Obama smacks down Lynn Cheney's discovery: "Every family has a black sheep?"

[Colobo]

A spokesman for Obama, who wants to be the first black U.S. president, offered a tongue-in-cheek response. “Every family has a black sheep,” said spokesman Bill Burton.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21340764/
Hahahaha! Great!

[Virginia Dare]

1. A Duzy for Obama!

:thumbsup:

[Kikosexy2]

12. Lizzie "leszie" Cheney...

is such a crackpot...shouldn't she be holed up in a bunker writing bad lesbian, incest stories a la Jackie Collins...

[yurbud]

2. every family has a soulless albino who lives hundreds of feet beneath the earth

and kills millions.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. LOL!

:)

[zabet]

3. That is funny

but, doesn't Obama highlight race with the pun of 'black sheep'?
That is just one step above..'there's one in everbody's woodpile'.
Just my opinion.

[gratuitous]

4. I don't think so . . .

I don't know what the original etiology of the phrase was, but in modern parlance (the last 50 years or so), a "black sheep" in the family seems to be universally understood as a misbehaving family member, or, used ironically, to describe the one good sibling out of a bunch of bad actors. Any racial connotation has long passed out of the term, I think.

[Cha]

6. Yeah, In my family I

always refered to myself as the black sheep until later years when I settled down and grew outta my wild rebel ways.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sheep

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. Hmph, I could have saved time by just referencing your post.

Cheers!

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. The phrase is not racial in origin.

While it's true it is not entirely clear why black sheep symbolized worthlessness, it's probably one of two things. The longstanding
symbology in English that associated black with bad things. black mood, black looks, black water, etc. I suspect it goes back to pre-electricity when fear of the dark was a legitimate fear. It's also quite likely because shepherds weren't terribly fond of black sheep because their fleeces were not as suitable for dying into a variety of colors. Therefore they were worth less than the white sheep in the flock.

If you're up for a bad joke...

Why do black sheep eat less than white ones?

Because there are less of them silly!

On edit, the definition to which you refer isn't just contemporary. That is the way it was used when it was first coined in the 18th century. I can't remember it's first appearance in print, but the figure of speech has always referred to a misbehaving member of the family from the first time it was recorded in written English over 200 years ago.

[unc70]

16. Apparently racial in modern Switzerland.

Current controversy there in political ads.



BTW The term "bitch" as commonly used as a derogatory has nothing to do with dogs. It is actually related to words like "bicker" and phrases like "biting remarks" and has a context of complaining, whinging, scolding, irritating, hassling.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Bwah! Good answer.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. I thought that was a great comeback!

But it was a spokesman that said it and not Obama himself. Good thing too or else the republicans out there will claim he's playing the race card. :crazy:

[Adelante]

9. Another good one

Ha! :D

[AuntPatsy]

10. He has a sense of humor in a good way, I liked this.

[roguevalley]

14. Your picture, OP: What a pretty family. Lovely.

[youthere]

15. Great response! Well handled by Obama.

[JNelson6563]

17. Very witty

:toast: :patriot:

[Nutmegger]

18. He is ready to lead.

I've been impressed with Obama. R&K!

[politicasista]

Good for him. She is an insane woman n/t

[politicasista]

19. delete. dupe n/t