ANST - Smalls

[Mark.S Harris]

I. Marc Carlson wrote:
> 
> >> As any red blooded Englishman knows, "smalls" are your underwear, not
> >>children....
> 
> If I may quote from an article in our local newsletter from last year:
> 
> Berengaria Ravencroft. "The Plain FAQS". _Nordic Saga_ (Nov. 1998)
> 
> ""Smalls" (also "Halflings") refers to children. Now it seems that this term is
> a serious point of contention since a myth has sprung up that the term "Smalls"
> is a contraction of "Small clothes" and so we are referring to our children as
> underwear. Now it is entirely true that "Smalls" is derived from "Smallclothes"
> and does mean "underwear" - but not until well into the 17th century. "Small"
> in the Middle Ages still referred to something that was inferior. "Halfling",
> it seems, also referred to children after 1794, and meant a stripling or
> something not fully grown. <snip>

Thank you Diarmuit for this wonderful bit of info. As the one that started off
this thread by suggesting to Lady Celeste that "children" might be a better 
choice than "smalls", I must now modify my original comment if not it's intent.
I see now that "smalls" might be appropriate but may be derogatory.

Can you send me contact info for Berengaria Ravencroft? Or if you are on this
list Berengaria, could you contact me? I'd like to consider your complete
article for inclusion in the Florilegium.

Lord Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net
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