Everything about Black Sheep totally explained
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For other uses, see Black Sheep (disambiguation).
Black sheep is an
English language idiom which describes an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within one's family. The term has been looked upon either positively or negatively depending on the era and culture in which the term was used.
Idiomatic usage
Black sheep is an
English language idiom—usually
derogatory—which describes an odd or disreputable member of a group, especially within one's family.
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 because their
wool can't be dyed as white wool can.
In modern usage, the expression has lost some of its negative connotations, and the term is usual given to the member of a group who has certain characteristics deemed inappropriate by that group.
Biological origin
In sheep, whiteness isn't
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's 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.
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.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Black Sheep'.
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