Origins of "bluestocking".
Posted by Linden on March 06, 1998 at 21:21:58:
In response to Bluestockings, written by Constanza on March 06, 1998 at 17:05:23
] I read somewhere that in the beginnings of the XIX c. there was an actual group called "The Bluestockings" or something similar that grouped ladies with intellectual pursuits and that is the origin of the word. Does anybody have more information about it? (especially why it was called the bluestockings?)
It started with an 18th century gathering of men and women who wanted to discuss more intellectual topics than who was having an affair with whom, and how fast one's horses could go.
Because it was informal, the men turned up in ordinary clothes, wearing their blue stockings rather than anything more dressy. Soon the name was given to the whole group, and then just to the women.
Anyway, that's what I read in the stuff put out by my (Australian) university students union, which has a Bluestocking Week every year to celebrate women in education.
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