Freak Lord OfColour

My mother’s first language is Spanish, so sometimes when I talk to her in English, she’ll forget a word or two, but not a problem: she’ll just create new words, words no one else was brave enough to use. She took my little cousins to the mall once and this is what she told me when she got back. She was like “it was so cute, i took the kids on one of those… um… El Horse Tornado or whatever, you know what it is.” I’m sorry, El Horse Tornado? I’m gonna need you to elaborate. She was like “you know what I’m talking about, you put that attitude down. You put it down.” Okay, putting it down, sorry. She said “don’t try me, I’ll kick your ass.” And I was like “you don’t need to kick my ass. Just put me in a Horse Tornado I’ll be terrified.” “You think you’re funny?” “Mum how would you react if someone said that to you in Spanish? ¡Tornado de caballos! That sounds horrifying.” She was like “ok that’s pretty funny”.

The duel was between Viennese royal Princess Pauline von Metternich and the Russian-born Countess Anastasia Kielmansegg.

They agreed to a duel in the summer of 1892 after a dispute over how the upcoming event -the Vienna Musical Theatrical Exhibition- would be decorated, on which they vehemently disagreed on flower arrangements.

It’s been dubbed the first ‘emancipated duel’ as there were no men present. Two women played mediators to the duelists, the third was standing medic Baroness Lubinska.

It was Baroness Lubinska, a female medic from Warsaw, who suggested they remove their top garments as a safety precaution! She explained that when stabbed by a sword, small bits of clothing could enter the wound, making it more difficult to clean and putting one at higher risk of sepsis/infection even with minor injuries. Thus, the topless duel was born.

The conclusion? The Paul Mall Gazette (August 23, 1892) wrote:

cat: does the prrrrp noise

me:

https://youtu.be/iA8yVDohZ-4

The Victorians did not invent beetlewing art. This species of beetle is indigenous to South and South East Asia where beetle wing art actually originated. Thailand, India, Myanmar, China, and Japan all practiced beetlewing art before the Victorians. Most notably, they have been used for centuries in clothing and art in the Thai royal court. Queen Sirikit has promoted beetlewing art in an effort to revive Thailand’s art and cultural history. Queen Sirikit has also forbidden the harvesting of the wing casings prior to the beetle’s death to protect them.

Unfortunately, it is hard to find old Thai art online but here are a couple of examples.

(Date and artist unknown. Thailand.)