# "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:** 13\
**Page:** 2

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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 17, 1999, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/21 "1999-06-17T16:46:00Z")

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I have no evidence other than anecdotal for this but I had always heard/thought that the child’s red hair is a constant and obvious reminder that the child isn’t yours (By “yours” I mean anyone handing out the beatdown) hence you’re more likely to focus on them when looking for an outlet.

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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 18, 1999, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/22 "1999-06-18T05:56:00Z")

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Rowan,

You’ve never met a red-headed Jew? Here’s my quick list:

My grandfather  
His sister (Rose, natch)  
His daughter (my aunt, not my mother)  
A high-school friend (flaming carrot top, freckles, the whole nine yards)

I have isolated red hairs on the top of my head and more in my beard (and green eyes). My kids are reddish blond (although my wife was blond as a child and now has brown hair, so the kids may end up as light brunettes).

My sense is that it’s not all that uncommon, but my family may skew my perception 🙂

Best,  
Rick

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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 17, 1999, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/23 "1999-06-17T18:55:00Z")

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Gr8Kat:

No, I don’t have a site (looks down in shame). I, uhm, think I read it in an Anne Rice novel . . . not the best source for accurate history, I know. I was sort of hoping that someone else might know if this was true.

Mea culpa.

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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 17, 1999, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/24 "1999-06-17T19:16:00Z")

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I used that saying in front of my dad once, and I thought he was going to pass out. Apparently, where he grew up (Arkansas and Oklahoma), it was a reference to how well red hair/freckle genes show up in an African/European mixed blood kid.

Or, in other words, if someone of African ancestry has a child by someone of European ancestry, red hair and freckles show through very often. So, any step-parent of said child not only has a reminder that the kid isn’t theirs, but also that the kid has a white parents out there . . .

He went on to name a whole bunch of African-Americans who have reddish hair and freckles, and of _course_ I’m drawing a blank right now.

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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 17, 1999, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/25 "1999-06-17T21:45:00Z")

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Rowan writes:

> [@](#):
>
> I know this [that redheads were once considered evil], because in Elizabethan performances of The Merchant of Venice, the actor playing Shylock wore a red wig.

Wait. This was the feeling in _Elizabethan_ England? Something wrong there…

btw, I do know one Jewish woman with SPECTACULAR red hair.  
(And a family of Arabs, half of whom are blonde; unusual, but not impossible).

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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 17, 1999, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/26 "1999-06-17T22:00:00Z")

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\>\>Rowan,

You’ve never met a red-headed Jew? Here’s my quick list:  
My grandfather  
His sister (Rose, natch)  
His daughter (my aunt, not my mother)  
A high-school friend (flaming carrot top, freckles, the whole nine yards)

I have isolated red hairs on the top of my head and more in my beard (and green eyes). My kids are reddish blond (although my  
wife was blond as a child and now has brown hair, so the kids may end up as light brunettes).

My sense is that it’s not all that uncommon, but my family may skew my perception.\<\<

It probably isn’t that uncommon. Actually, my cousin Cassie’s daughter Haddie has kind of lightish hair, which is sort of unusual, because Cassie has black hair (so do I), and her husband is Ethiopian (Jew).

I just couldn’t think of a red-headed Jew I knew off-hand.

Your list goes to prove what I’ve said many times: there is no one way to LOOK Jewish. My point, however, in regard to not knowing any red-headed Jews had more to do with the improbability of the red-head=Jew thing being based on real experience.

\>\>Rowan writes:

[

[quote: I know this [that redheads were once considered evil]  
, because in Elizabethan performances of The Merchant of  
Venice, the actor playing Shylock wore a red wig.]]

Wait. This was the feeling in Elizabethan England? Something wrong there…\<\<

## Well, that was my point. Most Elizabethan Englishmen had never met a Jew, since all of them had been chased out a long time before.

* * *

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

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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 17, 1999, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/27 "1999-06-17T22:49:00Z")

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- I heard it the way Mojo says: If mommy don’t have red hair, and daddy don’t have red hair, and baby is born with red hair, there’s some explaining to do. . . - MC

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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 18, 1999, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/28 "1999-06-18T00:20:00Z")

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what’s all this talk about step-child. i just beat anybody with red hair.

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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 18, 1999, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/29 "1999-06-18T02:06:00Z")

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Rowan, dear? What color hair did Elizabeth I have?

-Melin

* * *

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

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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 18, 1999, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/30 "1999-06-18T02:08:00Z")

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\>\>Rowan, dear? What color hair did Elizabeth I have? \<\< -Melin

## I never said it made sense, Melinele.

* * *

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

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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 18, 1999, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/31 "1999-06-18T05:03:00Z")

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Hey Rowan, you got a cite for that? I’d be interested in reading it myself. I know that you are as avid a fan of that period of history as I am, but I confess I frankly thought that, for a moment, you had confused a time period or something. I’ve never heard that before, and I thought I was rather well read both on Elizabethan times and Shakespeare. However, since you are obviously certain of what you say, I can’t doubt you, and you’ve picqued my curiosity! \<g\> Thanks!

What does “ele” at the end of a name mean?

-Melin

* * *

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

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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 18, 1999, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/32 "1999-06-18T08:38:00Z")

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phouka said:

> [@](#):
>
> I used that saying in front of my dad once, and I thought he was going to pass out. Apparently, where he grew up (Arkansas and Oklahoma), it was a reference to how well red hair/freckle genes show up in an African/European mixed blood kid.
> 
> Or, in other words, if someone of African ancestry has a child by someone of European ancestry, red hair and freckles show through very often. So, any step-parent of said child not only has a reminder that the kid isn’t theirs, but also that the kid has a white parents out there . . .
> 
> He went on to name a whole bunch of African-Americans who have reddish hair and freckles, and of _course_ I’m drawing a blank right now.

This one ranks the lowest on my bullshit meter, so I say its right. Case closed!

* * *

The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is  
yours to draw…

Omniscient; BAG

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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 18, 1999, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-you-like-a-redheaded-step-child/1117/33 "1999-06-18T13:36:00Z")

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\>\>Hey Rowan, you got a cite for that? I’d be interested in reading it myself. I know that you are as avid a fan of that period of history as I am, but I confess I frankly thought that, for a moment, you had confused a time period or something. I’ve never heard that before, and I thought I was rather well read both on Elizabethan times and Shakespeare. However, since you are obviously certain of what you say, I can’t doubt you, and you’ve picqued my curiosity! Thanks!\<\< --Melin

The last time I clearly remember hearing it was about eight years ago, in a lecture on anti-Semitism and The Merchant of Venice, by a Prof. Wertheim, at Indiana University. This guy is a Lit Ph.d, and a Jew, who teaches classes like “The Jew in (fill in the period) Literature.” He once taught a class on Wendy Wasserstein and Woody Allen. I don’t have a written cite; my brother knows Dr. W.'s son, though. Maybe I can dig one up.

\>\>What does “ele” at the end of a name mean?\<\<

Dear, darling. It’s a pet form. My Aunt Chana calls me “Mein Tiere Rivekele.”

* * *

* * *

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

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