About a year and a half ago, I noticed some of the boys at the ice rink sporting pink. My middle school son wasn’t inclined to follow the trend, but was nonplussed.

“They say pink is the new black,” he said, shrugging.

Excuse me? Not only does he not follow fashion in any sense, except the ocasional fondness for skater brands, but I don’t think he ever had heard of “the new black.”

And pink? Brown or grey at least are neutrals. Pink?

I hadn’t thought about this recently, but said boy and I were at Perani’s the other day getting him new ice skates. He greeted a spring teammate on the same mission. While mine browsed the offerings, I told him I was going to snag some socks – his are more hole than sock – and asked what color he wanted.

Other Boy’s dad snorted. They had just been at a rink and seen pink socks, he said.

“Pink is the new black,” I said, smiling.

“What does that MEAN?” the dad burst out. But his boy, lacing his skates, just nodded sagely.

As I expected, mine said he would prefer orange socks, thanks. But I made sure to tell Other Boy’s Dad as we were leaving that there were two shades of pink tape behind the counter.

This post originally appeared on ourMidland.com, the online home of the Midland (MI) Daily News. Republished with permission.