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!
