Canadian Salad
A No-Nonsense Podcast On Culture And Immigration
Canadian Salad
Words Have Wool: Untangling "Black Sheep"
Ever been called the black sheep of the family? Maybe you’ve said it about someone else — the rebel, the rule-breaker, the one who didn’t quite fit the mold.
But here’s the twist: that fluffy little phrase carries more history (and bias) than most of us realize.
In this episode of Canadian Salad, Andrea and Hostion trace the origins of “black sheep” — from literal flocks of woolly animals to biblical mistranslations, color symbolism, and the way language quietly reinforces who’s “in” and who’s “out.” It’s a conversation about how words evolve, how culture shapes meaning, and why being mindful with language isn’t “politically correct” — it’s just being human.
Expect laughter, learning, and the occasional cat cameo (Pepper, we’re looking at you 🐈⬛).
Plus, a simple way to rethink outdated phrases using the three R’s: Reclaim. Replace. Reflect.
Because words have wool — and sometimes, it’s time to brush them out.
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SPEAKER_00:Welcome to Canadian Saladin.
SPEAKER_02:A fun, factual, and friendly podcast about culture and integration in Canada.
SPEAKER_00:I'm one of your hosts, I'm Ho Chen Ho from China, currently living in unceded territory of Musqueams Wan Mansion as New Watch Nations.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm Andrea McCoy, an immigrant from the United States, broadcasting you from the unceded traditional territory of the Wakungan people, the song using final First Nations.
SPEAKER_00:And you're listening to Canadian Challenge.
SPEAKER_02:We could do the whole episode as though we have a cold or we've been smoking for 10 years. Or not. Welcome to our episode. Um, episode four of this season. Thank you so much for joining us.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thank you for so much for joining us. Today we're talking about a phrase.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, we're gonna highlight words that are inappropriate and kind of expand on why, because language changes just like we do.
SPEAKER_00:Language changes, and languages are sometimes created in a time that is not considerate enough. We all know old times can be very inappropriate in many ways. They can't create these words that in modern-day context that can be very offensive or even that carry out biases that is not good for many things.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly, because in older days, maybe men or religion or government kind of controlled certain narratives and they had very narrow perspectives. So we are in the 21st century and we are yeah, re-examining those things. So I'm excited. What is the term that we're gonna explore, Hoshin?
SPEAKER_00:Today we're gonna explore the term black sheep.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, very interesting. Okay. Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Have you ever been called a black sheep with a family?
SPEAKER_02:Um, I have not been called, but my brother has oh, my brother too.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, what's up with brothers?
SPEAKER_02:You know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:What's up with younger brothers, you know?
SPEAKER_02:Younger brothers, and maybe it's a second born thing or uh, I don't know, uh I don't know. But it's all it was always in relation to the term, it would be like he he was doing certain things that were unapproved by my parents, certain actions or behaviors that they felt were inappropriate or um made him an outcast of the family.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Black sheep is such like a bad word in many ways. It's a judgment.
SPEAKER_02:Very negative.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's very negative. It's like you're the outsider, you're the the thing that ruins us. And sometimes it's such a bad word, especially. Can you imagine you're hearing when you're younger? Would be like such a comp confident destroyer.
SPEAKER_02:For sure. And it's loosely used in conversations. It's like I've definitely used it before when I talk about other families or friends that I know, and oh yeah, they're the black sheep of the family. They went against the grain. They just some kind of it's a a term I feel that just kind of excludes and pushes out someone. But we're gonna unpack that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, we're gonna unpack that. And let's unpack it.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Let's explore the origins, the meaning, household, considerations of the word of the term black sheep. Okay. Um, so let's first explore its origins. Okay. Uh, in entomology, uh, the phrase black sheep originates from literal flocks of sheep.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Uh most sheep. Sheep that had black wool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, literally, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Interesting.
