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Black Sheep and Lame Ducks

The Origins of Even More Phrases We Use Every Day

Author Albert Jack
Paperback
$24.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Tarcher
4.46"W x 7.96"H x 0.56"D  
On sale May 04, 2010 | 256 Pages | 9780399535123
Grades 9-12
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The fun and fascinating follow-up to the international bestseller Red Herrings and White Elephants

Why do people put their "skeletons in a closet," "have a hunch," "get the cold shoulder," "get dressed up to the nines," or "call a spade a spade?" These phrases are used every day, yet most people have little or no idea where most of them come from. In Black Sheep and Lame Ducks, Albert Jack takes readers on a journey through the curious- and often bizarre-origins of hundreds of their favorite idioms and expressions.

For example, "wearing your heart on your sleeve" comes from the Middle Ages, when a lady would "give her heart" in the form of a handkerchief pinned to the sleeve of a knight who was about to go into battle. And calling someone the "black sheep in the family" refers to a thousands- year-old belief that a black lamb in a flock was unpopular because its fleece was undyeable and therefore less valuable.

With Black Sheep and Lame Ducks, any language-lover can feel like a "Smart Aleck"-and also know exactly who that was.
Albert Jack lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs: The World's Most Puzzling Mysteries Solved. His first book, Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origin Of Phrases We Use Every Day, was published by Harper in 2006. View titles by Albert Jack

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The fun and fascinating follow-up to the international bestseller Red Herrings and White Elephants

Why do people put their "skeletons in a closet," "have a hunch," "get the cold shoulder," "get dressed up to the nines," or "call a spade a spade?" These phrases are used every day, yet most people have little or no idea where most of them come from. In Black Sheep and Lame Ducks, Albert Jack takes readers on a journey through the curious- and often bizarre-origins of hundreds of their favorite idioms and expressions.

For example, "wearing your heart on your sleeve" comes from the Middle Ages, when a lady would "give her heart" in the form of a handkerchief pinned to the sleeve of a knight who was about to go into battle. And calling someone the "black sheep in the family" refers to a thousands- year-old belief that a black lamb in a flock was unpopular because its fleece was undyeable and therefore less valuable.

With Black Sheep and Lame Ducks, any language-lover can feel like a "Smart Aleck"-and also know exactly who that was.

Author

Albert Jack lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of Loch Ness Monsters and Raining Frogs: The World's Most Puzzling Mysteries Solved. His first book, Red Herrings and White Elephants: The Origin Of Phrases We Use Every Day, was published by Harper in 2006. View titles by Albert Jack

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