I just love that he keeps on digging into the bright-red-face hole, launching straight into "little moist thing" to keep those facial capilliaries expanded.
To be fair, things can be cheap and also obscure (and therefore difficult to get ahold of). So, no, it's reasonable to specify that something is both cheap AND easy to get ahold of.
My friend used to say, "drunk as a bicycle," and I never understood until I finally asked him about it. He responded, "Have you ever seen a bicycle stand up by itself?"
@@elizabethsullivan7176got stopped by a London Bobby for being "drunk in charge of a bicycle". He let me off as I promised to push my bike the rest of the way home 😂
Or "two sheets under the wind". The "Sheet" is a Sailor's term for the rope(s) that hold and control the lower part of a ship's sail. If it's "to the wind" it means its loose, and the wind is blowing it, and the sail is flapping and out of control. THREE loose sheets is even worse, I suppose.
Get Susie Dent's book, 'Interesting Stories About Curious Words. That's where most of material you here on line comes from, including this one. There's a lot of, 'blahdee blah, well, that's probably a myth', but she's at least telling you what she was able to find.
17:57 - A cotton-gin is not a machine for harvesting cotton, and it's not necessarily large. It's a machine that separates the cotton fibers from the cotton seeds in the fluffy boll, increasing the amount of cloth that can be made from the same amount of cotton as less fiber is lost when the seeds are removed.
Grew up learning that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and that this was important to the spread of the cotton industry (and some tragic side effects of that industry). But don't think we were ever shown what it looked like or how it worked
It is said that cotton was on the wane in the South because it was so difficult and expensive to harvest. The cotton gin made it easy and fostered the growth of slavery.
@@SuprousOxide I've read sources that say that if the cotton-gin hadn't been invented, slavery would have ended sooner and without a war. The increase to the profitability of cotton-farming that resulted from the cotton-gin, they said, created a plutocracy in the South that used its vast wealth to control State's governments and bend them to its desire to preserve slavery forever.
"The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road". Too true when you consider that our verb 'walk' is related to the German word Waltz. They both originally meant to roll. Seems like the level of sobriety hasn't changed much. 😂
An "Old Fashioned" was originally just called a whisky cocktail, after the "Improved Whisky Cocktail" was invented those who wanted it made the older way started ordering it "Old Fashioned".
cocktail hobbyist here, the story I've heard about the Margarita is that it doesn't just come directly from the name, since Margarita is also the Spanish word for daisy. The Daisy was an early 'family' of cocktails that use a certain set of ratios an ingredients. Both the Brandy Daisy (an early relative of the Sidecar) and the Gin Daisy appear in recipe books more than 50 years before the Margarita, and we'll before the supposed dates of any other origin stories. The most likely origin of the name, then, is that a bartender decided to swap out the gin or brandy in their daisy for a Mexican spirit (tequila) and translated the name into Spanish accordingly!
Any form of the name Margarita, Margherita, Marguerite, Margret etc has some side meanings, since the original name comes from the Latin word for pearl, which they imported from Ancient Greek for pearl μαργαρίτης (margarī́dēs), which again got it from Persian. But in Latin it (later?) also meant daisies. Germanic languagues seem to also have imported it and folk-etymologically adapted via mer- to sea particle/kidney etc. Point is there should be a lot of similarly sounding words meaning pearl or originating in it. In modern Persian it’s still مروارید (morvārīd)
I think this is the best youtube series to come along since I bought a computer. Thank you both for your efforts behind the scenes to make these videos so very interesting.
I believe the ultimate origin of the phrase "tired and emotional" to mean "drunk" is that in the House of Commons it is not permitted to accuse a fellow MP of being drunk. To be "economical with the truth" is from a similar source, because it's also not permitted to call another MP a liar, even if they demonstrably are one.
I expected to hear mention of the word "beverage" while they discussing words such as "beer" and the Spanish word "beber" - "to drink". Surely there has to be a connection. Was it mentionedand I simply missed it!
“Shellacked” is probably because the solvent you dissolve shellac in is alcohol. Putting shellac on a surface basically means painting this solution on and letting the alcohol evaporate. I once had to use shellac primer in a bathroom that had been previously used by smokers. It locks the cigarette smell in the wall and keeps the room from smelling horrible. It turns out that breathing in alcohol fumes has the same effect as drinking the alcohol, and I was pretty “shellacked” by the time I was done.
If I remember correctly, JD is a bourbon by all the rules, but the company wanted to distinguish their product from the more famous Kentucky bourbon and so denied the designation.
Two guys break into a liquor store, and one guy picks up a bottle and asks "Is this whiskey?" the other guy without looking says, yea, but not as whisky as bank wobbery."
38:31 Interestingly, the Korean "soju" has a connection here as well. Baijiu is also called shaojiu (lit. burning liquor), giving the Japanese shochu along with soju.
