Such women are stereotyped as being frumpy and the reference to blue stockings refers to the time when woolen worsted stockings were informal dress, as compared with formal, fashionable black silk stockings.

The term originated with the Blue Stockings Society – a literary society founded by Elizabeth Montagu in the 1750s. This provoked derogatory usage in the late 18th century, specifically in reference to women — previously the term had referred to learned people of both sexes.

…thank you Marina for your positive offerings :smile:
:razz: Smerds (sing. smerd; in Russian: pl. смерды, sing. смерд ) were feudal-dependent peasants in Russia and some other Slavic countries… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smerd [ARK] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss