A couple of heards:

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 16, 2014, at 8:17 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> "Red-headed stepchild" is the way I heard it, maybe thirty years ago.
>
> JL

I think we've discussed this, with the added fillip that the early version didn't involve a stepchild as such, but the natural offspring of the milkman (or whoever), as detectable by the red hair that doesn't run in the family of either putative parent.  Here's Michael Quinion's take:  http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-red2.htm


LH
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 1:14 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      A couple of heards:
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "I avoid him like a red-neck relative."
>>
>> "I'll beat you like a mixed-blood stepchild."
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
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