The Bar Sinister is the single most famous element of Hollywood Heraldry, a diagonal line on a coat of arms that indicates illegitimacy. "Sinister" just means that the line starts at the top left, but the connotations of the word may have something to do with the trope's persistence (to avoid embarrassment, it's important to remember that "left" in heraldry means the shield-bearer's left, which is "right" from the point of view of the person looking at the coat of arms). In reality, there are three things wrong with this: Not to be confused with Bad Guy Bar. Examples of Bar Sinister include: