5 ms·
Harvard was founded in 1636 and Yale was founded in 1701, over 150 years before the gilded age. And why is the blood of WASPs blue?
by simulate-me 5y ago
Harvard was founded in 1636 and Yale was founded in 1701, over 150 years before the gilded age. And why is the blood of WASPs blue?
- digisign 5y agoHe's talking about white aristocrats, so called blue-blood because they were fair enough to see their veins, according to legend.
- rayiner 5y agoSorry, to clarify for people who haven’t watched the show. The show is about a Gilded Age new money family in New York City trying to break into the social scene composed of affluent families who traced their ancestry in America back to the 1600s. It’s these sorts of families (who were “old money” back in the Gilded Age) who were intimately involved with the inception of Harvard and Yale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elihu_Yale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elihu_Yale
- simulate-me 5y agoSo basically this is just a completely fictional account for entertainment with maybe some historical context thrown in for dramatic flavor? What is one supposed to take away from that?
- rayiner 5y agoThe WASP elite are a completely historical group of people deeply involved with our Ivy League universities. The show is just a pop culture illustration of the point. (Though maybe not as popular as I thought.)
- mbfg 5y agohaving a sun tan, was associated with field laborers, so rich people of the time did every thing they could to retain the whitest of skin to demonstrate their richness. When you have very pale skin the veins are more easily seen which carry un-oxygenated blood back to the heart, giving a blueish hue. Of course, now the term blue blood, just means wealth that has established generational history.