Reappropriation of Bastard

Hello all, and once again thank you for coming to my blog.

This week we are seeking to look at reappropriation of words, and essentially how words and meanings evolve and change over time. Because of this reality, there are consequences that are associated with saying a word that once meant one thing--maybe not negative--but recently or contemporarily the word has a different connotation that may be offensive to certain people. For this week I am choosing the word Bastard. As we will find out though, this is a fun word to study and analyze because there is a rich history of the term, as well as multiple meanings.

I chose to use bastard for a number of different reason. First of all, I was shocked to see how old it was and how it has changed meaning over time. Especially in modern culture, bastard is definitely a derogatory term and I know it was overused by friends and individuals I have met in my lifetime.

Let's first start with entomology, that is the history, of the term bastard. According the entomology dictionary, the word bastard comes from the 11th century. As the dictionary states its original meaning was an "'acknowledged child of a nobleman by a woman other than his wife,' probably from fils de bast 'packsaddle son,' meaning a child conceived on an improvised bed (saddles often doubled as beds while traveling)" (Online Etymology Dictionary) As we move to the 13th century It meant "illegitimate child." While these differences are subtle, they totally change the meaning of at least part and correct application of the word. However, we could go even farther and say that a bastard is not a human being. In fact, that's what it is considered outside the politically correct urban centers throughout the world. In Australia it means male dog. Now we can begin to see all of the loaded assumptions that could go with this word if it were used.

Figuratively speaking, bastard has always meant "not pure or genuine" which is already a harsh word when speaking to a person. So the previous connotations of the word were deviant in the sense that back in history bloodlines and lineage was incredibly important to how you were viewed and your status in society, so to be called illegitimate or birthed from an arrangement outside the traditional husband and wife arrangement.

As we look at modern culture today, one could argue that the word hasn't really changed for centuries. While that may be true when discovering how dictionaries, academic authorities, etc. define and view the word, it is certainly not how members of society view the word. I remember when I was in middle school kids would call each other bastards all the time, when really they just meant he/she was being an asshole, smart ass, or deceptive individual. However, this is key to note because as we grow up around our peers, we are socialized by them and we help socialize them. This socializing influence dictates how people will view language, morals, rights, and wrongs until and if they choose to liberate their minds through education and knowledge.

For example, this individual's video has absolutely no purpose, but he begins by asking the question, "what exactly is a bastard" the video proceeds and he makes modern, incorrect applications to the word bastard.



However, the underlying social constructions of using the word bastard as an insult, which is primarily the case are huge. Although the one insulting may not know it, he is calling the insultee a fatherless, illegitimate, impure, ingenuine, or lastly a male dog--if you take all of the meanings I have discussed in this post. Next, very few terms can mean something human and not.

According to Duhaime.org, a bastard is "An illegitimate child, born in a relationship between two persons that are not married (ie. not in wedlock) or who are not married at the time of the child’s birth." Originally speaking that was a huge deal, since being born out of wedlock was the quickest way to lose your inheritance, and it was often the only way to get land (Duhaime.org). That being said, "Bastards were of such a lower caste in medieval England that Latin expressions were developed just for them, labelling them "son of nobody, sons of the people" (Duhaime.org). As you can see, back then they took a much more literal meaning to the word. Even though modern society sees a lot more births before marriage--it is still certainly considered deviant by society to "do it in the wrong order" as I once heard a mother say to her daughter. Society likes graduating, then college, then marriage, and then children. Based on that, people who are defined as bastards can still be ostracized if it is known by his/her peers. The benefit to this label vs. other labels is that it is not worn on their sleeve like other deviant labels have to be.

As I was browsing online I really wasn't able to find communities where people who identify as bastards try and reclaim the correct use of the word. Once again though, this is no surprise to me, although it is considered deviant, there is no quick way to tell if someone is a bastard so it largely goes unrecognized. Next, since it was not their choice to be born a bastard, they likely identify to much different labels, if any at all, that were at least chosen by them. As we discussed in class the second week of the semester, a large part of being deviant or labeled deviant comes from the ability of others to spot your "deviant stamp" - or "A" in the case of the Scarlet Letter.

wordcount: 897

Citations:

"Bastard Definition:." Duhaime Legal Dictionary. Duhaime. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. .

"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. .

Google images: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=DCvkVrpxagw5AM:&imgrefurl=http://garynuke.homestead.com/lostpets.html&docid=cD1PxgvgAgE3GM&imgurl=http://garynuke.homestead.com/lostpets/A_Red_Male_Dog.jpg&w=800&h=679&ei=lKZKT_DrDeajiALgqojbDQ&zoom=1

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=OJfomsaVvXaq7M:&imgrefurl=http://www.webwonks.org/Marathon/BastardChild.html&docid=Vx-zQKXG4ouiEM&imgurl=http://www.webwonks.org/Marathon/Images/BastardChild.jpg&w=409&h=276&ei=uaZKT-e8IufViAL8gZmeAg&zoom=1

Thio, Alex, and Thomas C. Calhoun. Readings in Deviant Behavior. 6th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Print.