This mini episode teaches you a useful and interesting expression: “black sheep.”
Episode 194 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you a useful and interesting expression: “black sheep.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello. This is Katherine from South Korea. And you are listening to Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 194 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let's get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The expression that I want to teach you today is black sheep. Black sheep. That’s black: b-l-a-c-k, sheep: s-h-e-e-p. I’m sure you know what the word black means. But maybe you don’t know what the word sheep means. A sheep is a kind of animal. It’s a white, fluffy animal that lives in a big group.
So, what is a black sheep?
A black sheep is a person who does not fit in with the group. It could be somebody in an office. Or we usually use it to refer to somebody in a family: the black sheep of the family. That’s how we say it. The black sheep of a family is somebody who does not act the way other people in the family act. Or it’s someone who does not behave the way people think that he should behave. If somebody is described as the black sheep, that means that he or she has a bad reputation. Maybe people think that he or she just doesn’t behave properly.
And you can see where this expression came from. If you imagine a big group of sheep— often called a flock. There’s an extra word for you today. Flock: f-l-o-c-k. Or a herd: h-e-r-d. If you imagine a flock or a herd of sheep, you probably imagine a group of white animals that all look alike. They all look basically the same. A black sheep would be very different. A black sheep would not really fit in. A black sheep would not be like the others. And that’s how we use black sheep when we talk about people: a black sheep is a person who does not act the way people think he or she should act, or a person with a bad reputation—a person who people think bad things about.
And that is black sheep, a useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
And that's the end of episode 194 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Katherine recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I'll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye. I'll see you soon.