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THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

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The 'Possum said: "I'm great‐‐behold,<br />

My tail is lithe and bald and cold!"<br />

An Oyster fried was understood<br />

To say: "I'm great because I'm good!"<br />

Each reckons greatness to consist<br />

In that in which he heads the list,<br />

And Vierick thinks he tops his class<br />

Because he is the greatest ass.<br />

Arion Spurl Doke<br />

<strong>Ambrose</strong> <strong>Bierce</strong> The Devil’s Dictionary<br />

GUILLOTINE, n. A machine which makes a Frenchman shrug his shoulders<br />

with good reason.<br />

In his great work on _Divergent Lines of Racial Evolution_, the<br />

learned Professor Brayfugle argues from the prevalence of this gesture<br />

‐‐the shrug‐‐among Frenchmen, that they are descended from turtles<br />

and it is simply a survival of the habit of retracing the head inside<br />

the shell. It is with reluctance that I differ with so eminent an<br />

authority, but in my judgment (as more elaborately set forth and<br />

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