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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   2356 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 26, 2026

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A 1909 dictionary of Victorian slang agrees, "by our Lord" (blood) "by our Lady (bloody), including a mention of a "blady hell" having been found in 18th century literature.

Of course, it also includes "birdofreedomsaurin" as a legitimate word, so...

Birdofreedomsaurin (Amer.). Birdof- freedom soaring. A jocular mode of describing the altitude of the American eagle. Used mildly in England to deprecate any chance American extreme expression of patriotism.

”I think that Prince Louis Napoleon was over-dressed. I know that in his green or purple stock (I forget which) he wore an immense breastpin representing an eagle in diamonds, not the eagle with displayed wings, that is, the American ' birdofreedomsaurin ' — but an aquiline presentment with the wings closed — the eagle of Imperial sway.”

That’s very funny. I guess it’s a play on the dinosaurs being named around this time, like stegosaurus?

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