ne pas s’en porter plus mal/mieux

Question

Does this expression mean ‘to be worse/better off’? I have seen a few variations of this expression and their translations meaning more or less what I mentioned but I couldn’t find the exact expression discussed anywhere.

An example for context from this INA Société video at 3:26:

‘Un gars qui boit ses deux verres de vin par jour, il (ne) s’en portera pas plus mal (que d’autres)’

I would translate this as:

‘A guy who drinks his two glasses of wine per day, he won’t be worse off (than others)’.

Answer 1

That is correct, except that the ellipted second element in the comparison is not understood to be "others" (que d'autres); instead it is "qu'il ne se serait porté autrement"; moreover, it is never used (It must be extremely rare, I never saw it in print and never heard it in anyone's speech.).

In the translation, you can omit the pronoun, which is typical of some modern French but not necessary (it adds nothing).

• Un gars qui boit ses deux verres de vin par jour (ne) s’en portera pas plus mal.
  A guy who drinks his two glasses of wine per day won’t be worse off.