As “ wormwood” came up, I’ll share this. The book of Revelation mentions wormwood: “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.” Wormwood refers to the genus Artemisia. Common Artemisia, or mugwort, is found in many areas of Russia, Ukraine, and other countries of the former USSR. It is so plentiful in one place that the place was named Wormwood, in Russian of course. The Russian word is … drum roll … Chernobyl.
@@66hss When the meltdown happened, Chernobyl was a town in USSR, which is why I referred to same. Russian, like any old language, has many words with multiple overlapping meanings. Chernobyl is often translated as wormwood or Artemisia, although it specifically applies to Artemesia Vulgaris (literally, black stalk), which is a species of wormwood. Numerous Russian and Ukrainian sources have related this curious anecdote.
I used to repair phones for a living, so I've seen the lock screens on a lot of phones, and the pictures that people put on them. Pictures of people were popular, but pictures of food and alcohol were a close second. The coin with the woman and "ale" reminded me of that!
One of my favourite observations is that, in British English, you can take almost any noun and turn it into a verb meaning to get drunk. Examples: "I was absolutely trousered last night". "I'm going out with the lads to get planked". Etc.
My grandfather grew up literally around the corner from Mencken. Well, around the corner and down a block, but it's a very short block. When he was young, my grandfather and his friends would go sit on "Old Man Mencken's" stoop until he came out and chased them away. Mencken would have been about thirty at the time. In his notebooks that were published some years ago, Mencken mentions the neighborhood kids doing that, and him going out to chase them away. I doubt he really cared, but it was expected of him, so he did it.
Menken wrote a large volume called "The American Language". He devoted almost a whole page to the use and abuse of the word engineer. He quotes a US barber describing himself as 'a trichological engineer'.
He was a Stout man who when he arrived at Port went to a pub to have to a Beer but drank too much Ale, now he is in jail hung over and not feeling fine but hair of the dog he drank a gallon of Wine and went on another bender feeling fine. Hey Rob and Jess I enjoy your videos and learn something new everytime I watch them!
@bobair2 I don't drink a lot or often, but I am quite selective in what I drink, with a preference for particular continental lagers. My one-time boss, who liked a drink, tried to imply that this indicated I had a drinking problem - he even used the 'A' word. He was taken aback when I replied, "Sir, you are both a Stout man and a Bitter man, but you can't say the same about me." Thankfully, he took it in good part. Sadly, he's no longer with us.
I tend to consider "beer" a generic term for malted hop-and-barley alcoholic beverages, and prefer to order - of the rare occasions I will drink of those beverages - by the specific variety.
H L Mencken quote If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
The story I’ve heard on the Old Fashioned is that a Louisville bartender would put bitters and simple syrup into a glass and pass it across the bar with a bottle of your choice of liquor. It became popular and other bartenders started inventing variations. Back at the original bar, patrons would ask for cocktails “the old fashioned way.” My favorite H.L. Menken quote was a reply to a letter to the editor of the ‘American Mercury’: “Madame, you may be right.”
Hearing the pronunciation of “uisgebearha” brings to mind something I’ve heard that sounds similar: a mock-Yiddish expression, "Ische ga bibble?", which was purported to mean "I should worry?" I wonder if there’s a connection there. ( the comedian Ish Kabibble, popular in the 1940s, is supposed to have based his stage name on that expression also )
Greetings from Cagayan de Oro City Mindanao Philippines, Jess and Rob. In the Philippines, the two most important things are rice and coconut products. Here in Mindanao, the most southerly part of the archipelago, and in the Visayas, the central part, Filipinos have made "tuba" since the days before the Spaniards arrived in the 1500's. Locals will climb up coconut palms, armed with a bolo (machete), and attach a container to an immature coconut, cutting it so that the coconut milk will be collected and begin to ferment. The drink is cloudy, and can be drunk soon after collecting, but becomes stronger the longer it is stored after beginning fermentation. There is a similar drink in Luzon, which is known as "lambanog". It was one of the things that the Spaniards noted when writing about the practices of the native people. Rob, when you mentioned "Beer, Wine, and Spirits", a chain of liquor stores in Australia is "BWS", which is the acronym for the above varieties of booze. I brought my BWS carry bag with me to Mindanao after my last trip to Australia. Yes, I'm Aussie. We know alcohol, especially beer. If you ever visit the Philippines, the go-to beer is San Miguel Red Horse. 6.9%. It's a corn lager. Emperador and Fundador Brandy are also popular. So is Tanduay Rum, made in the Philippines, and apparently the most popular rum in the world these days. I usually stick to Red Horse, and don't mix my drinks. I haven't sampled tuba or lambanog yet.
