The wrong side of the blanket

Question

Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

"Sathyaish" (Email Removed) schrieb im Newsbeitrag
[nq:1]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
Extensive Googling reveals nothing much. It seems an awful lot of people know the expression, but not many know where it comes from.

The best I can come up with (and I'm not convinced) is that either such babies were conceived in haste, for fear of being discovered, on top of the blankets instead of beneath them in a relaxed atmosphere (there seems to be an obvious flaw in that hypothesis); or that they had to be born in secret somewhere other than the marriage bed.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
Wasn't this due to the sharing of rooms/beds by rasing a blanket between parties to act as a wall. Obviously not a very secure wall.

Skraedder

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
A guess - there's a mental picture of a married couple sleeping together under a blanket. Then they sometimes have children. The "wrong side of the blanket" describes offspring not conforming to that picture.

john

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
I can imagine that, if a man shares a blanket with his wife, her baby is born under his blanket but his mistress's baby is born on the other side of that blanket.
However, there may be no such detailed and logical explanation. With the words "born", "wrong", and "blanket" (suggesting bed and thus ***), the meaning is clear.

Jerry Friedman

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
[nq:1]I can imagine that, if a man shares a blanket with his wife, her baby is born under his blanket ... detailed and logical explanation. With the words "born", "wrong", and "blanket" (suggesting bed and thus ***), the meaning is clear.[/nq]
Compare and contrast with "living over the brush" (a practice much favoured by women who were no better than they should be).

Ross Howard

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[nq:1]Compare and contrast with "living over the brush" (a practice much favoured by women who were no better than they should be).[/nq]"The besom, or broomstick wedding is now usually associated with gypsies, but at one time it seems to have been known in Wales amongst people who were not gypsies. A ***-broom was set aslant across the open door, either that of the bride's home or that of the cottage in which the couple were to live. The young man leapt over it into the house, and the girl then did the same. Care had to be taken not to touch the doorpost or the broom, or to move the latter accidentally, otherwise the ceremony was void.

It had to be performed in the presence of witnesses, and one person, chosen for his standing and importance in the community, acted as officiant. Such a marriage was considered quite valid, however strongly the clergy might condemn it. It could, however, be broken without difficulty if, during the first twelve months, the besom was replaced in the doorway, and the dissatisfied partner jumped backwards over it from the house into the open air. The same conditions applied here as at the wedding.

There had to be witnesses, and the person jumping had to avoid touching the broom or doorpost as he or she leapt. If the rite was properly performed, both parties were considered free to marry again.
They gypsy wedding was slightly different. A broom-branch was laid on the ground in the open, and the bride and groom jumped backwards and forwards over it, holding hands as they did so. A rush ring was then placed on the girl's finger, to be replaced later by a gold ring brought from the joint earnings of the couple. There was also another form in which an ordinary besom was held by the father of the bride, or of the groom, with its bushy end resting on the ground, and first the young man and then the girl leapt over it in turn.In North Wales today it is sometimes said that someone has 'jumped over the besom,' meaning that he or she has been respectably married in a church or at a registrar's office. But in some parts of Yorkshire, to say that a woman has done so means she has an illegitimate child, and to call a woman 'a besom' is an insult. Moreover, if a girl accidentally steps over a broom handle, she will be a mother before she is a wife.

Mischievous boys have been known to put brooms in places where girls would be likely to step over them without noticing. This, of course, was done as a joke, but it is probably that in the hey-day of superstition evilly-disposed persons did the same in the genuine belief that they would thus bring about the downfall of the young woman concerned."
From "Encyclopedia of Superstitions" by E. and M.A. Radford, edited and revised by Christina Hole, Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. First published in
1948.

Keith Edgerley

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"The besom, or broomstick wedding is now usually associated with gypsies, but at one time it seems to have been ... doorpost as he or she leapt. If the rite was properly performed, both parties were considered free to marry again.[/nq]
I can't see that one getting past the DDA police today.

Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Compare and contrast with "living over the brush" (a practice much favoured by women who were no better than they should be).[/nq]
[nq:1]"The besom, or broomstick wedding is now usually associated with gypsies, but at one time it seems to have been ... by E. and M.A. Radford, edited and revised by Christina Hole, Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. First published in 1948.[/nq]
The only occurrences of "***-broom" in the Google corpus are quotations of this passage, plus puns on "witch's broom" and the usual accidents ('"Fat son ***," Broom said.'). If it's a typo in the original, say for "birch broom", it's one of the best ever.

Thanks, though I'd long been curious about references to jumping over a broomstick.

Jerry Friedman

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
There used to be a custom in America called "bundling" where unmarried but enaged or courting couples shared a bed but a blanket was placed betweem them to guard against any hanky panky. An illegitmate birth was a result of someone being on the wrong side of the blanket.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Why is the phrase "the wrong side of the blanket" used to mean someone born out of marriage? What's the story about the blanket?[/nq]
There used to be a custom in rural America called "bundling" ( I bet you'll get some hits if you google that). Unmarried but engaged or courting couples shared a bed with a blanket in between to guard agains hanky panky. An illegitimate birth was caused when someone was on the wrong side of that blanket.

The wrong side of the blanket

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