SPEAKER_00:It's literal like a black-collar sheep. Because most sheep are white or lighter color. Okay. And occasionally a lamb is born with like dark or black fleas. And historically, that black wool was considered less value because it couldn't be dyed into other colors as flexible as interesting. Interesting. So, because of that, a black sheep, like, you know, stood out first, yeah. Also, black sheep stuck out visually, like a flock of white sheep. Sure. And economically as well, again, it's less value, right? It cannot be dyed into other colors, less flexible. So, you know, wool market sense is definitely less versatile. And over time, that literal oddity became a metaphor.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So by the 18th, yeah, by the 18th century, writers were using black sheep to refer to like someone in the family, usually in the family or group, who was not conforming the odd one in a family or group setting.
SPEAKER_02:And that was that, sorry, they that was around the same time that um economically it was viewed as invaluable.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. In the 18th century, there's like already a lot of you writers using that word to refer to modern-day meaning what it is, but before that, people already within farmer shepherds, they already use see it as like less value. Okay, they don't want black wool to be like to sell on the market or don't want to buy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So yeah. So just slowly becomes that that phrase. But there's also another origin, okay, which um some people think is a little bit maybe too far-fetched. Um the yeah, the Oxford English Dictionary trays like an early, like kind of like a figurative usage back to Thomas Shepherd, 1800. Thomas Shepherd. Nope. Yeah, Thomas Shepard.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, that's the central.
SPEAKER_02:Did he own sheep? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Possibly. Because at that time, a lot of last names are uh made because of the yeah. So possibly, very highly that this person is uh is a shepherd. Like John Blacksmith and Dolores, a lot of uh English last names were made because of the profession, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:What would be your name?
SPEAKER_00:I don't know. My name would be Hoshan Gorgeous.
SPEAKER_02:Hosh and Gorgeous. Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER_00:What would be your name?
SPEAKER_02:Andrea The Great. The Great. Oh no, but it has to be based on my trade. So Andrea talks. Talks. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Just some shut up.
SPEAKER_02:That would be amazing, though. That would that would be interesting. So okay, sorry, Mr.
SPEAKER_00:Shepherd. Yeah, Mr. Shepard. Yeah, Peter Shepard's uh his 1640s work title titled The Sincere Convert where he writes cast out all the prof profound people, which the scripture brands for black sheep. So the Bible, yeah, the Bible, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly. No, I I remember, yeah, I the Bible mentioned, yeah. So some go ahead.
SPEAKER_00:No, so like some scholar, because of that, also some colour scholars like point to the biblical and translation history is in the Genesis, I don't know what it means, like 30, 32, 33.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, chapter 33, verse 32.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, chapter 30, verses 32 to 33. Uh-huh. Um, Jacob bargains to take dark colored lamb and black sheep amount of flock in certain translations.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And some argue that early English and German Bible translations influence the symbolism of dark or black animals as marked. Yeah, as marked.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:Or set apart.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And even in the sacrificial system. So this is my wheelhouse that I used to bathe myself in. Uh, but the sacrificial system, God always wanted a pure and spotless lamb or animal for sacrifice because that was the most pure. So the whitest lamb, the whitest and purest colored of fur or animal, that was deemed as prizeworthy. So um anyone with that kind of that had blemishes or darkness were considered impure, were considered not worthy. And even within the Mormon tradition, actually originally, Mormon religion also had this belief for black people that they were the cursed of Cain because they had a mark or they had darkness on them. And so it was, yeah, the Bible is full of these kind of color undertones. And like you said, like the English-British translations or the German translations, it's no surprise to me that they had a very derogatory and yeah, view of color.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but because of that, what you said actually is really on point because some scholars argue on the usage of like black sheep in the Bible, because one of the points is because what you said, the early religions, associations try to reinforce the negative use of black. And also it's because so many, so long ago, some things that you know by biblical reference got mischranced over time. Um, yeah, there's some argue with that. Yeah, but yeah, I think it's also worth noting though, that even though a lot of areas use black sheep as a negative meaning, in some rural traditions, especially in counties like Sussex, Akent, um black sheep, yeah, England, uh, black sheep were sometimes considered good omens or signs of luck.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, very cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, some shoppers in this area, uh Sussex and Kent, actually, if they see a black sheep in the flock, that surely uh that actually sees as a good omen.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that makes it so like anything that's rare usually has that kind of value. Like diamonds, quote unquote, are rare because and have great value because they're rare, unlike aluminum or copper, it's everywhere, right? So the value goes down. So it's just it's interesting that the rarity of something, as in some perspectives, is like, oh, that's worthless.