Really enjoyed this chat! Glad you included the Irish for whiskey - there shouldn't be a 'g' in there though. The Irish word for water is 'uisce' (ishka) with a 'c', and whiskey is 'uiscebeatha' (ishka ba-ha) - The water of life. 😄
When I was a coal miner we had a lot of words of German origin, such as firedamp and blackdamp for methane and carbon dioxide respectively. 'Snap' as a small mouthful immediately rang a bell, because the mid-shift break was 'snap time' when we'd eat our snap; i.e. food carried in a snap tin.
I love when you guys learn things you don't know! It's fun to see even experts learn new things :) Makes me feel less stupid for not knowing half of these hahaha. Really interesting episode!
Rob, for your cold, try a hot toddy before bedtime. It's a cocktail of whisky, honey, lemon juice, and hot water. Some people add ginger to the mix as well.
@@JiveDadsonthe honey and lemon would be excellent for soothing a cough, the ginger settles the stomach, and the whiskey helps you sleep, and helps a bit with the cough, too.
38:43 as a Chinese speaker you just blew my mind a little bit… btw nice pronunciation! We get weirdly happy whenever a laowai such as yourself at least put some effort into pronouncing Chinese.
Cotton Gin cleans the seeds (and maybe husks?) from the cotton. Its advent meant the choke point in American textile production was cotton harvesting, accelerating our desire for chatel slavery, which mostly benefitted the textile mills in the industrialized north
I think it's fun that the Michelin Man is actually named Bibendum. It's a contraction of "nunc est bibendum," or "now is the time to drink" - from the classical poet Horace.
Just watched the intro so far but as a Scot, interesting that whisky (or whiskey) popped up twice in the intro, as "uisge beatha" or "usquebaugh" is the original name for whsk(e)y (i.e. "water of life") and the spelling differs due to where it is produced - typically I believe Scotland (my home country), Canada and Japan (the country I live in) use whisky and the US and Ireland use whiskey. ETA: I guess Aqua Vitae could also be the answer for "water of life" and it is older so maybe they will go with that, or (more likely) mention both! So they went further and I love it, thanks so much Jess and Rob! This is one of my real pleasures!
And, to determine whether a country's spirit would be spelt with or without the "e", is whether or not the country's name has an "e" in its spelling. Ergo, in Scotland, Canada, and Japan, it is spelt whisky 🥃 😊
And just to fly the flag for the Irish..... its Uisce Beatha in Irish Gaelic , a "c" instead of a "g", just to keep the differenciation war going in spelling... even between Scots and Irish Gaelic.😄
I had been led to understand that the uisge part was cognate with the river name Ouse of which there are several in different parts of England. There is also a River Oise in France so perhaps oiseau means water water..
The use of two animals to indicate inebriation works for me. Drunk as an owl is one I have heard sometimes. I worked with captive owls and have seen them stare wide eyed at me and wobble from side to side (assessing me as a potential threat). How like a drunken person. Also, drunk as a skunk works. A skunk walks in a sort of stumping pace without doubt or apparent fear as do some drunks. Others get out of its way for good reason.
Recently a skunk decided to make its home in our apartment's garbage room. Fortunately nobody got sprayed and it left less than 2 days later out the same door it got in.😄
32:20. First off, it is spelled, “Kahlua”, a coffee flavored liqueur. There is a “cousin”, “Tia Maria”, similarly coffee flavored. Both are, to me, quite tasty as I so love my coffee!!!
17:00 - It's at least possible that the word "Juniper" got swapped round to "Juniver" by means of a "p" changing to an "f" (the reason we spell "phone" with a "ph" instead of an "f") and then the "f" changing to "v" by becoming vocalized. THEN, people started believing t that this word derived from "Juniper" had something to do with "Geneva" instead. The last step would be shortening and compacting that into "gin".
@christopherfaytvlarknsassi9013 Friends from Catalonia constantly switch between "B" and "V" in certain words, just as many Japanese appear to confuse "R" and "L". "B" and "P" are very similar, so the switch from Juniper to Juniver might make sense as a pronunciation problem. By the way "Phone" is a direct transliteration from the Greek for "voice" - "Telephone" means "Far Voice" for example - and the Greek letter "Phi" Φ φ, is always transliterated as "ph" in English. While ancient Greeks apparently did pronounce "Phi" as a hard "P", Latin introduced the "h" to show "P" plus air or breathing. This may be because the lingua franca of much of the Roman Empire was "koine" or "common" Greek which pronounced it as a "voiceless bilabial fricative" - which, while it is not used in English, sounds like a heavily emphasised "F". It seems that the Latin spelling made its way into English. Koine Greek also happens to be the language of the New Testament and this may have influenced how Greek was heard. The situation is complicated by the fact that Western Europeans "lost" the original pronunciation and came up with various systems to indicate how to read Greek. The Great Vowel Shift caused further problems. So, the original Greek word may have begun with "P", but by the time of Alexander Graham Bell, it had long been accepted as an "f" sound and spelt with a "ph". BTW Modern Greeks pronounce "Phi" as an "F". I don't know if this is an odd case of parallel evolution where the Greeks just happened to end up pronouncing it the same way as the English or whether they were influenced in any way by how other languages spoke or even how they read Greek. However, there was a similar shift from ancient Greek where "Beta" Β β, was "B" and is now pronounced "V" - as it was in Koine Greek.
