Why are black legs generally unpopular

Need even more definitions? Just between us: it's complicated. Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively".

Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice? The awkward case of 'his or her'. Hi Maggie, I completely agree with Cubanboy who describes the term well. From the passage below you can see that it can be used as a noun and a verb - one can be a blackleg as well as blackleg somebody. British Informal. Alisterio Senior Member Mexico City. According to Merriam-Webster online, it can also refer to a cheating gambler.

Apparently this is mainly a US usage, where the "strike-breaker" meaning is the principal meaning in British English. You must log in or register to reply here. In April, the Journal of Internal Medicine published a paper asserting a genetic basis for racial differences in obesity without actual genetic evidence.

The second problem is more subtle. Recall that Tang and colleagues examined two biological variables—genetic ancestry and blood pressure. If they found an association, they assumed it was because of some unidentified genetic variants that a increase susceptibility to high blood pressure and b were more common in people of African ancestry. Yet they did not test that assumption, nor did they pursue the alternative possibility that biological associations could be driven by sociocultural processes.

It is easy to take the logic used by Tang and colleagues for granted. Most researchers assume that genetic ancestry is related to health through genetic effects. But what if genetic ancestry and blood pressure are linked because of systemic racism, rather than DNA?

What if people with more African ancestry in a racist society are more likely to be poor they are , to experience discrimination they do , or to face any number of other stressors we know are associated with high blood pressure? Evidence indicates such connections are better explanations than alleged genetic differences.

Not long after the Tang study came out, Amy Non, then a Ph. She noticed a single, crude proxy for the wide-ranging consequences of systemic racism: educational attainment. Whatever evidence there might have been for a genetic effect evaporated. Active Oldest Votes. Its etymology seems to be without racist connotations; at least according to the website for National Coal Mining Museum for England : Blackleg Term for a worker who breaks a strike and continues working.

Improve this answer. March Ho 3, 2 2 gold badges 18 18 silver badges 31 31 bronze badges. I would suggest you fill out your first sentence. Exactly what you mean by "No. I understand you to be referring to racism, but others might not "get it". CorvusB Cheers, I've updated the answer. This answer seems to support the idea that the origin is not racist. It isn't a worker who crosses strike lines. According to the following, the meaning derives from the bird rook known for its rapacious appetite and its black legs: The expression blackleg originated from the bird rook.

As we all know, this bird is black in colour and has got black legs. Rooks are very cunning and they know how to steal food. Needless to say, few people like them. Even today, the term rook is sometimes used to refer to a person who takes advantage of gullible individuals. Since rooks have black legs, cheats are also called blacklegs. As time went by, this expression began to be used to refer to workers who cheat by going to work when their fellow employers are on strike. English Grammar Another assumption is that the expression originated among coal mine strikers : The term is said to have come from strikes in the coal mines.

Those who were on strike had washed and brushed up after their last trip down the mine and therefore anyone covered in coal dust was a strike-breaker - a blackleg.

The derogatory term scab is also used for such people. It is not a direct synonym of strike-breaker since a blackleg is specifically someone who works at a job while his colleagues are on strike. Words, Words and Phrases. Laurel So you're saying it's not racist.

This is before any involvement of Africans in the UK workforce, and specifically in the mining industry.