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It's a colorful world - black gold!

Colorful idioms used in English
This page ©2000 by Nicholas E. Miller, except the words to the music as noted below



Colorful English!
Word or Phrase: Part of Speech: Idiom or General?: Usage? Restricted?
black gold noun idiomatic reasonably common No
Meaning:
a nickname for petroleum; an oily flammable liquid, occurring in many places on the earth, it is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and is refined to make gasoline and other products
Example(s):
In The Ballad of Jed Clampett they sing "'bout a man named Jed", who "one day"... "was shootin' at some food," when "up thru the ground came a bubblin' crude. Oil that is! Black gold!"

Note: The words to the song on the TV show and movie The Beverly Hillbillies are from lyrics and music by Paul Henning.