I'm living in Tbilisi Georgia, NOT the US state. The Georgians are the first to ferment wine 8,000 years ago. Their word for it and the vine is ღვინო (ghvino) and it predates the Latin. But Georgia is so obscure to most Western Europeans that most of the West will stop at Latin. But any Georgian on the street will tell you that they discovered wine, that ghvino (slight gargly Frencg r in the gh sound) is their word forever, and then they will tell you that they invented toasting, and they have good evidence for it.
...and you ARE a native?! Wow! Wtf?! That is insane and you can't be joking when you said it is a difficult language! I like your alphabet. The letters are pretty. The pictures I have seen of the landscape have all been very beautiful as well. So, I suppose the language should be hard to learn because every culture has to have it's down side, right... it wouldn't be fair if everything was perfect!@@georgiancrossroads
It goes without saying that the Latin word also comes from previous words, which would be related to the Georgian word since Georgian is Indo-European. That shape to the word definitely has some interesting implications about the shape of the Indo-European word though. And if I remember correctly, the Indo-European word for vine is disputed. Ghvino seems in line with the pre-Classical pronunciation of Greek όινος [ghoinos], realizing that Greek "οι" and Latin "v" are the same sound [w]. Latin, Proto-Germanic and Proto-Celtic don't have the spirant or any evidence of it on this word, which is I think why there is a dispute. After all, the back spirant is so unstable that when it shows up linguists reasonably have a tendency to assume it's a new innovation (due to the softening of some other sound, or a prefix getting stuck to a word). But, the pre-Classical Greek having the same sound makes a persuasive argument that in this case Georgian is actually preserving an ancestral consonant. Also, wine was most definitely invented multiple times. There are at least three distinct wine making traditions, which probably all started seperately. Even animals know to seek out naturally fermented fruit, and there is a pretty compelling argument that one of the first hominin survival advantages was an increased ability to digest alcohol so we could eat fruit which was more fermented without dying. From there, once you've discovered bread (paleolithic) deliberately fermenting fruit juice is not a huge leap in logic. So, your story is probably true insofar as one particular wine-making tradition did originate 8,000 years ago in Georgia. I mean, there would need to be archaelogical evidence to be sure, but it at least seems entirely reasonable. However, keep in mind that if someone else claims wine was invented in their region they aren't necessarily lying because it almost certainly happened more than once. Of course, none of the places most famous for wine nowadays actually claim to have invented the process.
@@elizabethpate9486 There is an old, slightly racist, joke where you speak to a good friend from another nation and tell them how God once made a perfect land. Describe the landscape of their homeland in loving detail and end with "but it was too perfect . . . so God made the (insert your friend's nationality) live there." Be careful that you choose someone who is a really good friend!
23:22 I first came across a sbagliato in a bar in Milan in 2003, where it was served like a fruit punch with an aperitivo. Its a fantastic drink, but pretty lethal. I've spent the last 20+ years trying to convince bars in the UK and Canada to make them for me.
Fun fact: a watered-down daiquiri is grog, the infamous pirate's drink. Sailors of course had to drink water to stay alive, but casks of "fresh" water on long-haul ships would not be very fresh or even potable, so they would be spiked with a bit of alcohol, usually rum, to sanitize them. Scurvy was also a problem, so lime was often added to this water to supply vitamin C. And because slightly spiked and soured bad water is not very appealing, a little bit of sugar could be added as well. The resulting drink was grog. Remove the bad water and you just have rum with lime and sugar: a daiquiri.
Grog comes from grogham the material of the coat worn by the admiral who ordered that the RN rum ration be diluted with water. He was nicknamed 'Old Grogham' and the rum ration, grog which became a term for rum.
Try Jamaica's Tia Maria the next time you make espresso martinis, Rob. It's made with Jamaican coffee, which makes it The Best! Edited to add: Wormwood was used as an anthelmintic herb, hence its folk name. American bars often have many flavors of schnapps on hand besides peppermint, such as peach, root beer, hazelnut, etc etc. One night during the 80s, friends and I went to a punk club we frequented here in Detroit, Bookie's. The downstairs bar had a drinks special: 50¢ schnapps shots. I got the *Schnapsidee* of trying many of the flavors, a decision I very quickly regretted! V happy to see one of my favorite archaic slang terms for drunkenness mentioned: "spifflicated." "Very weary" is another favorite old slang term.
