Black is beautiful
Celebrate glorious black with the help of these colourful phrases.
Green/purple/tartan is the new black
SOMETHING you say to mean that x/y/z is the most fashionable colour.
This fun expression became hugely popular in the 1980s. Dictionaries state it first appeared in print in The New York Times on May 27, 1986 but Wikipedia attributes this to Italian fashion designer Gianfranco Ferré who was quoted in the Los Angeles Times in March 1983 as saying: “Grey is the new black.”
Today, the expression has crept into other areas of professional expertise: chefs pronounce mint to be the new pepper, musicians say that Adele is the new Amy Winehouse, and so on.
Example: Faisol Abdullah’s latest creations indicate that batik is the new black.
Black magic
Evil magic. Also called the black arts.
In ancient Greece, one sect of seers divined the future by studying corpses. They called their art necromantia, based on necro meaning
dead.
Unfortunately, some medieval translators in the 1500s thought necro meant black, and thus necromancy was considered the black arts meaning evil magic. By 1590, it was shortened to the present term. Black witch appeared soon after in 1645.
Funnily enough, the term nigromancy, that is based on nigro meaning black, and that refers to black magic has existed since the 1300s but few people use it. Maybe it just doesn’t roll off the tongue as smoothly.
Example: Wendy read Harry Potter and decided she wanted to practise black magic.
To blackball someone; to be blackballed
To be voted against, usually by a secret ballot.
This expression comes from the 1770s when it was illegal to gamble except in private clubs. This prompted London aristocrats to create famous clubs such as White’s, Brooks’s and Boodle’s that still exist today.
Anyone wanting to join these exclusive clubs had to be approved. During secret elections members dropped either a white or black ball into a bag. The presence of a single black ball meant the person was denied membership.
To be blackballed was incredibly humiliating, something that nastier club members no doubt enjoyed as much as the gaming.
Example: Colin was blackballed because he refused to flatter the committee.
To be in someone’s black book
To be in trouble with someone.
It is said that the first black book belonged to King Henry VIII who noted the richest church properties in it. When Henry made himself head of the Church of England in the 1530s, he promptly sold those properties claiming the previous owners were immoral and generally unworthy of such riches.
More recent famous Black Books include the “Sonder fahndungsliste” or Special Search Lists drawn up by German Nazi leaders in World War II. These listed “enemies of the state” that included scientist Albert Einstein, psychologist Sigmund Freud, and dramatist Noel Coward.
Example: Alice lost an important client and is now in her boss’ black book.
Black hole
A prison. A situation where things disappear without a trace.
Today we think of outer space where mysterious black holes swallow up everything, including light. However, in the early 1700s the term meant a prison.
It was popularised in 1756 when Siraj ud-daulah, ruler of Bengal and Bihar fought British East India Company troops at Fort William in Calcutta. Siraj won and (depending on the chronicler you favour) locked either 146 or 64 prisoners in a cell meant to hold four. The next morning only 23 or 21 survived to tell the tale of the Black Hole of Calcutta.
The image was used in the astronomical sense by the American physicist John Wheeler in 1967.
In case you’re curious, Indian rulers working with the British betrayed Siraj. He was executed on July 2, 1757 on the orders of Mir Jafar, who then took over Bengal and Bihar.
Example: Our laundry room is a black hole when it comes to socks.
The pot calling the kettle black
A proverb that suggests a criticism applies equally to the speaker and target.
This expression appeared in print in 1620. It is linked to a popular story where a kettle makes fun of a pot that is standing on a fire bilging smoke. The pot retorts that as the kettle stands on the same fire when used, it is just as black.
The expression has an ancient history. Apart from various translations there are equivalents including “the crow mocks the blackness of the pig” from Ancient China and “the dog ridicules the cat for being hairy” from Vietnam.
Example: Jasmin scolding Mary for being a home-wrecker is the pot calling the kettle black.
Black is beautiful
A popular slogan used by African Americans and other black pride groups in the 1960s.
It is often falsely attributed to John Stewart Rock, the first black person to be admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1861.
It first appeared on Nov 30, 1927 in the New York newspaper Amsterdam News, reporting that Jamaican civil rights leader Marcus Garvey taught the message that black is beautiful.
However, as Garvey is not credited with coining the phrase, the journalist who wrote the piece may have created it. Sadly, the archives are not accessible from Malaysia, so a check on the author is not possible.
Example: Stop moaning about your complexion. Black is beautiful!