bluestocking

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The Word of the Day for January 13 is:

bluestocking   \BLOO-stah-king\   noun 
     : a woman having intellectual or literary interests 

Example sentence:
     Now that Aunt Sarah has retired from teaching college English, she 
fulfills the role of bluestocking by holding literary teas for students at her 
home.

Did you know? 
     In mid-18th century England, a group of ladies decided to replace evenings 
of card playing and idle chatter with "conversation parties," inviting 
illustrious men of letters to discuss literary and intellectual topics with 
them. One regular guest was scholar-botanist Benjamin Stillingfleet. His 
hostesses willingly overlooked his cheap blue worsted stockings (a type 
disdained by the elite) in order to have the benefit of his lively 
conversation. Those who considered it inappropriate for women to aspire to 
learning derisively called the group the "Blue Stocking Society." The women who 
were the original bluestockings rose above the attempted put-down and adopted 
the epithet as a name for members of their society.





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