Redheaded Stepchild

Dathrilla,

Thanks for your prompt reply.
Still in the same sentence he refers to his nephew as a "readheaded stepchild". The fact is that his nephew is not redheaded or his stepchild. Do you have any idea if he is comparing him to a character from any TV show or cartoon?

Thanks again
Ana

Mod Edit: These posts have been cut and moved from THIS thread.

The phrase is colloquial.

The idea is that one is more likely to harshly beat a stepchild than one's own child, and the more obvious it is from the child's appearance that the child is not yours, the more harsh those beatings will become.

So the speaker of "whip you like a redhead stepchild" would necessarily NOT be redheaded.

The actual appearance of his nephew is immaterial.

Edited: I agree. The stepchild is an outsider. Also, redheads are associated with many negative stereotypes: see this thread.

Edited again: the opposite colloquialism is fair-haired boy, who does not have to be literally blond to be called this.

It has nothing to do with a character on TV or a cartoon. See the attached website which pretty much explains it.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=red+headed+stepchild

"Redheaded stepchild" is a wry expression that misuses stepchild in a straightfaced or mock-ingenuous way, to refer to a child who does not resemble the father.

A real or literal stepchild is one thing-- a "redheaded stepchild" is born during the marriage, not brought into it by one of the spouses from a previous marriage.

The "stepchild" is redheaded for the same reason that the proverbial milkman is. Need I say more?

Does a father really beat a real stepchild more severely than he would his own children? I tend to think the contrary. Rather he singles out one of his own children to treat as a "stepchild" because he doubts his wife's fidelity and his own paternity. So the poor child takes abuse in loco uxore. And also, I guess, because the father doesn't have the stuff it takes to go after the milkman.
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