Recently, I heard a speaker use the expression ‘born on the wrong side of the blanket’. A friend, who was sitting beside me, asked me to explain the meaning of the expression and when I finished explaining he asked me: “Is the expression used in modern English?” My reply was: “It is an outdated expression and is not commonly used in this part of the world.”
When we say that ‘someone was born on the wrong side of the blanket’ we mean that the person was not born out of wedlock. It denotes illegitimacy. The origin of the expression is not known. There are different versions and all are based on pure guesses.
According to a source, “the allusion could be to the consequences of hurried moments of illicit sexual pleasure on the top of the blankets, whereas legitimate children are more likely to have been conceived in more leisure and with due propriety underneath them.” Or it could be such children had to be born in secret somewhere other than the marriage bed. Here is an example:
* In Alison Pierce’s family, stories of a child being born ‘on the wrong side of the blanket’, have persisted for generations.
The word ‘blanket’ is part of many other idiomatic expressions such as ‘wet blanket’, ‘blanket someone or something with something’ and ‘blanket ban’.
A ‘wet blanket’ is someone who is not enthusiastic about any idea or proposal and quells the enthusiasm of others. For example:
* Don’t discuss anything with your neighbour. He is such a wet blanket that he will discourage you a lot.
The expression ‘to blanket someone or something with something’ means to cover someone or something with something as in the following example:
* The artist blanketed the model with paints.
The expression ‘blanket ban’ means complete ban and is opposed to a partial ban. Take a look at this example:
* US-based search engine Google Inc, facing a civil lawsuit, has told a Delhi court that the blanket ban and monitoring of material would be against the right to freedom of speech guaranteed under the Indian Constitution.
— rayanal@yahoo.co.uk