Bend Sinister
One popular misconception is that a bend sinister is a dishonourable charge denoting illegitimacy. This erroneous belief may stem from the supposed use of a baton sinister (not a bend sinister) to denote illegitimacy among British Royal Arms (though this denotes bastardy without any suggestion of dishonour.)
Read more about this topic: Abatement (heraldry)
Famous quotes containing the words bend and/or sinister:
“I bend my body to the spade
Or grope with a dirty hand.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Both of us felt more anxiety about the South—about the colored people especially—than about anything else sinister in the result. My hope of a sound currency will somehow be realized; civil service reform will be delayed; but the great injury is in the South. There the Amendments will be nullified, disorder will continue, prosperity to both whites and colored people will be pushed off for years.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)