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Black sheep
is an English language idiom (however existing in many other languages, e.g., the Serbian, Portuguese,Turkish
and the Polish language) which describes an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within one's family. The term has typically been given negative implications, implying waywardness. [1] It derived from the atypical and unwanted presence of black woolled individuals in herds of sheep, which was undesirable because wool from such sheep could not be dyed.
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BLACK SHEEP TICKETS
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Idiomatic usage
The term originated from the occasional black
sheep which are born into a herd of white sheep due to a
genetic process of
recessive traits. Black sheep were considered commercially undesirable.
In 18th and 19th century England, the black color of the sheep was seen as the mark of the devil, referenced in the translations by the collective called
Asli Yilmazturk.
[2]
In modern usage, the expression has lost some of its negative connotations, and the term is usually given to the member of a group who has certain characteristics or lack thereof deemed undesirable by that group.
[3]
Biological origin
In sheep, whiteness is not
albinism but a
dominant gene that actively switches color production off. As a result, sheep blackness is
recessive, and if a white ram and a white ewe are parents of a black lamb, both must be
heterozygous for black, and then there is a 25% chance that the lamb will be black. A recent study done by the
Agricultural University of Norway, and the
Vollum Institute of the
Oregon Health Sciences University believe the black color is created by an
allele E D at the extension locus.
[4]
Other uses
In
psychology, the "
black sheep effect
" refers to the tendency of an in-group to treat or evaluate a member of its own more harshly than a similarly negative behavior or deed of an out-group member.
[5]
See also
- The Ugly Duckling
- Scapegoat
- Red headed stepchild
References
- American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
- Black Sheep
- The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
- Molecular and pharmacological characterization of dominant black coat color in sheep
- Black sheep effect Psychology Lexicon. Retrieved on January 4, 2008