Redheaded Stepchild
There is a common derogatory phrase ‘redheaded stepchild’ and I wanted to find its origin. Neither the simple nor the longer version ‘beat you like a redhead stepchild’ are attributed to any one known source. However, speculation on how these phrase(s) came about are as follows:
1. The expression “Red-headed stepchild” actually originated as “Red-headed nigger”. It referred to the embarrassing, often red-headed mulatto slave children on plantations (the result of the master’s dalliance with the slave women).1
2. The Norse trickster god Loki is often depicted with red hair and beard, and he is an adopted child (son of a giant but foster parented by Odin).
Of course, I don’t recall any stories in which Loki is specifically
beaten (threatened with a beating by Thor, maybe), but he is punished in other ways often enough, notably for his part in the death of Balder, where he is chained up under a serpent who drips painful venom upon him.
Maybe Loki also contributed to the cliche, but “chained up beneath a
snake that drips painful venom on you like a red-headed and red-bearded foster child” just didn’t make it, succinctness-wise…..
Or maybe not.2
3. This is pretty much within earlier traditional expressions of contempt for redheads as unreliable, untrustworthy and ill-tempered. The Egyptians sacrificed redheads, if I remember correctly. Poor old Esau was made redheaded by painters who associated him with his red land of Edom. Legend made Judas a redhead and one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse rides the red horse of conflict. The Irish held a better view of redheads, but even so, they had na Trì Deirg, the three redheaded horsemen of death and destruction, dressed in red and astride red horses. Then there are the nervous jokes about redheaded babies born to a mother and father who
aren’t. So, saying “beaten like a redheaded step-child” seems congruent with all that and not particularly novel. Rumor has it that some have been overheard actually offering to pay to see Carrot Top beaten in public, but I have been unable to verify either that or his step-status.
And then along came Rita Hayworth and Nicole Kidman, and a whole tradition faded far, far away…
John Dyson
Spanish and Portuguese
Indiana University3
4. It is a slang insult born of violence that has become a catch phrase. It means “to beat you extremely”, assuming that in anger or frustration you would beat a redheaded stepchild more than any other child because she/he is less desirable – both for being a stepchild and for being redheaded.
In the poorer classes one might beat a stepchild more than their own because they care less for them than their own child. The redheaded part may be a reference to the hotheadedness that redheads are supposed to be prone to, which would incite the beating all the more.
It is probably anonymous, coming from less educated people who use and make up their own slang frequently. I’m betting on anonymous because I can’t see a person who would make up such a thing being interested in going on record for it, nor would it be something to be proud of, nor is it quite that famous that enough people would care who came up with it. It could, however, eventually be attributed to someone, though probably the wrong person and some time after it was actually first said.
((http://en.allexperts.com/q/Literature-697/Origin-Phrase.htm))
(This answer was also disputed on the premise that poor people are not the only people who beat their children and/or others.))
Do you know of other possible origins for this derogatory phrase? If so, message us at the_redhead at red head watch dot com.
- http://en.allexperts.com/q/Literature-697/f/Origin-Phrase.htm [↩]
- http://en.allexperts.com/q/Literature-697/Origin-Phrase.htm [↩]
- http://en.allexperts.com/q/Literature-697/Origin-Phrase.htm [↩]
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2 Responses to “Redheaded Stepchild”
I have also seen commentary about the phrase being a throwback to the big Irish immigration to the US. The Irish were the low of the low and the interbreeding was noticeable, with redheaded babies not being appreciated by all.
The upshot of course is that the phrase is derogatory and nasty any way you cut it. At the least it indicates a disregard for violence against children, at the worst, it’s a racial pejorative.
By Ceallach on Dec 1, 2009
We didn’t see this earlier, sorry about that! Interesting, I wonder if it was a reference to the Irish immigrants. Interesting point to investigate. Thanks for the comment. =)
By The Redhead on Jun 2, 2010