SHAGGY DOG:TO BE blackballedis to be excluded from a club or society by members who vote against an application for membership. It can also be extended to being left out of any social event or gathering, writes ALBERT JACK
The phrase became known in 1770 when the practice of "balling" was adopted by the London gentlemen's clubs. The idea was that, if a new member was proposed, every existing member of the club would be asked if he had any objection to the new addition to their apparently elite and sought-after group. After all, it wouldn't do at all for a gentleman to find himself sitting at the table next to a sworn enemy, as that could quite spoil a chap's luncheon. Instead, members were asked to place a white or black ball anonymously into a symbolic urn or bag. A single black ball was enough to refuse a membership and nobody at the club would know who had opposed the application.
Although the phrase had been in use throughout London society for centuries, it became better known to the rest of us when BBC journalist and Newsnightpresenter Jeremy Paxman was turned down by the Garrick Club in 1993 after being blackballed by unknown members who were enraged by his anti-establishment book, Friends in High Places(1991). But it works both ways. Groucho Marx famously responded, when invited to join an exclusive club: "Thank you but no thank you. I would never join a club that would have somebody like me as a member."
It was quite a relief, I can assure you, to discover that "balling" in gentlemen's clubs was only a membership issue.
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When the writing is on the wall, it means a particular, negative event is inevitable and virtually unavoidable.
The Book of Daniel in the Bible tells the story of King Belshazzar who was feasting in Babylon while boasting about the power of his idols.
God, on hearing this, diverted the river Euphrates so that Belshazzar's enemies could breach the walls of the city.
As the king raised God's goblet high above his head, a hand appeared and wrote the words " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin", which translates as "Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, Divided".
This was meant as a warning to the king of what was about to happen, but Belshazzar was uncertain of the meaning so he called upon Daniel to explain it to him. Daniel told Belshazzar that God had numbered the days left to him as king and that his reign was about to end.
Daniel told him he had been weighed on God's scales, that his life had not measured up to God's standards, and that his kingdom was to be divided by his enemies, the Medes.
It was a warning the Persians were about to invade and take over. For the king, the writing was well and truly on the wall.
Extracted from Shaggy Dogs and Black Sheepby Albert Jack (Penguin)