In Hebrew, we say "pink glasses" to mean optimistic observation, and "black glasses" for pessimism. I was trying to figure out how popular the literal translations are in English. I found "rose-tinted glasses" as a popular equivalent to express optimism. But is there an analogous expression for pessimism?
Googling "looking through black glasses" made it seem not to be a popular phrase. Is this in fact a recognized idiom? Is there a similar, more common one?
While it appears the idiom does not exist, you could make quite the play on words by describing someone "seeing through half-empty glasses."
On a more serious note, most English-speaking people would likely understand if you described someone who "sees the world as half-empty" or "sees (x) as a half-empty glass." I can't say I have ever heard it used before in this way, though.
Alternatively, describe someone who sees the world as bleak or grey when they are not wearing rose-tinted glasses. Unfortunately this will only work in the negative.
You can look on the black side, take a grim (or black, or dim) view of things and consider that the outlook is bleak and that the {prospect is / prospects are} grim or things aren't looking good.
Consider the rare see (or view) life/the world through gray/grey tinted glasses and see (or view) life/the world through gray/grey colored glasses.
I saw life through grey-tinted glasses; I was withdrawn, miserable, and grouchy.
For example, depressed people tend to look at the world through gray-colored glasses and have negative views of themselves.
Alternately, what comes to mind is the idiomatic doom and gloom (or gloom and doom).
doom and gloom: the feeling that a situation is bad and not likely to improve
One alternative that I've heard is jade-colored glasses, playing on a combination of the original glasses and "jaded".
Someone who sees the world pessimistically is a "glass half empty person".
(Conversely an optimist is a glass half full person.)
Bizarrely, Wikipedia doesn't have any citations before this century, whereas the idiom must be much older.
A pessimistic person is always:
Expecting the worst.
Raining on your parade.
Bursting your bubble.
Finding the touch of grey in every silver lining. (Context: every cloud has a silver lining.)
I was recently looking for a similar expression and I used "mud-tinted glasses".
I also like the other suggestions here of "jade-colored" and "grey-tinted".
Mud tinted can suggest a lack of clarity... but I refer to s*** (fecal, as noted by TecBrat) colored glasses which very explicitly indicates the opposite of optimism.
See the world through a glass, darkly
Corinthians 13:12 contains the phrase βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι δι' ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι, blepomen gar arti di esoptrou en ainigmati, which was translated in the 1560 Geneva Bible as "For now we see through a glass darkly" (without a comma). This wording was used in the 1611 KJV, which added a comma before "darkly".[4] This passage has inspired the titles of many works, with and without the comma.
The Greek word ἐσόπτρου, esoptrou (genitive; nominative: ἔσοπτρον, esoptron), here translated "glass", is ambiguous, possibly referring to a mirror or a lens. Influenced by Strong's Concordance, many modern translations conclude that this word refers specifically to a mirror.[5] Example English language translations include:
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror" (New International Version) "What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror" (Good News Bible)
Paul's usage is in keeping with rabbinic use of the term אספקלריה, aspaklaria, a borrowing from the Latin specularia. This has the same ambiguous meaning, although Adam Clarke concluded that it was a reference to specularibus lapidibus, clear polished stones used as lenses or windows.[6] One way to preserve this ambiguity is to use the English cognate, speculum.[7] Rabbi Judah ben Ilai (2nd century) was quoted as saying "All the prophets had a vision of God as He appeared through nine specula" while "Moses saw God through one speculum."[8] The Babylonian Talmud states similarly "All the prophets gazed through a speculum that does not shine, while Moses our teacher gazed through a speculum that shines."[9]
