[Fictionary] stepmother's blessing revealed

[Jean-Joseph Cote]

Well, this turned out to be somewhat less interesting than I had hoped 
it would be.  The votes really piled up on a small number of 
definitions, which included a couple that were intriguingly similar to 
the real one (which got the most actual votes).  And one of these, 
Andrew's callus, is the winner.

Part of what happened here seems to be that people were somehow 
intimidated to varying degrees by the "stepmother" bit, in some cases 
either falling into or deliberately avoiding some kind of negative 
stereotype to such a degree that you'd almost think that "wicked 
stepmother" is a "stormy petrel".  I wasn't expecting a phrase with 
"blessing" in it to bring such implied irony.  In fact, I was almost 
surprised that nobody went for what I considered submitting myself as a 
joke definition (although Matthew was in the same vague neighborhood):
stepmother's blessing - n. - Absence of stretch marks.

Your turn, Andrew!

Jean-Joseph
______________________________

stepmother's blessing - n. - A young, good cook.
 From Hutch.  No points.
Elliott: I can see that this would be any kind of mother's blessing, but 
why particularly a stepmother's?

stepmother's blessing - n. - A meal of wild mushrooms.
 From David.  Correct guess 2 = 2 points.
Elliott: I sense a dark meaning behind the fair veil.

stepmother's blessing - n. - A child significantly younger than all of 
its siblings.
 From Jim.  Matthew 2, Nicolas 1, Andrew 1, correct guess 2 = 6 points.
Elliott: So that when the mother dies, that child will be able to help 
the stepmother raise subsequent children?

stepmother's blessing - n. - A callus or corn on the dorsal side of 
fingers or toes.
 From Andrew.  Ranjit 2, David 1, Matthew 1, Pierre 1, correct guess 2 = 
7 points.
Elliott: Why stepmother's, though, and not maternal uncle's?

stepmother's blessing - n. - 1) A hangnail, 2) Queen Anne's lace 
(/Anthriscus sylvestris/).
 From web sources (i.e. the supposedly real definition).  David 2, 
Nicolas 2, Andrew 2, Jim 2 = 8 points.
Pierre: The only Queen Anne's lace I know of is in the genus Daucus.  
[later...] I looked up Anthriscus and one of its names is mother-die. It 
is in Apiaceae, along with the carrot. It's also called keck, which is 
probably a variant of
kex (2013-07).
Elliott: Admirable disjunctive category, but what's it got to do with 
stepmothers?
Editor's commentary: The hangnail definition may be a particularly 
Lancashire colloquialism, though it has spread from there.  I wasn't 
able to find any decent guesses as to the etymology.  I have to wonder 
if it might be a cognate of the French "blesser", meaning "to wound".  
If so, I'm undecided as to whether this would be a wound that a 
stepmother would be likely to inflict, or a wound that a stepmother 
would be likely to suffer from, or why.  As for the plant, it is also 
called mother-die, reportedly from the belief that if you bring it into 
the house, it will attract snakes, which will then fatally bite your 
mother (creating an opening for a stepmother).  There is some 
speculation that this may be something told to children in order to 
discourage them from picking this plant, since it causes a mess when the 
numerous tiny petals fall off.  Note, however, that this all happens 
prior to the arrival of the stepmother, and no malice is attributed to 
her, she just inherits a wonderful family.

stepmother's blessing - n. - Colloquial phrase meaning "all of the 
benefits without the difficult parts".
 From Matthew.  No points.
Elliott: Moving into an already-populated household where you replace a 
dead person sounds pretty difficult to me....

Stepmother's Blessing - n. - A patented grafted strawberry combining 
disease-tolerant rootstock with long-bearing crown.  No points.
 From Ranjit.
Elliott: Could be a graft of Stepford Wife onto Mother's Blessing, I 
suppose.

stepmother's blessing - n. - (Perl)  The act of blessing an object into 
a class other than that of its original constructor.
 From Elliott.  Ranjit 1, Jim 1, Pierre 2 = 4 points.
Matthew: honorable mention, but I think someone in this group would have 
heard of it if it were from perl.
Nicolas: Larry Wall seems like he would use a term like this.
Jim: 1 point for the gutsiness of bucking the evidently-strong tide that 
wanted this to be an old folk-phrase.
Pierre: Two points for Perl diving.
Elliott: An attempt to avoid fairy-tale stepmother stereotypes without 
losing the connection to stepmothers altogether.  It would be more 
appropriate for ``Missionary's Blessing''.

stepmother's blessing - n. - A plant, /Plantago echinosa/, introduced to 
New Zealand as sheep fodder, but which turned out to be a noxious weed.
 From Pierre.  No points.
Elliott: Why stepmother?  Why blessing?

stepmother's blessing - n. - In Bavaria and other regions of southern 
Germany, a rose bush or other flowering shrub planted on the grave of a 
woman who died in childbirth.
 From Nicolas.  Elliott 2, correct guess 2 = 4 points.
Elliott: This story at least hangs together and makes some sense. For 
once, I'm going to give two points for plausibility.

stepmother's blessing - n. - When a stepmother stops being afraid of 
taking care of children not her own by birth and decides to love them, 
that is a blessing indeed.  With so many mythologically and 
psychologically derogatory messages about wicked stepmothers, and even 
taboos against mothers-in-law, a stepmother's blessing is a healing and 
nurturing action when you might be expecting the opposite.
 From Linda.  Elliott 1 = 1 point.
Elliott: Ahhh, unexpected kindness, like a Samaritan's Blessing. One 
point for unexpectedness.
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