Here's me thinking that "al" being arabic in alcohol, algebra etc was a Terry Pratchett joke. I'd also always thought that the aguadiente / aguardente (Portuguese) was more literally "fire water".
Aguardiente in Spanish literally means "burning water" (agua ardiente) not "burned water"; so ultimately, it also means "fire water" as you mentioned for Portuguese. The Colombian version of aguardiente is a very strong anise-flavored drink so this is a very apt name. Also, although most words in Spanish come from Latin roots, there are many Arabic-derived words in Spanish that start with the "al" prefix.
About nouns: In Finnsh nouns end in a vowel or -s. So when you see word like "olut", beer, you know it's a loan word. The original Finnish word is "kalja", which now means more or less non-alcoholic brews. Except as a slang word where it means beer.
In Britain, liquor is a brewing term - meaning water when added in the (slightly later stages of the) process. In Oz Clake and James May series where they were trying to find the "Drink that Apeaks for Modern Britain" (Oz and James Drink to Britain) some years ago, they visit a microbrwery where they are take through the process and taught the vocabulary - from copper, tun, wort, to sparge and liquor.
6:40 - An ancient Latin stereotype alleging rampant alcoholism in Spain started with the fact that a foreign-born Roman soldier's unpracticed ears couldn't tell the Spanish "v" and "b" apart, making the verbs "bibere" ("drink") and "vivere" ("live") sound identical. "Beati hispani quibus vivere est bibere" means "Lucky the Spaniards, for whom to drink is to live".
@jaspermcjasper3672. I have a close friend from Catalonia who constantly slipped between "V" and "B" when pronouncing the name of her home town of "Vic", so it may not be the soldier that had the problem, but the local speakers. (However, my friend is most insistent she is not "Spanish".) Oddly, this problem doesn't seem to apply to pronouncing "Barcelona", so it may arise only with particular vowel-consonant combinations. I note that "Vic", "vivere" and "bibere" all have an "i" following the initial consonant. but the "e" following the second consonant seems to knock my theory on the head. To my everlasting shame, I used to get a bit impatient with her struggle to clarify the "correct" pronunciation of her home town, yet I never had the same problem with Japanese friends who slipped between "R" and "L". (Actually, it seems they say something which is between the two and my and most Western ears can't hear it without hearing either "R" or "L" but not both. Shades of the Roman soldier!)
I remember my school chemistry text mentioned that Finnish “alkoholi” came from Arabic word meaning something like Eye Paint. Thanks for an alternative translation. Otherwise, most of the related Finnish terms came from Swedish, either straight adaptations, or sometimes essentially translations. Such as Öl -> Olut, but Olja -> Öljy (Oil). During the phohibition years (1920’s) there was a pesky smuggling business from Estonia for high proof alcohol called Pirtu, (from Spiritus Fortis). The same name was actually also used for Moonshine, i.e. any illegal, tax evasion product. The Swedish Brännvin was officially translated to Paloviina, i.e Burnt (distilled) alcohol. But the folks called it “Brenkku”. And Wine was, and is “Viini”. That means distilled alcohol is “Viina”, rather than Wine being “Viini”. For Beer there is commonly used term “Kalja”, which officially means low or near zero alcohol % home brew drink. And to drink any strength alcohol is often referred to “kaljoitella”, mostly in a group. Finally, as the illegal distillation was often done in the shadows of dense spruce forest, the product had many names, with probably most common “Korpikuusen kyynelet”, translating as Tears of Spruces in Deep Forest.😊
In Canada, we have a version of the Bloody Mary, except it's made with Clamato juice. That is called a "Bloody Caesar" or just a "Caesar." Often served with a pickled bean or asparagus, and don't forget the celery salt on the rim.
I lived, as a child, in Brandy Cove, Wales, which has an etymology story (as I learned it) similar to the brandy-smuggling-in-ponds story; the local legend was that smugglers would bring the brandy in at high tide and leave the barrels in the flooded caves of the cove. When the tide went out, the locals would go down and retrieve the barrels. Not very likely, really, especially when you realize that the cove has quite a steep walk to get up to the village, but it's a cute story.
The E in Irish whiskey comes from a time when column stills were becoming widespread, especially in Scotland (there were eventually royal commissions called to decide if column distilled whisky was in fact whisky) The E was to denote that "we make the real pot still stuff unlike those cheap scots, look for an E to denote quality" And seeing at the time there were a great many Irish immigrants in the US the E kinda stuck around. Meanwhile in the commonwealth countries and Japan(which took the whisky production from the Scottish tradition) Whisky became the primary spelling. Whisk(e)y is a passion of mine
Yes, I remember watching older British TV shows and movies, and sometimes the phrase "a rum go" would pop up. Edit: I'm not sure, but I may have first heard the phrase "a rum go" in a WWII movie. I may be misremembering this however.
