Black and white, black and white, it says; Printed; in short

From Shakespeare's Make a Mountain out of a molehill/Much Trouble

Profit [loss]

Like the black hole in Calcutta, it describes a crowded and unventilated environment.

"Black hole in Kolkata" refers to a dungeon in William Castle of Kolkata in the18th century. 1756, the East India Company, a trade center established by the British in India, began to strengthen fortifications around its headquarters in William Castle to prevent possible conflicts with the French army. At that time, the chief executive of India warned them to stop, and no one paid attention to him. So he raided William Castle at night and locked 65,438+046 British prisoners in a small dungeon. It's so crowded that everyone has to stand and there is no place to sit. The high temperature and lack of ventilation left only 23 people alive the next morning. Of course, this is what the British side said, and the Indians refused to admit it, claiming that it was a fabricated story and an excuse for the British Empire to use military means against Bangladesh. We don't know what history is, but this proverb has been handed down.

Be on someone's blacklist; Fall out of favor with sb.

The official use of black books has a long history. It first started in the late12nd century and was managed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to record the royal income. In the14th century, similar black books were used to record maritime affairs. But the black book in our proverb refers to the official investigation report on the corruption in monasteries during Henry VIII, which was used to record evil, depraved, immoral, lewd and disgusting people. At that time, Henry VIII tried to weaken the religious power to get rid of the rule of the Pope, so the black list recorded the names of the priests who were committed to the monastery.

Black sheep, black sheep

Shepherds don't like black sheep because their wool is not as valuable as white wool and can't be dyed white. Early shepherds also thought that black sheep would disturb other sheep in the flock. 1598, Thomas bastard accused the black sheep of being a barbaric animal in his writing. Market conditions, superstitions and prejudices are so prevalent that by the end of18th century, anyone who acts "out of line" and doesn't like others is called "black sheep".

Someone refuses and refuses to associate with him; cut a ticket

In Britain in the18th century, the application for membership of senior citizens' clubs was decided by the voting of existing members. Everyone puts a ball in the bag. A white ball means to join, and a black ball means to disagree. This habit continued into the Victorian era.

Someone blacklisted someone.

According to john milton (165 1), the initial blacklist was established during charles ii's exile before he ascended the throne. He wrote down the names of all the people involved in the trial and execution of his father Charles I. After he ascended the throne in 1660, he arrested all the people on his blacklist, executed 13 and imprisoned the rest. Later, the "blacklist" was used to record the names of people who were unpopular or needed reform.

White:

White elephant is a valuable but useless property and has become a burden.

In India, Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon), Thailand, Myanmar and other countries, white elephants are regarded as inviolable animals, and people will never let them work. It is said that raising a "white elephant" costs an amazing sum of money. Therefore, in the past, the kings of Central Asia gave the white elephant to ministers they didn't like, and asked him to spend all his money to raise the white elephant given by the royal government. From this allusion, the word "white elephant" later evolved to refer to something that is out of proportion to its value or utility, or something that is unnecessary but difficult to deal with.

Example:

Foreign aid to this country is considered useless.

The foreign aid received by that country is not only useless, but also a heavy burden. )

When he was going to sell his house, his expensive furniture became a burden.

When he wanted to sell his house, his expensive furniture became a burden. )

Because "white elephant" has the above meaning, "white elephant sale" appeared. However, this charity sale is not to sell white elephants, but to donate items that are no longer needed at home by people with a heart.

Red:

Irrelevant facts or arguments put forward to divert attention.

The literal meaning of this phrase is red herring. There used to be a lot of herring, which was an important food for Americans and Europeans, so many writers called the Atlantic Ocean a herring pond. But later, due to overfishing, the number of this fish began to decrease. Because herring is easy to deteriorate, people have come up with a way to preserve it, that is, sprinkle salt first, and then smoke it dry, so that the color of herring becomes deep red, that is, red herring.

Smoked herring can not only preserve and change the color of fish, but also give it a unique taste. When training hounds to search for foxes, people put these red herrings in the forest with strings to attract hounds not to track the scent of foxes. In addition, people sometimes put herring in places where foxes really haunt to test the hunting ability of hounds, see if they can resist other smells and continue to look for foxes. As a result, people began to use red herring to represent false clues or forge facts that were put forward to confuse their opponents. Red herring first appeared around 1420, but its figurative meaning was not used until 1884.

In red debt; deficit

This phrase originated in the United States in the 1920s. Accountants usually record debts in red ink and profits in black ink. Therefore, it is possible to get rid of the deficit, because in this case, a person's account will have a surplus.

An important or memorable day

Marking all banquet days and religious anniversaries in red on the church calendar and marking general dates in black have been popular since the 15th century. These days are used for celebrations and banquets, and gradually people begin to use "Scarlet Letter Day" to refer to anniversaries of great significance to individuals.

Red tape bureaucracy; Official red tape, especially the unbearable complicated forms and processes.

Since17th century, official documents are generally tied with red-headed documents, so red-headed documents are used to describe the annoying obstacles people often encounter when dealing with the government or official institutions, such as delay and confusion.

Yellow-yellow

Coward.

In British English, the word originally refers to a person who was born in the swamp of Lincolnshire. Because of the harsh living environment, his skin color is morbid yellow, without any derogatory meaning. The meaning of "coward" in American English is not clear.

Yellow peril: the so-called Asian threat in western concepts

Earlier yellow terror and yellow disaster referred to yellow fever. Later, at the beginning of the 20th century, the Yellow Disaster was used to turn the fear of the mysterious and unknown nomadic tribes in the East into a western civilized society. Yellow, of course, refers to the skin color of Asians. Some people say that this word refers specifically to the threat of China, but it is not entirely true. The invasion of nomadic people, Japanese economic growth in the late last century and China's population growth are all mentioned.