About Bas Bleu - Our Name

"A woman who affects literary tastes and behaves in a dilettante fashion: a female pedant." The term dates from c. 1775 when Mrs. Elisabeth Montagu was in the habit of holding soirees, in the French Salon tradition, at her house. Instead of card games there was "conversation" with literary men. One, Benjamin Stillingfeet, wore blue worsted stockings instead of black silk. Because of this, Admiral Boscawen nicknamed the group "The Blue Stocking Society." -A Dictionary of Literary Terms

"A learned, pedantic, or literary woman, (from the informal blue stockings worn by a leading literary figure in 18th-century London.)" -Funk and Wagnalls

"Bluestocking: bas bleu (femme savante.)" -Sisson's

"Blue-stocking (Bluestocking Society, 18th century literary clubs) (1790): a woman having intellectual or literary interests." -Webster's