"Dram" quite possibly came into English by way of alchemy and/or apothecary (chemical distillation played/plays a role in both fields of study). A dram is the name of a apothecary's unit of weight measure equivalent to one-eighth of an ounce, while a fluid dram is a measure of volume equivalent to one-eighth of a fluid ounce. Older cocktail recipes often call for drams and/or "jiggers" of fluid ingredients (a jigger being a unit of volume equivalent to one-and-a-half fluid ounces or a standard serving of distilled spirits).
I live for this kind of stuff. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! One little addition to that saqke jug is if you break the character to its smaller components, the three dots that make the handle reads as water, and the jug reads as west. So "water of the west". I don't know how far west, but alcohol may not have been invented/discovered in 7000 BCE China. True history is plain to see, with this kind of linguistic archeology.
One of my favorite "folk etymology" experiences came in the form of the Clancy Brothers, who often introduced their rendition of the Irish street ballad "Tim Finnegan's Wake" with a short breakdown of 1) the origin of the word "whisk[e]y" from the Gaelic and 2) why James Joyce was so focused on the juxtaposition of "the water of life" being a major component at a wake, when he wrote _Finnegan's Wake_ the novel, which was influenced by, if not based on, the ballad.
Great episode, a few words in here linked to the Dutch province of Groningen (which I'm from). A popular drink here is 'Jenever' (you called it Hollands gin), it's pronounced very similar to the French word for juniper you mentioned, but with a harder J sound. And in the city of Groningen we have the Martini tower, named after Saint Martinus. And because the province of Groningen is so flat, if there is a clear sky you can actually see this tower from nearly anywhere in the province.
I just visited Groningen last week with a group of friends - what a wonderful city!! And only two hours from where I live (Bremen). We of course made it a goal to sample Jenever. Quite nice, although I had expected it to be served quite cold, but it was served at room temperature. I guess I’ll have to go back to sample some more 😉. Looking forward to when the high speed train is back in service.
Jess was right about the hops. Ale originally meant beer without hops. They used 'gort' instead for countering the malt. I don't know the English word for it but it's a mixture of herbs and/or spices. They eventually switched to hops in ale too because it makes the beer/ale last longer. After realizing this benefit, the English created a special beverage with extra hops for the long trips to India, aka IPA (India Pale Ale). Bonus fact: Hops are closely related to weed, they even smell like it 😄
Italians drink acquavite, which is another word for grappa. Mainly drunk after a hearty meal to digest. And when it's freezing cold, especially on the mountains😊
My relatives in the North Carolina Appalachians said "drunk as Cooter Brown" just ALL the damn time. I was going to say this shows the phrase still in use, 'til I realized that was 50 years ago. Now I just feel old. Also, I'm a bit disappointed we didn't hear some different phrases used in the bar environment; I've always been fascinated by the Brits' "last orders, please", as well as the phrase "early doors".
Wormwood never had hallucinogenic effects. It was a hit piece in France. There was a blight that hit the vineyards and while wine was unavailable absinthe became popular. When the vineyards rebounded, people kept drinking absinthe, so they can up with a story to discourage drinking it.
I thought "Buck's Fizz" was named because it is traditional in UK for it to be served at weddings and the buck is another name for the groom and presumably the intent is to get the groom to consumate the marriage!
Another Irish synonym for being drunk that I've heard a fair bit is "locked." (Also, pronunciation note: -iu in Mandarin is pronounced more like "oh;" so baijiu sounds like "by Joe." Just so you know!) Thanks for this particularly fun episode! Keep them coming! Cheers!
You reminded me of the (almost) Spoonerism: Absinthe makes the tart grow fonder. Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire and is pronounced Goat-Ham (goat'm) where the villagers feigned insanity to avoid TAXES. It was adopted for the name of Gotham City, home of batman, as a place where insanity reigned.
I’ve always wanted a book of great slang options for the big three: dead, drunk, and crazy. They did very well by drunk! I like the phrase used in The Irish RM - “not drunk, but having drink taken.”
Something that always amused me with it's word play is in the British cartoon of the '80s Henry's Cat the bad guy was an evil sheep named Rum Baabaa. A delicious desert but a rum baabaa might also literally mean bad sheep.
I went to get a drink to have with this video, but it turned out to be something you didn't mention: cider. Which according to etymonline came to English via Old French and Latin from the Hebrew "shekhar" strong drink. The meaning of apple booze specifically was a later narrowing of meaning. And (according to my existing general knowledge) the US loss of the alcohol implication came from during prohibition when they had to switch from using the cider presses to make juice to ferment into "hard" cider, to drinking the pressed liquid immediately.
