Sunday, September 16, 2012

Bat to the Bone



Long of tooth, he's a drooling invader
Ever youthful, yet ghoulish night-shader
From your jugular vein
He will suckle and drain
And then--streuth!--he flies home using radar.

David Cairns

The Sorrows of Satan (D. W. Griffith, 1926). Limerick Lexicon: 1. streuth. Exclamation of shock. Australian slang. "You mean you stole 1 loaf of bread and now you are being shipped to Australia? Streuth!"

3 comments:

surly hack said...

Cairns does it again--first time use of "streuth" on Limerwrecks.

D Cairns said...

A conflation of "God's truth!" just as "Blimey!" is a conflation of "God blind me!"

surly hack said...

"Gorblimey" gives it away.