Red-Headed Stepchild

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Kelly from Indianapolis.

Hello, Kelly, what’s going on in Indianapolis?

Well, I have a question that’s been bothering me for a while.

When I was a little kid, and the kids from the neighborhood,

We would all be playing and running around and chasing each other.

There was always something that we would yell at each other,

And it’s never really made any sense to me.

Like, I’ve never understood where it came from or why this thing exists.

And I’ve looked it up a number of places, and I can never really find a good enough explanation.

Okay, bring it on.

Well, so the phrase is, I’m going to beat you like a redheaded stepchild.

Whoa.

I would like to know where it came from, why.

I’ve looked it up and have seen, you know, it’s listed on Urban Dictionary that the red-headed stepchild is just a child without birthright.

But I don’t understand why it’s so violent.

And also I’d like to know if there’s any way to know who the first red-headed stepchild was.

Do you have any theories yourself about where that might have come from?

I don’t.

I have a friend who thinks it’s from the movie Problem Child, but I find that really depressing.

So I hope that’s not my answer.

That’s way too new for it to be.

The expression is much older than that.

Yeah, you can cross that one off.

The expression predates the movie era completely.

Well, almost completely.

Yeah, what, early 1900s, right, Grant?

1910 is the earliest use that I know of.

Yeah.

Yeah, and generally it refers to somebody who’s unwanted or badly treated.

And I’m not sure that we know who the original red-headed stepchild was or red-haired stepchild.

And historically, there have always been these stories floating around about redheads having a fiery temperament or that they’re really different from everybody else, that they’re really red-hot lovers or they’re somehow dangerous or the product of an extramarital affair or something like that.

And do you know that it was just a few months ago – I don’t know if you saw this, Grant – there were all these news reports in England.

In the U.K.?

Yes.

Yeah, I saw that.

I don’t think I’ve seen that.

Well, they were talking about ginger beating or ginger teasing, which is what they say in the British Isles for somebody with red hair.

They call them ginger.

And apparently there was a woman, she was crying at the abuse she remembered getting when she was in school on the playground for having red hair.

Merciless teasing.

I mean, kids are heartless anyway.

Yeah, yeah.

And there were all these stories in the British press about this one family of redheads who were driven out of their neighborhood by these local thugs who kept picking on them.

Yes, supposedly, because they had red hair, and there were all these stories in the media about gingerism.

And you can go to YouTube and see all these interviews about…

I mean, you know, we’re laughing, and it’s kind of funny, but at the same time, it’s really kind of creepy.

It’s awful.

Yes, it’s like one of the last minority groups that people tend to think it’s okay to make fun of.

Now, Kelly, I have to ask, do you use this expression as an adult, or do your ears just prick up?

No, I actually do not.

I try to resort to violence as little as possible.

Good for you.

It’s not something that I use at all.

Kelly, thanks for a very interesting question.

Well, thank you.

All right.

You guys have a good day.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Kelly.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

My colleague, Ben Zimmer, who you may know by reputation, he works at Oxford University Press.

He’s one of the language log guys at the language log blogs.

He uncovered a 1919 use in a classified ad of this phrase that I think bears repeating here.

You want to hear this?

Absolutely.

And that’s the mixed phrase.

He says, I own a frame building with two flats and two stores, all vacant except one store.

Confine no one to give it a 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.

Oh, gracious.

Properties at Wentworth Avenue is all clear and needs many repairs.

Make me an offer.

Wow.

That’s just about as derogatory as you can get.

But he did use the cross-eyed stepchild version, and that’s from 1919.

So you can see that it hasn’t always been redheaded, stepchild.

Give us a call, 1-877-929-9673, or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.