# Fatherless daughter term? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527 "2011-03-04T22:19:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527/41 "2011-07-11T01:34:33Z")
> [@maggenpye](#): > > The wrap up at the end of the novel specifically states that Georgiana’s home was to remain at Pemberly with Lizzie and Darcy. However close Wickham got to her in Ramsgate, she’s tainted. I thought G. lived with E. & D. only because she was still so young. And I cannot believe a young woman as rich as she would be unable to make a respectable marriage. I will re-read the book and get back to you. > [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > regarding the “bastard” as an insult irrespective of actual parentage, one of the Patrick O’Brien novels portray a quarrel between Aubrey and Maturin in which Aubrey calls Maturin a bastard in addition to other opprobrious names. Aubrey later formally apologizes to Maturin on the grounds that Maturin actually is illegitimate, and so calling him that was a \*faux pas \*(Aubrey does not withdraw the other insults which are grounds for a duel). > > This is probably irrelevant to the thread because, while this story is set in the 18-teens, it was written in the 20-aughts, but O’Brien did seem to have excellent research on the social conditions that he wrote about. Does O’Brien provide references? ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527/42 "2011-07-11T01:54:13Z")
> [@j66](#): > > I thought G. lived with E. & D. only because she was still so young. And I cannot believe a young woman as rich as she would be unable to make a respectable marriage. I will re-read the book and get back to you. No need, it’s online. She had been set up with her own establishment in London, that’s how Wickham gained access. She is removed back to Pemberly and in the final wrap up, that’s where she’s staying. The nearest thing to a husband that’s mentioned is that she learns that Lizzie can be cheekier to Darcy than she can: Pemberley was now Georgiana’s home; and the attachment of the sisters was exactly what Darcy had hoped to see. They were able to love each other even as well as they intended. Georgiana had the highest opinion in the world of Elizabeth; though at first she often listened with an astonishment bordering on alarm at her lively, sportive, manner of talking to her brother. He, who had always inspired in herself a respect which almost overcame her affection, she now saw the object of open pleasantry. Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen in her way. By Elizabeth’s instructions, she began to comprehend that a woman may take liberties with her husband which a brother will not always allow in a sister more than ten years younger than himself. There are only two more paragraphs to the end of the book and she isn’t mentioned in either of them. This is later in the same final wrap up where Kitty is reeducated by her two elder sisters ‘to her material advantage’ and Mary is noted as the only sister to stay home (never marry). It’s where all the story lines are ended - Georgiana is always to be at Pemberly. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527/43 "2011-07-11T01:54:37Z")
> [@j66](#): > > I thought G. lived with E. & D. only because she was still so young. And I cannot believe a young woman as rich as she would be unable to make a respectable marriage. I will re-read the book and get back to you. I just checked the passage in question, and the exact line is “Pemberley was now Georgiana’s home; and the attachment of the sisters [Georgiana and her new sister-in-law Elizabeth] was exactly what Darcy had hoped to see.” While it’s possible to interpret this as meaning that Pemberley was going to be Georgiana’s home forever, this was never my impression. I don’t believe there’s ever any hint in the book that Georgiana is considered “ruined” by society. Not that she wouldn’t have been if people had known, but apparently Mr. Darcy managed to keep the whole affair quiet. He never told anyone about it himself except Elizabeth. IIRC there’s some suggestion that Mr. Darcy had hoped Mr. Bingley would someday marry Georgiana. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527/44 "2011-07-12T00:43:41Z")
I always thought that “bitch” came from the insult “son of a bithc”, you are a dirty dog and so is your mother. The leap to general insult for any female, calling them a dog, is obvious. Notice though it is a character insult, not a sexual behaviour one, at least the way I’ve ever heard it used. Similarly, to back the OP, I’ve never really heard someone seriously use bastard as a female insult. It seems in general use to be exclusively male. The Patrick O’Brien reference seems to point to the time when it changes? When family lines are becoming less important so it can be used as an insult, but the term still has legitimate(sorry) meaning. Sort of like saying to someone nowadays or 20 years ago, “you are _ **so** _ retarded! Oops, sorry, I see you actually are retarded.” ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527/45 "2011-07-12T05:09:26Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I just checked the passage in question, and the exact line is “Pemberley was now Georgiana’s home; and the attachment of the sisters [Georgiana and her new sister-in-law Elizabeth] was exactly what Darcy had hoped to see.” While it’s possible to interpret this as meaning that Pemberley was going to be Georgiana’s home forever, this was never my impression. > > I don’t believe there’s ever any hint in the book that Georgiana is considered “ruined” by society. Not that she wouldn’t have been if people had known, but apparently Mr. Darcy managed to keep the whole affair quiet. He never told anyone about it himself except Elizabeth. I quoted the same passage. Kitty’s future is laid out. Mary’s future is laid out. Georgiana’s future is laid out. Pemberly is now her home the end. If modern sensibility dictates that she should be able to be married that’s just modern sensibility. Austen was writing of and for her times. Georgiana is removed from her establishment in London after a scandal, she is taken to Pemberly and there is nothing _in the book_ that says any different ending for her. Georgiana is a device to show the fate that faces Lydia if she isn’t married to Wickham, nothing more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatherless-daughter-term/573527.md?page=2)