*adjusts Victorian Shirt* What Do You Mean? *writes Poetry With An Expensive Fountain Pen* Am I Really

*adjusts Victorian shirt* What do you mean? *writes poetry with an expensive fountain pen* Am I really  *drinks Absinthe* too dramatic?! *flings herself on a 19th century chaise lounge* Don’t be ridiculous!

Why can’t we make puff sleeves fashionable again? They look perfectly dashing. They are also perfect for dramatic flare and we all love that dramatic flare, do we not? Let’s make this happen.. Influence all to wear puff sleeves. It is time. 

Colourized fashion illustrations from the August 21st, 1869 issue of  Harper’s Bazaar

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Masterlist

I hear a lot of people ask what historical memes were and say we’ll probably never know

but one 19th-century meme has become possibly the most enduring meme in human history (to date)

“Okay.”

so, back in the 1830s, the hot trend among the Youths™ of Boston was intentionally misspelling words and abbreviating common phrases with acronyms that therefore had the wrong first letters. examples included “K.Y.” for “no use” (”know yuse”) and “O.W.” for "all right” (”oll wright”).

on March 23rd, 1839, the Boston Morning Post got in on the joke with “O.K.” for “all correct” (”oll korrect”). Martin Van Buren picked it up as part of his campaign, it was propelled into the national spotlight, and the rest is history

that’s right

the word “okay” is a Victorian meme

imagine if the newspaper had printed “O.W.” instead

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