How black is thy English? – part 2

Warning - Discretionary Content:This article may contain material that is either inappropriate or offensive to some audiences

Continuing from part 1, here are a few more words, phrases and expressions that are influenced by the colour ‘black’.

Blackleg - a derogatory word for someone who declines to join a strike.
The word seems to have been derived from an aversion to crows or rooks. These birds were considered to be a nuisance as they were very greedy and would ravage cornfields. As these birds are black and have black legs, they were called blacklegs. The word then got extended to swindlers and cheats as they behaved like the crows and rooks.

In fact even the term ‘rook’ was used as an insult and came to mean anyone who would swindle others for a living. Interestingly the term ‘rookie’ has been derived from rook, but while ‘rook’ means a swindler, ‘rookie’ means one who is naïve and hence can be swindled.
The modern meaning appeared when strikers considered those who refused to join the strike as cheats, and soon this meaning overshadowed the others. Today blackleg no longer means a swindler or a cheat in the original sense.

Blacklist - list of people, who are in disfavour of an authority
The word is derived from the term ‘to be in one’s black books’. In all probability it originated when Charles II prepared a list of people connected to the trial and execution of his father, King Charles I. On becoming king, Charles II punished them by putting some of them to death and imprisoning the others for life.
Although initially the term was used in relation to union and company affairs, blackmail now is a fairly common expression.

Blackmail - extortion of payment in exchange for silence
The term ‘mail’ is Old English and denoted tax or rent, in effect, blackmail meant an illegal tax or rent. The concept originated on the borders of England & Scotland where outlaws threatened small farm owners and extracted payment from them in exchange for not plundering them. The term ‘black’ was used either because of the association of the color with wickedness or because the blackmailers were usually paid with goods like cattle & grains and thus the payment was black, as compared to payment with coins, which would be white money.

Black market - illegal trading in prohibited or scarce commodities
The origin of the term is not certain, but following is an interesting thesis, probably apocryphal.
During the medieval times, there were wandering mercenaries in England who would fight for anyone who paid them their price. They lived solitary lives in the jungles and thus had no servants or resources to polish their armor, which would then oxidize and turn black. They were thus called ‘black knights’.
During festivals, there would be sword-fights, where the loser would have to hand over his weapon and armor. The black nights were hardened men and the local nobility, used to an easy life, would invariably lose. The black knights would then sell the armor back to them. The noble men thus bought back their own armory and swords. This market soon came to be known as the ‘black market’

Blackout - temporary loss of memory or consciousness / loss of electricity or radio signals
The above two meanings of the term blackout originate from the theatrical term for the darkening of the stage between scenes, but the earlier usages of the expression meant using black ink to wipe out from newspapers in public libraries, any news that might cause a sensation.

Black sheep - person considered to be a disgrace to a family or a group of people.
The expression is probably derived from the fact that wool of black sheep was not as valuable as that of white sheep, because although white wool could be dyed into any color, there were limited options with black wool. Thus shepherds would not easily welcome black sheep.
As was bound to happen, there were soon superstitions and rumors that black sheep belonged to the devil and that they would bite people without provocation.
A term similar to ‘black sheep’ is the French ‘bête noire’, which translated means ‘black beast’ and stands for someone or something that is hated or feared.

Below are a few more expressions, derived from ‘black’.

Black art / black magic - magic misused for personal gain or to hurt others
Blackboard - a board with a smooth dark surface on which marks can be made using chalk
Black economy - illegal and therefore untaxed trading
Black flag - pirate’s flag
Black ice - translucent and thin but rigid ice on roads
Black mark - mark of disgrace
Black spot - a place of risk

And the last, but not the least, is the exotic Black widow spider. The females of the species are highly venomous but not normally fatal because they inject very little poison at a time. Males are smaller than the females and their only objective seems to be the finding of female spiders for the purpose of mating, they neither bite nor eat. Although it is generally assumed that the female devours the male after mating, this is generally an exception rather than the rule.
For more information on these spiders, click here: Black widow