He is handful

[keannu]

Doesn't "handful" have to be corrected to "He is a handful", does it?

From a workbook,
A smillar expression to "He is the black sheep of the family" is
ex)He is a troublemaker = He is handful = He is a naughty boy.

 

[emsr2d2]

"He is a handful" is correct.

 

[Barb_D]

But those expressions are not even close to the same in meaning!

You use handful or naughty for small children. Someone who is the black sheep is an adult whose lifestyle doesn't comport with the rest of the family.

 

[emsr2d2]

BarbD is absolutely right. I got carried away with the "handful" part and completely forgot that the question was about "the black sheep of the family".

That phrase is usually used to describe a member of the family whose behaviour is not liked for one reason or another! They might take part in criminal activity or some deviant sexual practice, or simply do something that the rest of the family disapproves of. Frequently, the rest of the family don't even talk about the "black sheep", they might pretend that he/she doesn't exist and have no contact with that person.

 

[bhaisahab]

BarbD is absolutely right. I got carried away with the "handful" part and completely forgot that the question was about "the black sheep of the family".

That phrase is usually used to describe a member of the family whose behaviour is not liked for one reason or another! They might take part in criminal activity or some deviant sexual practice, or simply do something that the rest of the family disapproves of. Frequently, the rest of the family don't even talk about the "black sheep", they might pretend that he/she doesn't exist and have no contact with that person.

"some deviant sexual practice" :shock:

 

[5jj]

baaaaaaaaah. ;-)

 

[emsr2d2]

I should point out that I am not equating deviant sexual practices with illegal activity (although of course sometimes there is an overlap) but sadly I'm sure some families would disown a member of the family based on their sexual preference, or refer to them as the "black sheep".

 

[Barb_D]

I have a colleague who has a PhD. He's very respected in his field and leads an important segment of our company. He jokingly says he's the black sheet of his family because his father and all three of his brothers are medical doctors.

 

[keannu]

But those expressions are not even close to the same in meaning!

You use handful or naughty for small children. Someone who is the black sheep is an adult whose lifestyle doesn't comport with the rest of the family.

Is it only for adult family members not children as well? A juvenile delinquent can be regarded as so probably, I guess. In Korean we have a similar expression like "He is an abandoned child of the family" to mean the family doesn't care about him any more, so he is like kicked out of the family. I wonder if this makes similar sense.

 

[Barb_D]

I haven't heard it used for anything other than adults.

 

[JMurray]

As Barb says, "a handful" is most commonly used in reference to kids, but sometimes to adults that are difficult to deal with, as in the film "Almost Famous" where the hotel receptionist says:

a) Is this Mr. Miller?
b) Yeah.
a) You have a message from Elaine. Your mother. She's a handful.
b) I know.
a) She freaked me out.

not a teacher