But before we do so, perhaps you'll consider that it might be you who is putting the negative spin on a word that is straightforward. Note that William the Conqueror was known in state documents as "William the Bastard."
Don’t care what William was called...it’s still a terrible label to hang on a child.
I don’t care 1 way or the other, frankly. I’m all for somehow pointing out that the parents SHOULD be EMBARRASSED.
But I do agree that in the PAST (maybe not now), “bastard” was often connoted as a bad thing on the OFFSPRING, not the parents so much. As if there was something wrong with the child (maybe by being illegitimate in bad situation, but not inherently). I think that’s where the sensitivity comes in.
This is why I thought maybe we can just attach the word to the parents instead of the child - BASTARD FATHER, etc. Also known to me as “sires”.