ignored it if I didn't understand it when I heard it. Thanks a lot!

 

[Mike Cash]

Translation: 黒字

You may have heard someone complain about "too much red ink", perhaps?