I’m fluent in Spanish as a second language so as soon as I read the title I was like OMG MOJITO! But it had never dawned on my English brain to parse it that way until I saw that title.
Thank you being in my life.
Your content is why I'm grateful for youtube being a thing 🎉😂❤
"...cheap and easy to get hold of..."
I just love that Rob sometimes doesn't realise what he is saying until it's too late. Please never change!
For a second there, I thought Rob was describing my ex 😂😂
I just love that he keeps on digging into the bright-red-face hole, launching straight into "little moist thing" to keep those facial capilliaries expanded.
we all love the happy, fun-loving peasant girl
His self induced blushes are the best ones
To be fair, things can be cheap and also obscure (and therefore difficult to get ahold of). So, no, it's reasonable to specify that something is both cheap AND easy to get ahold of.
My friend used to say, "drunk as a bicycle," and I never understood until I finally asked him about it. He responded, "Have you ever seen a bicycle stand up by itself?"
That’s perfect! I say I’m a bicycle because I’m “two tired”
Have you ever tried to ride a bicycle while drunk? It's not easy. 😄
That's hilarious! And accurate.
@@elizabethsullivan7176got stopped by a London Bobby for being "drunk in charge of a bicycle". He let me off as I promised to push my bike the rest of the way home 😂
Moonraker was a sail on the top of a ship's main mast. It was so high that it could rake the moon.
Moonraker is also a demonym for a person from Wiltshire, with reference to the story Jess told
Which I’ve also heard is the origin of the word “skyscraper”
@@danieloneal7137 That makes sense.
The pub in the play/film Hobson's Choice is called the Moonrakers.
Can't wait for the next one... But as someone once said 'Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder'.
You didn't get to my favorite intoxicated phrase: "Three sheets to the wind"
Or "two sheets under the wind". The "Sheet" is a Sailor's term for the rope(s) that hold and control the lower part of a ship's sail. If it's "to the wind" it means its loose, and the wind is blowing it, and the sail is flapping and out of control. THREE loose sheets is even worse, I suppose.
Get Susie Dent's book, 'Interesting Stories About Curious Words. That's where most of material you here on line comes from, including this one. There's a lot of, 'blahdee blah, well, that's probably a myth', but she's at least telling you what she was able to find.
I think they did it on the nautical episode
@@hive_indicator318Yes, they did.
@@tomray8765 I've wondered about that one. Thanks!
Buck's Fizz is supposedly named after the Buck's Club in London, where it was first served in 1921.
Yeah but don't say it as a Spoonerism. Also "Bucks Fizz" was the name of a band in the late 70s. But we'll see who makes their mind up on the one.
@noelthorley3248 groan.
It also came before the Mimosa and inspired the latter.
17:57 - A cotton-gin is not a machine for harvesting cotton, and it's not necessarily large. It's a machine that separates the cotton fibers from the cotton seeds in the fluffy boll, increasing the amount of cloth that can be made from the same amount of cotton as less fiber is lost when the seeds are removed.
It was previously done by hand but they are notoriously sticky.
Invented by Eli Whitney. Every nutmegger learned about one early in school.
Grew up learning that Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and that this was important to the spread of the cotton industry (and some tragic side effects of that industry).
But don't think we were ever shown what it looked like or how it worked
It is said that cotton was on the wane in the South because it was so difficult and expensive to harvest. The cotton gin made it easy and fostered the growth of slavery.
@@SuprousOxide I've read sources that say that if the cotton-gin hadn't been invented, slavery would have ended sooner and without a war. The increase to the profitability of cotton-farming that resulted from the cotton-gin, they said, created a plutocracy in the South that used its vast wealth to control State's governments and bend them to its desire to preserve slavery forever.
ROB AND JESS!!!! HAI HAI!!! It always brings a big smile to my face when I see a new Words Unravelled!!!!!! 😁😁😁
“Cheap and easy” made me laugh so much. And the blushes just make it even better, it was so innocently meant.
You two rock - I love your collab.
My dad used to have a T-shirt with 30 words for drunk on the front and 30 words for puking on the back
That would be a fun episode idea... for those with strong stomachs anyway! 🤮
"The rolling English drunkard made the rolling English road". Too true when you consider that our verb 'walk' is related to the German word Waltz. They both originally meant to roll.
Seems like the level of sobriety hasn't changed much. 😂
An "Old Fashioned" was originally just called a whisky cocktail, after the "Improved Whisky Cocktail" was invented those who wanted it made the older way started ordering it "Old Fashioned".
When my grandfather would have too much to drink, my very proper grandmother would say, "Just ignore him, he's in his cups".
