35 Famous paintings

Discussion in 'Art & Culture' started by cluelusshusbund, Mar 26, 2017.

  1. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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  3. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    For those of us who are not British, "birds" are little feathered creatures - "busty birds" evokes some interesting mental pictures.
     
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  5. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Wild Turkey, not Jack Daniels.
     
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  7. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    Interestingly I found this description of the usage, taken from Dictionary Central: "From c. 1300 bird was used for ‘girl’, but this was probably owing to confusion with another similar middle English word, burde, which also meant ‘young woman’. The usage crops up from time to time in later centuries, clearly as an independent metaphorical application, but there does not really seem to be an unbroken chain of occurrences leading up to the sudden explosion in the use of bird for ‘young woman’ in the 20th century.

    I had been aware of "burde" and always thought that was where it came from. But it seems this may not be so. Another myth exploded.

    But yes a "bird" in British English slang is a young woman, usually a not unattractive one.

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