red headed stepchild

a person or group treated without the favor of birthright.
the boss treats this department like his red headed stepchildren.
a child who is obviously not your own, a child who is treated worse than other children in the family
i beat him like a red headed stepchild.
with red hair being rare, a child born to non red headed parents was often -ssumed to be the child of an affair. thus was treated badly, usually in the form of beatings.
i’ll beat you like a red headed stepchild.
a term that originated out of the common mistreatment and social ostracism of redheaded individuals (gingers). a redheaded individual born into(legitamately or not), or adopted into a family of non-redheads was typically subject to physical and emotional abuse, and usually short handed when it came to financial matters in the family, such as the estate or any savings the family had acquired. today, the term can be applied to an individual or group of individuals who are outcasts, or are typically dealt the worst hand in society.
i oughta beat you like a red headed stepchild.
a stepchild might be singled out for abuse. but a red-headed stepchild (who presumably looks like his or her absent birth-parent) might be abused even more because he or she is so obviously different from the other children.
myles was the red-head step child of the family, he was never invited to the family reunions.
an unwanted, (ashamed of) child. less than desired child
mike was the red headed step child of the family, treated pretty shabbily.
applied to one who does not fit in and is shunned for the differences and/or is bullied at a high degree
by marrying his daughter, woody allen was considered to be the red-headed stepchild of hollywood.

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