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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.<br>
<br>
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):<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - Absence of stretch marks.<br>
<br>
Your turn, Andrew!<br>
<br>
Jean-Joseph<br>
______________________________<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - A young, good cook.<br>
From Hutch. No points.<br>
Elliott: I can see that this would be any kind of mother's blessing,
but why particularly a stepmother's?
<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - A meal of wild mushrooms.<br>
From David. Correct guess 2 = 2 points.<br>
Elliott: I sense a dark meaning behind the fair veil.
<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - A child significantly younger than all
of its siblings. <br>
From Jim. Matthew 2, Nicolas 1, Andrew 1, correct guess 2 = 6
points.<br>
Elliott: So that when the mother dies, that child will be able to
help the stepmother raise subsequent children?
<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - A callus or corn on the dorsal side of
fingers or toes.<br>
From Andrew. Ranjit 2, David 1, Matthew 1, Pierre 1, correct guess
2 = 7 points.<br>
Elliott: Why stepmother's, though, and not maternal uncle's?
<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - 1) A hangnail, 2) Queen Anne's lace (<i>Anthriscus
sylvestris</i>).<br>
From web sources (i.e. the supposedly real definition). David 2,
Nicolas 2, Andrew 2, Jim 2 = 8 points.<br>
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 <br>
kex (2013-07).<br>
Elliott: Admirable disjunctive category, but what's it got to do
with stepmothers?<br>
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.<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - Colloquial phrase meaning "all of the
benefits without the difficult parts".<br>
From Matthew. No points.<br>
Elliott: Moving into an already-populated household where you
replace a dead person sounds pretty difficult to me....
<br>
<br>
Stepmother's Blessing - n. - A patented grafted strawberry combining
disease-tolerant rootstock with long-bearing crown. No points.<br>
From Ranjit.<br>
Elliott: Could be a graft of Stepford Wife onto Mother's Blessing, I
suppose.
<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - (Perl) The act of blessing an object
into a class other than that of its original constructor. <br>
From Elliott. Ranjit 1, Jim 1, Pierre 2 = 4 points.<br>
Matthew: honorable mention, but I think someone in this group would
have heard of it if it were from perl.<br>
Nicolas: Larry Wall seems like he would use a term like this.<br>
Jim: 1 point for the gutsiness of bucking the evidently-strong tide
that wanted this to be an old folk-phrase.<br>
Pierre: Two points for Perl diving.<br>
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''.
<br>
<br>
stepmother's blessing - n. - A plant, <i>Plantago echinosa</i>,
introduced to New Zealand as sheep fodder, but which turned out to
be a noxious weed.<br>
From Pierre. No points.<br>
Elliott: Why stepmother? Why blessing?
<br>
<br>
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.<br>
From Nicolas. Elliott 2, correct guess 2 = 4 points.<br>
Elliott: This story at least hangs together and makes some sense.
For once, I'm going to give two points for plausibility.
<br>
<br>
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. <br>
From Linda. Elliott 1 = 1 point.<br>
Elliott: Ahhh, unexpected kindness, like a Samaritan's Blessing.
One point for unexpectedness.
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