SPEAKER_00:Whereas for others, it's no, this is this is really but I think this also like says that not because it's black, somehow it has to always be bad. Like even some country, like some counties will see it's a good sign of good luck, right? So even early on, like I think the symbolism of black sheep is not always always entirely consistent, um, that it always refers to something bad. So I think it's something that we good that we uh have in mind.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So can I quick story? I just adopted two kitties, two cats for my son. Yes because it was that or a Nintendo Switch, and we don't want a lot of screens for him. So one of the cats we adopted is a Bengal cat. And Bangal cats, if you've seen them, they have like uh leopard spots on them, spots and stripes. They're really cool looking. Most of them, the more valuable ones are the ones that um you can see their spots, they're gray, and then they have their black, kind of like woven, um, black and uh kind of tan um spots and prints and things like that. Well, the the last cat to be adopted was what they call melanistic. Um, and he is a black uh Bengal cat. So you only see his fur, you only see his markings when the sunlight hits him. And but he was one of the last to be adopted because everyone wanted the more visible patterns. Um but we adopted the melanistic one. His name is Pepper. He's completely black fur, but it's really so cool because he has this like undertone of like these stripes and stuff. I think it makes them even cooler than the others because you really just you can't see it too much, but then when you do see it, it's pretty epic. So just saying that I value black cats, that's my story. You're welcome. I'll let you keep going.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, he's okay. I uh I love that you love your black cat.
SPEAKER_02:I do, he's amazing. His name is Pepper Pepper.
SPEAKER_00:Sun Pepper.
SPEAKER_02:Surprise.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, let's continue. Now that we know the origin of the phrase black sheep, now we should explore the cultural meaning and even impact of that word. And I think we all know the meaning. Usually means black sheep means the odd one, the outsider, the the one that's the bad, the rebellious one, right? Um, and you should that word kind of invokes a lot of like exclusion because usually, let's say you if you say you are a black sheep with a group or a family, then they think you're not part of us, that you're the odd one out, right? And even Hollywood movies and the cultural references, usually the black sheep usually is portrayed as this kind of rebellious, mad, naughty one family. Yeah, so very negative. Um, in psychology though, uh, there is a term called black sheep effect. Yeah, social psychology has a concept called the black sheep effect, where in group members who deviate from norms are judged more harshly than our group deviants. Sure. Yeah. So if you I am within a group and I somehow deviant a little bit more from the group, they would judge me so much more harshly than let's say if I am not in the group at all.
SPEAKER_01:Right, right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So in other words, when someone is in our own group misbehave, we tend to distance or condemn more fiercely to protect the group's image.
SPEAKER_01:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:So that's what black sheep also kind of have this kind of social um psychology in there. Yes. Black sheep, in many sense, is not just a metaphor, it reflects how groups, policy, activity, and inclusion works.
SPEAKER_01:For sure. For sure.
SPEAKER_00:So I think it's good to include that. And this is another thing I think whether these don't usually talk about is the metaphor also tap into deeper cultural association with darkness and whiteness and purity and deviation, right? In especially in European and Western symbolism, black has long been used in negative or ononymous kind of sense.
SPEAKER_01:Sure.
SPEAKER_00:Like usually, as we mentioned, like in the Bible, right? A lot of they like to associate with like evil, like impure, bad. Yeah, impure. Uh while, yeah, while white often carries kind of contamination of purity, innocence, like wedding dress. Oh, yeah, wedding dress always white, and like when you're mourning, yeah, when you're mourning, you wear black. That kind of system kind of sips into the idiom and metaphors.
