[MR] Were "Smalls" Children or "unmentionables"?

[Jewel]

>From what I understand, the term "smalls" was first coined as meaning children by Anne McCaffrey in her Pern series of books (please correct me if I got the wrong author, it may have been Mercedes Lackey?) It is incorrect for medieval settings, and it makes a LOT of people cringe. In the SCA, smalls tend to mean undergarments, and children are either children or urchins (but this causes offense to some parents, because 'urchin' is technically a child who lives on the street and makes mischief).

On a side note, sometimes children ARE unmentionables...*snicker*

Vivats the Dream,
Julienne fille Gaspard, mka Jewel
Scribe of Atlantia

Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:38:45 -0500
From: jbrmm266 at aol.com
Subject: [MR] Were "Smalls" Children or "unmentionables"?

There was some discussion a while ago about the usage "smalls."  Some used it to refer to children, while others maintain that (as a shortening of "smallclothes") it refers to what we would call underwear.
 
This site contains a rather detailed discussion of the topic.
 
 http://slumberland.org/sca/articles/smalls.html
 
For the record, I understand that "Children" is a perfectly period term. No need to use obscure or esoteric expressions for everything!
 
Your servant aye
Donal

 
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