blue eyed boy

B

blue-eyed boy,
also, a blue-eyed girl

Meaning

• a person who is treated with special favor.
• a person who is highly regarded by someone else.
• the favorite person in a group.
• a person who receives special treatment from a person in power or authority.
• a person someone may think is perfect.
• a person who never gets in trouble.
• a person who is a “teacher’s pet.”

Example Sentences

1. Managers at Apple have been trained against having blue-eyed boys.
2. Everyone in class knows Josh is the teacher’s blue-eyed boy.
3. Dan was treated differently at work because he was the boss’s blue-eyed boy.
4. Everyone wanted to be on Brad’s team because he was the CEO’s blue-eyed boy.
5. She is in charge of all assignments except finance, which is reserved for the blue-eyed girl.

Origin

This term is often used in a derogatory way to describe how a person is treated as a favorite by a boss or powerful person. It’s an expression used to show how others may feel it’s wrong to treat one person better than everyone else. This idiom is normally heard in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK). It’s been suggested that the “blue eyes” are used to describe the innocence of young children. It has been said to be first recorded in a novel by P.G. Wodehouse in 1924.

Colour, Eyes