APAD: Lamb to the slaughter

Meaning: In an unconcerned manner - unaware of the impending catastrophe.

 

Background:

 

From the Bible (King James Version),

 

- Jeremiah 11:19:

  But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that

  they had devised plots against me, {saying,} "Let us destroy the tree with

  its fruit, And let us cut him off from the land of the living, That his

  name be remembered no more." and

 

- Isaiah 53:7:

  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is

  brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is

  dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

 

In addition to lambs, other verses in the Bible has other animals going 'to the

slaughter', that is, oxen, bullocks and sheep. The allusion to the especial

helplessness of lambs was made use of in the 1991 film The Silence of The Lambs.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk

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The allusion in the movie "The Silence of The Lambs" is obvious once Martin

mentioned it. I remember, however, the phrase appears verbatium in the film

"About A Boy."

 

Fiona (the boy's mom): What do you have to say for yourself? Well?

 

Will (played by Hugh Grant): Don't "well" me. Don't "well" me about this, for

     Christ's sake! He comes over uninvited every night of the week! And do you

     know why?  Because he's having the sh*t bullied out of him at school! And

     you haven't got a clue. You're sending him out there like a lamb to the

     slaughter! He's been taken to pieces every day of the week, you daft,

     f*cking hippie!