SPEAKER_01:For sure.
SPEAKER_00:So, yeah, so over the centuries, of course, language internalized associations between like darkness and negativity, even when the literal reference, like a black flea sheep, was neutral in its sense, right?
SPEAKER_02:What do you mean?
SPEAKER_00:Like over the century, language has associated black or darkness with negativity, right? But the literal meaning of black sheep just means black flea sheep itself is a neutral word.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, sure. Yeah, it's just a black-collar sheep. I'm just describing a yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, black a black sheep. Adjective and a sheep. Yeah, yeah, it's just a black-collar sheep. It doesn't have any negative meaning, but because how in the long term, over the centuries that we think black with black to negativity, yeah, and this word becomes very more and more negative through time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because of that lens. No, that makes sense. That makes sense.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So that's how we need to see this word in its most basic in the cultural meaning of it and the kind of sociology sense of it. We need to see the difference there.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It has its own bias.
SPEAKER_02:For sure. It's good to know the origin. I I didn't know it kind of, you know, sometimes some of these phrases that you're not supposed to say, like, we haven't done a word like peanut gallery, right? And that's a phrase in the English language that is very negative now, um, or or was even when it was created. But often, sometimes these terms are negative because they started negative. But this is a term that kind of just was something that, you know, in those early days, it was a neutral thing. It was like we can't diet, so we can't get value on the market for it. So it was very much this um survival, right? Because everyone survived on their farm animals and what they were selling and buying and trading and everything like that. But because of Western imperialism, colonialism, racism, like all of these isms that conflated language and has created these very binary white is good, black is bad. Um, it very much impacts these phrases and what we use in our everyday language. And it's not something we can just feel like, oh, it's just a word, or this is just something like look at the origin, it's not bad. It may not be bad in the origin, but the implication and the tone and the context by how you're using it, that's what creates that harm. And people don't realize that. So that's my that's my two cents anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, okay, no problem. I think that is very right, obviously. Um, we all agree because, like I mentioned, even the origin of it is not unanimous to associate black sheep as a negative thing. Some shepherds in rural areas see it as a good omen or a sense of good luck, right? Um, but right now, of course, right now, I think unanimously the whole world associates with something bad because it's how this word has been used for centuries. Yes. But because of this a lot of critiques in using this word as some of the things you mentioned about the bias, the color bias in language itself, right? I don't think black sheep is like slur, but language is always evolving.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And metaphors carry weight.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, they do.
SPEAKER_00:As an issue, I have learned to it that this color biases in languages and this makes this kind of word black sheep indicates and keeps enforcing this association with uh black between black and negative, right? Or black as something bad, right? And even like there's a lot of words nowadays in in English still carries use use black as bad, like blacklist, black male, black mark, and somehow like white is a good thing, like white lie, white somehow used it as good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think this kind of pattern using this kind of language supports this racialized association. Yeah, of course, that doesn't mean that if you use it, the very use of it is very racist, but linguistic patterns is we enforce biases without us consciously knowing it. Always, and there's a lot of research or prove that. And even we just mentioned about like a word like blacklist, blackmail, or like white lie, like this work can unconsciously uh reinforcing that biases that's just in our everyday spoken word languages. Um and many writers definitely argue that even though the origin of it is very innocent, is uh the continued use of it that perpetrates biases. Yeah, and there's another great proof of it to see how biases works, is actually in computer language. In a lot of codings, or even in modern AI, yes, in a lot of computer like linguistics analysis found uh analysis found that black in computer languages usually associates with something bad. Yeah, yeah, like a black male is heavily associated with like assault, for example. And then if you use white male, somehow it's associated with something good, like capable.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Oh, just do a Google search and see the difference that the algorithm comes up with, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. So in computer language, you can see how this black bias is enforced, strong association differentiates between good and evil. Oh, totally. So that's another reason why we need to be aware of these words carry meanings no matter how the origin is. Not to mention this word knowing its origin, we also know it reflects these historical stereotypes, especially if we talk about the origins of how the biblical origins. Oh, so yeah. So we need to be careful of using that word if we are to dream of a better, more equal world.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Well, and language is our primary tool of communication and making sense of our world and describing it and building it. So why would we be like, well, no, we don't really have to change language because language doesn't really matter. Are you kidding me? Language is everything, and this is what bugs me too about people being like, oh, isn't it politically correct? This isn't about being politically correct. I don't even know that's a term we need to unpack because uh that has its own connotation.
