Pin Money and hat-pins
Posted by The Mysterious H.C on October 08, 1997 at 18:16:45:
In response to It's a Bennet Thing, written by Ken on October 08, 1997 at 13:56:38
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I have a little discussion of what "pin money" meant in the Regencyin the notes on my "Three Sisters" page...
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] Yes, I'm sure that "pin money" would have referred to more than just pins by this time, just as the pins it once would have bought had become relatively cheap. I was poking fun at Mrs. B--it would be just like her to assume that Lizzie would be able to buy gold pins from now on (-:
Ken, I don't really understand what you're talking about, and I'm not very sure that you do either, frankly. Mrs. Bennet in P&P uses the term "pin money" with a meaning that was perfectly normal, usual, and correct for most of the 18th and 19th centuries at least -- and this includes the Regency. You might be better informed if you'd read again with attention the explanation of what "pin money" actually meant in the Regency (as opposed to idly speculating on what you think it probably should have meant, based on a brief article which, while not necessarily incorrect, seems to have jumped from the middle ages directly to 1835 in its recounting of pin-manufacturing techniques, and to have jumped from the late middle ages or the renaissance straight to the 20th century in its discussion of meaning of the term "pin money" -- and so does not necessarily have much specific applicability to the Regency).
By the way, now that we're on the topic of pins, a stereotype of old Hollywood movies about the 1890's or 1910's was the young lady who fends off an attacker by pulling a long vicious hat-pin from her hat or hair, and I've had a mild curiousity as to when these long hat-pins came in, and how big they really were....
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