# "Beat you like a redheaded step-child"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 16, 1999, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117 "1999-06-16T20:50:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/1 "1999-06-16T20:50:00Z")

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What’s so beatable about a redheaded step-child? I understand that step-children are supposed to be treated roughly (at least in fairy tales), but what does hair color have to do with it?

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/2 "1999-06-16T21:33:00Z")

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Presumably because they are less common, or maybe even strange (in some parts of the world.) I’ve heard that cats will kill their own kittens if they are born with blue eyes.

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.  
– Henry David Thoreau

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/3 "1999-06-16T21:34:00Z")

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Without going into recessive & dominant genes (because I don’t know that much about them), I believe the phrase just means that you would 1.) be callous or unkind to a creation that isn’t yours and 2.) you’d be sorely vexed by your mate mating with someone else and take your anger out on the result of that union.

I started out as a redhead, went to straw-colored blonde and now have generic, boring brown hair (all naturally…no use of dyes).

People still beat me on a regular basis.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/4 "1999-06-16T21:35:00Z")

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Wait, I just thought of a better reason. Redheads have a reputation for being tempermental and sassy. Maybe a redheaded step-child would be one that talks back or acts disrespectfully.

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.  
– Henry David Thoreau

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/5 "1999-06-16T21:46:00Z")

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I know this is off-topic but…

Cessandra, I’m wondering what kind of cats you are referring to, since all of the kittens I have seen have had blue eyes when they first opened them. This is not to say that no green-eyed (or brown-eyed, etc.) have ever been born, merely that with your common house cat blue eyes at birth is not at all less common than another color.

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“It is more from carelessness about the truth than from intentional lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.”  
-Samuel Johnson

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/6 "1999-06-16T21:54:00Z")

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This is off the topic of the OP but a.) kittens are born with their eyes closed and don’t open them at all until they’re at least 2 weeks old; and b.) when they do finally open their eyes, almost all kittens have blue eyes. They darken and turn greenish or whatever as the kitten grows.

Gr8Kat\<–has enjoyed the company of many a kitten in her lifetime 🙂

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“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy

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**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/7 "1999-06-16T21:56:00Z")

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It was once explianed to me that in some areas of the world redheads were considered evil…

or it could be a reflection on English Irish relations problems.

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To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/8 "1999-06-16T21:56:00Z")

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Aaaah! Missouri beat me to it! Good show 🙂

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“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy

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**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/9 "1999-06-16T21:56:00Z")

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It was once explianed to me that in some areas of the world redheads were considered evil…

or it could be a reflection on English Irish relations problems.

* * *

To deal with men by force is as impractical as to deal with nature by persuasion.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 1999, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/10 "1999-06-16T23:47:00Z")

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::hands on hips, tapping foot::

Now look, you guys! No dissin’ redheads!

🙂

-Melin

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I’m a woman phenomenally  
Phenomenal woman  
That’s me  
(Maya Angelou)

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/11 "1999-06-17T00:39:00Z")

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Wouldn’t never diss a redhead! Would rather kiss 'em, caress 'em, stroke their hair, make sweet passionate love to 'em all night long…

_zzz…snort_ sorry, was I asleep? Hope I didn’t say anything embarrassing :o

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Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/12 "1999-06-17T00:42:00Z")

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Didn’t the ancient Egyptians sacrifice redheaded children to the gods?

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/13 "1999-06-17T00:51:00Z")

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I’ve got no problem with redheaded women! _The Quiet Man_, _The Little Mermaid_, and _Titanic_ are among my favorite movies. Anyone notice a pattern here?

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/14 "1999-06-17T01:40:00Z")

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\>\>It was once explianed to me that in some areas of the world redheads were considered evil…\<\<

True…that they were considered so (sorry, Melin). I know this, because in Elizabethan performances of The Merchant of Venice, the actor playing Shylock wore a red wig. Jews are in league with the devil, right? Most people of Shakespeare’s England had never met a Jew. Redheads were supposed to be some kind of hellspawn. There’s a line somwhere in Shakespeare about redheads needing especially good dowries.

## I have yet to meet a redheaded Jew. Not that I wouldn’t consider is a credit to my people, Melin.

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–Rowan  
Shopping is still cheaper than therapy. --my Aunt Franny

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/15 "1999-06-17T03:08:00Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Cessandra, I’m wondering what kind of cats you are referring to, since all of the kittens I have seen have had blue eyes when they first opened them. This is not to say that no green-eyed (or brown-eyed, etc.) have ever been born, merely that with your common house cat blue eyes at birth is not at all less common than another color.

Maybe I’m wrong about that. It was told to me by my grandmother in reference to her cat. Maybe it was that Sissy (her real name is Persistence, because she wouldn’t go away) is cross-eyed, not blue-eyed (she’s actually both.)  
Then again, all of the cats that I’ve ever seen (except Sissy) have had yellow-green eyes, not blue or any other colour.

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The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.  
– Henry David Thoreau

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/16 "1999-06-17T03:27:00Z")

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## Cain (the guy who killed Abel) was supposedly a redhead. Since Cain killed his brother-he was considered evil. Therefore, red haired people were once feared to be evil because of Cain- or at least that’s what I was taught.

“I’m not dumb. I just have a command of thoroughly useless information.”  
– Calvin and Hobbes

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/17 "1999-06-17T04:31:00Z")

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Umm… Egyptology is a secret passion of mine (in my BBS days, I was known as Anubis), but I have never ever heard that Egyptians sacrificed red headed children. In fact, since they’re Middle Eastern, I’ve never heard of them _having_ red headed children. Do you have a cite?

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“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/18 "1999-06-17T13:08:00Z")

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Rowan sez:

> [@](#):
>
> I have yet to meet a redheaded Jew.

I’ve known a couple redheaded Jewish women in the past couple of years, Rowan, and it’s an irresistible combination with me. They weren’t dye jobs, either, this was the real thing. Learning Yiddish wasn’t good enough for 'em, though 😉

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Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/19 "1999-06-17T13:57:00Z")

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Maybe it’s because the greatest concentration of redheads is in Ireland, and we ALL know that it’s historically been considered great fun to beat up on the Irish…

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Live a Lush Life  
Da Chef

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**Post date:** [June 17, 1999, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/20 "1999-06-17T15:51:00Z")

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“God made whiskey so the Irish wouldn’t rule the world.”

-Melin

“Know why gentlemen prefer blondes? There aren’t enough redheads to go around!”

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