SPEAKER_00:Oh god, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but it's literally just being a human. It's literally just saying I recognize that language and words have impact, they mean something. And unless you've lived under racial oppression, unless you've experienced racial aggression from government, education, healthcare, uh cities, everything in your life, until you've experienced that, you won't understand how impactful words can be. It's just like, oh well, everyone, you have to be just politically correct. No, you have to be accountable, you have to recognize that your words have impact and meaning. Just because you don't feel it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
SPEAKER_00:I agree. I agree. Absolutely. Like we just mentioned, is we're not saying that you are racist. You think this were you just for you to try to acknowledge that this were had a kind of like unconscious linguistic racism. You know, not intent. We're not saying again, we're not saying that you're trying to be big racist, but uh this word carries and associates with certain biases and weight that that influence on other race.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:So you just be careful of that of how you use it.
SPEAKER_02:Impact is always greater than intent.
SPEAKER_00:I agree, and that's another thing I actually want to unpack a little bit. Like maybe some people might defend that oh the word black sheep had its historical and non-racial origin, which is true, but the others also might point out that language shifts. Yeah, the language shifts, how we use it, is also about impact, not intention.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:No matter how good the intent is at its origin, yeah, it's no matter how good the intent is at its origin, how neutral it is, but in current day context, the word black, how it associates with negative things, it has negative impact towards a lot of people, and continue to perpetuate a bias that is not right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. If I told my son I hate you, he'd be like, Mom, oh my gosh, that hurts my feelings. Well, that wasn't my intent. Yeah, but these words meant something to me. Yeah, but that wasn't my intent. I was joking, like what a jackass parent. You know what I mean? Like, we have to think about it that way. Like, no one knows can read your mind or your heart. And that's not what we're not even trying to police people's minds and hearts, we're literally trying to say reflect and just think about the impact that the that your words would have.
SPEAKER_00:That's it. And also, more importantly, if you are not black yourself, how you feel about the word does not matter. You are not the one who'll be infected. If countless black people feel uncomfortable and see the racial undertone in that word, then maybe you should just not use it because you are not the one who impact it. So why arguing with people to actually be impacted? Right? Yeah, yeah. I feel like if you have to argue with black people about the uncomfortability of using that word, then maybe that is actually racist itself. Using the word might not be racist, but if you argue with them about using that word, that itself is quite racist, right?
SPEAKER_02:Right. Because it's just this privilege. Like I should be able to use whatever word I want. It's a free country. Freedom comes with responsibility, freedom comes with accountability. Freedom does not mean you get to do whatever you want to do, it means that you have the freedom to be a good person. Yeah, call yourself in check when you're not.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. It's like, for example, it's not free to kill.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:There's things that would carry responsibility and things carry consequences. So I think it's important to always keep that in mind. What no matter what word it is, maybe today we'll talk about black shit, but many other words, maybe in the future there's another word that about black people that is not even the word blacklist or blackmail, right? Maybe some of your black folks does not like that word. Then maybe just not use it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. If you're not the impacted body, do not, you don't have a say in it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Pure and simple. Yeah, exactly. So then what would be alternatives, Hoshan? Oh, there's millions. So we leave our audience with like some because I think that's part of it too. There are other ways. There's a million one other words out in the in our language that we can use.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and that's the last assignment I think I want to talk about is about like alternatives and reflection. Because of course, like it's not really that black and white, pun intended, because language evolved.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You know, not everything is like good or bad, black and white. And language itself is evolved. So it's not like because we cannot use one word somehow, oh, this is the end of the world. No, language has words come in and out, use and not use, it's all the time. So we can also just abandon that word eventually and use some other words. There's many things can offer the same meaning, like the wildcar, the outsider, the non-conformist, which is a new one that I hope.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, really? Really? Yeah. I like I've heard sure, non-conformist. I've heard that more is related to going against the tide, kind of someone who's not gonna just buy into what the masses are buying into. Like you're yeah, you're non-conforming, you're kind of doing your own thing and independently thinking. I like that. It's it's very positive. Yeah, conformist.
