setting the record straight

OOOOOOHHHH I just HATE being accused of anachronisms! :P :P :P

so, just in case anyone really wants to know:

"shag, v. To coit (with a woman): late C.18-20. Very gen. among soldiers in WW1." (Eric Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English)

"twat; in C.18, occ. twait. The female pudend: mid-C.17-20. 2. Pej. term for a fool: low: since late C. 19." (ibid)

"blonde bombshell" in use widely since 1942. It was actress Jean Harlow's nickname before that (she died in 1937):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombshell_(sex_symbol)

BRING 'EM ON.

Which REMINDS ME. The notion that "all caps for emphasis has only been around since the Internet" is terrifically self-congratulatory. Do you think we all went around WHISPERING before the Internet was invented? I will save my typewriter keyboard rant for later, but to be brief, let me just quote Miss Climpson. I don't need to quote anyone else, really, since this passage from Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers dates to 1930.

...

My dear Lord Peter—

I am sure you have been wondering what has happened to me. But at last I have NEWS! I have STORMED THE CITADEL!!! I am going to the house tonight and you may expect GREAT THINGS!!!

In haste,
Yours very sincerely,
Katharine A. Climpson
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Published on October 28, 2012 10:36
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