red-headed stepchild

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Fri, 4 Mar 2005 23:44:23 -0500, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:

>Why "red-headed"? My speculation is that this intensifier reflects a
>traditional superstitious aversion to redheads. Often a redheaded or
>cross-eyed or left-handed person was regarded as being a jinx ... along the
>lines of a black cat.
[...]
>And consider this variant:
>
>----------
>
>_Reno Evening Gazette_, Reno NV, 28 April 1943: p. 2:
>
><<The war shipping administrator urged as a post-war slogan, "travel and
>ship American," and said that never again must "we allow our merchant
>marine to become the nation's cross-eyed stepchild.">>

-----
_Chicago Tribune_, Nov 16, 1919, p. 1/7

An advertisement which may be considered a classic appears today in the
classified section of The Tribune. It reads:
"I own a frame building with two flats and two stores, all vacant except
one store. Can find no one to give it better attention than is commonly
given by a woman's second husband to her cross-eyed stepchild by the first
wife of her first husband. Property is at 5749-51 Wentworth avenue; is all
clear and needs many repairs. Make me an offer."
-----

(A classic indeed.)


--Ben Zimmer