SPEAKER_00:I like that word better, it's very neutral. I love it. So, yeah, there's many words. Can we place that word that we can use? It does not have any culture, or sorry, any color undertone, or racist undertone. Right. Also, we encourage, I saw this uh when I was searched, I saw this phrase that we really like. Whenever there is a word that can be problematic, yeah, there's three steps to do it, to to what to do about it is we claim, we place, and we flag.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh, um, triple R time. Quite like it, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yes. Um, but some people, like for example, we claim, well, maybe in this sense, not well, it depends on again. I guess we are not the expert on it, but some people, maybe some black folks, who like to choose to embrace that term as a symbol of strength, individuality, or resistance, and by owning it, sometimes you subvert this kind of negative energy, like the word faggot. Many gays, many gays call each other faggot. Like we reclaim that word, or the n-word, a lot of rapping or even daily life, sometimes they call them each other that word. That is a great example of reclaiming the word.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And the other is we we place, which we just talk about, use another alternative.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:If if you don't reclaim the word, we place it. Use some other word that has similar meaning and then just carry on.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, exactly. And the last, there's lots of options. They cut it's called a thesaurus. So, for those of you who may not know, there is this amazing tool in the language, it's called thesaurus, and you can just look up instead of black sheep, you can look up like all the words, and you could find out, oh, those are great alternatives.
SPEAKER_00:I agree, I agree. The last one is reflect. Reflect is for somebody in this particular sense where the reflect that not using this word is also just a natural course of how language evolves and adapts, right? We have to accept that errors change, language change, and it shifts. We cannot please every phrase, but being open to change is part of the cultural growth. And now we are offering that growth that maybe we can retire, that we'll use some other words. Of course, that we are not saying that we should throw out every idiom or phrase with black or white in it, right? But we can cultivate this kind of awareness, you know, which one carries the hurt or exclusion in specific context, and which one are relatively harmless. And then use our judgment rather than this kind of blank, blanket statement to ban all the words with black. White.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right, right. No, for sure.
SPEAKER_00:And that's the reflect that we need to keep in mind.
SPEAKER_02:I love that. Yeah. I think it's good to always be reflecting because, like you said, I mean, Google is a word now. It wasn't 10 years ago. There are so many terms that are now in our language, and there are words that die. And that is a part of a language that is that is alive. You know, that if language isn't used, if it's not changing, if it's not evolving, then it does die. And so we can be thankful that we can still use language. We just have to also know that it is heavily culturally influenced. It was heavily culturally influenced when black sheep was first coined. And it's heavily culturally influenced now. Like it hasn't stopped. So if you're resisting, it's good to ask like why. But I like the three R's. Instead of resisting, reclaim, replace, reflect. Should come up with a little song Diddy or something that I really like. I like I like that. Yeah. I like that three R. Yes, yeah. This is really good question. Yeah, I really appreciate this. Yeah. And if you have any thoughts about the word, we would love to hear from you. You can reach out to us. Um, hello at CanadianSalad at CA. We'd love to hear just your impressions of black sheep and alternatives that you might use, or just what you thought of this episode.
SPEAKER_00:So give us a comment on our Instagram or Blue Sky.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, or Blue Sky or TikTok. Yeah. No, we love having you, and we're really thankful that we've got new, old, and listeners just even listening to us. We really appreciate your time inviting us into your ears and head and home. Please do. Please do.
