note on "bastard"

[Jonathan Lighter]

You may be right, but since women were expected to be paragons of all
virtues (if they weren't harlots, of course) the idea that one might
secretly be tainted by some inherited stain - which could be passed on, of
course - might have been pretty scary.

I suppose motives differed.

JL

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 2:44 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: note on "bastard"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I vote for "inconsequential"--female bastards could not--or were not likely
> to--inherit. 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
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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