As an interesting footnote to my recent anti-'gingerism' post, a workmate forwarded me this link. "Is gingerism as bad as racism?" asks BBC News.


The reader comments are entertaining, opinions ranging from "get over it!" to "it's made my life hell". My favourite, however, posits a theory for the possible origin of this curious cultural phenomenon:

Redheads are feared because they are believed in folklore to be the devil's children and have red hair because they were conceived during their mother's menstruation.A welsh proverb says "os bydd goch, fe fydd gythreulig" or "if he's redhaired then he is of the devil". Yesterday's superstition has become today's teasing.

Wikipedia appears to bear this out, at least partially.

Labels: misanthropy