SPEAKER_00:And then we can usually if you like your friends, you need to recommend them this podcast. And if you hate them, even more reason to watch.
SPEAKER_02:Even more reason because we end this episode, our episodes, with a Canadian style of pop quiz. And if your friends know nothing about anything, like even more so, this episode and our podcast should be sent to them. So exactly. We're gonna end with a Canadian style pop quiz. It's a fun way to learn more about this topic, but about Canada in general. And so we're going to ask each other a question. Hoshan, would you like to go first?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Well, my question is not necessarily about Canada, but it's about the world. And I want to take a little segue about color. Yes. So my question is what is the most popular color in the world?
SPEAKER_02:The most popular color in the world?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Everyone's favor. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Everyone's ooh, I'm gonna say red.
SPEAKER_00:Red.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Final answer?
SPEAKER_02:Final answer.
SPEAKER_00:The answer is wrong. Sorry. The answer is blue.
unknown:Really?
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:This is a global survey by Ugov. Found that blue is the most popular color in the world. It ranks as the favorite color in many countries, including USA, Britain, Germany, Australia, China, and Canada.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, blue. Well, that's good to know. Some days I'm in the blue mood. Sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I want purple or yellow. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. But even though in English, phrase blue is like sad, but many people actually associate blue to trust and liability. Other than in the blue color.
SPEAKER_02:It is a calming color. I will say if you go to a restaurant and they have blue undertones, there is a it's a very relaxed feeling as opposed to like McDonald's or Burger King, where it's just red and orange. It's just very like, ah, I need to eat.
SPEAKER_00:It's very yeah, it's like a calming panic-induced thing. Well, in English, there's a lot of blue phrases that not necessarily the best. Blue shoe seems like sad or like true. Like blue films also means dirty.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, see, yeah, colors have connotations.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but then somehow, yeah, kind of connotations. So it's good to keep that in mind.
SPEAKER_02:Where words carry meaning and absolutely, and colors as well, yeah. Yes, um, very cool. Well, my question is probably very easy. So we'll see. My question to you is also a global kind of a question, not Canada related, but related to this topic. What economic commodity was known historically as black gold?
SPEAKER_00:Black gold. No. Sorry.
SPEAKER_02:Would you like another opportunity? Oil?
SPEAKER_00:Like oil?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know then.
SPEAKER_02:All right, black pepper. So yes, I mean, we're talking about like a long time ago with the Silk Road and like trading and like spices, when they of course, when colonization started happening in the Africa, black pepper was so valuable, it was known as black gold. Um, because it symbolized wealth and power. Like if you had black pepper, you were like prestigious. It was very much a sign of wealth because, in particular, Europe, right? Europe was colonizing and they were making things rare and valuable. So anyway, but yeah, it was very hard to purchase as well.
SPEAKER_00:I will say that maybe longer, but modern-day policy is cruel oil.
SPEAKER_02:Sure, sure. Yeah, I this is a while, yeah. This was before we were drilling baby drills, yes, yes, yeah. But yeah, but good, but see, interesting black gold, yeah, no oil. I can see that. But uh, so there you go, some positive. Well, I don't know if black oil is positive because what's new on our planet, but you know, some positive color connotations. So um, yeah, so that's our episode. Thank you so much for joining us, listening to us. Um, we join us every Tuesday. New episode drops, and we love to hear your feedback. So um, yeah, what is it? Reclaim, repeat, and renew.
SPEAKER_00:We claim, we place, and we flag.
SPEAKER_02:All right, triple art out there. Um, we love to you all do that. That's right. Take care of yourself and we'll talk to you soon. Okay. Talk to you soon.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, bye.
SPEAKER_01:Canadian salad is written and produced in British Columbia, Canada by Ho Shin Ho and Andrea McCoy. The music is by Navir Avetyan from Pixabay.
SPEAKER_00:This has been the good Jranklin production.
