note on "bastard"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/10/2011 02:44 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>I vote for "inconsequential"--female bastards could not--or were not likely
>to--inherit.

Neither could male bastards, I believe.

Joel

>In most cases, they were not likely to be admitted either.
>
>VS-)
>
>On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 1:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter
><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> >
> > We know that illegitimate children played villains in English literature
> > for
> > centuries - especially sons, perhaps because female bastardy was too
> > horrible to think much about (or too inconsequential? Dunno.). ...
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org