This is adorable
i like the way the two of you get “drunk “ on words. Thanks for the many words
cocktail hobbyist here, the story I've heard about the Margarita is that it doesn't just come directly from the name, since Margarita is also the Spanish word for daisy. The Daisy was an early 'family' of cocktails that use a certain set of ratios an ingredients. Both the Brandy Daisy (an early relative of the Sidecar) and the Gin Daisy appear in recipe books more than 50 years before the Margarita, and we'll before the supposed dates of any other origin stories. The most likely origin of the name, then, is that a bartender decided to swap out the gin or brandy in their daisy for a Mexican spirit (tequila) and translated the name into Spanish accordingly!
Any form of the name Margarita, Margherita, Marguerite, Margret etc has some side meanings, since the original name comes from the Latin word for pearl, which they imported from Ancient Greek for pearl μαργαρίτης (margarī́dēs), which again got it from Persian. But in Latin it (later?) also meant daisies. Germanic languagues seem to also have imported it and folk-etymologically adapted via mer- to sea particle/kidney etc. Point is there should be a lot of similarly sounding words meaning pearl or originating in it. In modern Persian it’s still مروارید (morvārīd)
I think this is the best youtube series to come along since I bought a computer. Thank you both for your efforts behind the scenes to make these videos so very interesting.
"Tired and Emotional". I love that so much.
I believe the ultimate origin of the phrase "tired and emotional" to mean "drunk" is that in the House of Commons it is not permitted to accuse a fellow MP of being drunk. To be "economical with the truth" is from a similar source, because it's also not permitted to call another MP a liar, even if they demonstrably are one.
Tired and emotional as a newt.
Private Eye does a podcast that's on their YT channel. Ian Hislop is hilariously cutting
I expected to hear mention of the word "beverage" while they discussing words such as "beer" and the Spanish word "beber" - "to drink". Surely there has to be a connection. Was it mentionedand I simply missed it!
“Shellacked” is probably because the solvent you dissolve shellac in is alcohol. Putting shellac on a surface basically means painting this solution on and letting the alcohol evaporate.
I once had to use shellac primer in a bathroom that had been previously used by smokers. It locks the cigarette smell in the wall and keeps the room from smelling horrible. It turns out that breathing in alcohol fumes has the same effect as drinking the alcohol, and I was pretty “shellacked” by the time I was done.
My favorite expression for being overly intoxicated is "drunk as a skunk." Great video, as always!
I've just thought of a new drinking game. Watch the show with drink in hand and take a gulp every time Rob blushes! 😂
We'd all be blotto 😂
That's an unhealthy amount of alcohol
@@hive_indicator318is there a healthy amount (that's fun, anyway)?
18:32 Rob, Jack Daniels is technically a Tennissee Whiskey, rather than a bourbon.
PS: in Australia, a Virgin Mary is called a Bloody Shame. 😁
the same thing as the "old Tennise Shoo"
If I remember correctly, JD is a bourbon by all the rules, but the company wanted to distinguish their product from the more famous Kentucky bourbon and so denied the designation.
Technically bourbon has to be made in Bourbon County Kentucky
@@pjl22222 Bourbon can be made anywhere in the States as long as it’s over 50% corn and aged in new charred oak. The Kentucky thing is a common myth.
You guys always have such fun. I love listening. Never lose your joy and fascination at the quirks of language 😍
Two guys break into a liquor store, and one guy picks up a bottle and asks "Is this whiskey?"
the other guy without looking says, yea, but not as whisky as bank wobbery."
😂😂😂
I see what you did there, the other guy has dropped the H sound from the "wh"* in whiskey, then pronounced the w like Elmer Fudd.
* pronounced hw
@@garyhart2689the whine wine merger. It's pretty common, you should look it up.
“Cheap and easy to get a hold of” 😂😂😂
I didn't think Rob could get that red 😂
He can only see good in people... Bless him. I've never seen him crumple so much.
@@robertdibenedetto6445 Rob goes beetroot every episode. I've seen him worse.
38:31 Interestingly, the Korean "soju" has a connection here as well. Baijiu is also called shaojiu (lit. burning liquor), giving the Japanese shochu along with soju.
As “ wormwood” came up, I’ll share this.
The book of Revelation mentions wormwood: “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.”
Wormwood refers to the genus Artemisia. Common Artemisia, or mugwort, is found in many areas of Russia, Ukraine, and other countries of the former USSR. It is so plentiful in one place that the place was named Wormwood, in Russian of course. The Russian word is … drum roll …
Chernobyl.
Chornobyl is a ukrainian city and the word means something like "black abundance".... The word "wormwood" is "polyn" in russian...
@@66hss When the meltdown happened, Chernobyl was a town in USSR, which is why I referred to same. Russian, like any old language, has many words with multiple overlapping meanings. Chernobyl is often translated as wormwood or Artemisia, although it specifically applies to Artemesia Vulgaris (literally, black stalk), which is a species of wormwood. Numerous Russian and Ukrainian sources have related this curious anecdote.
Enjoyed it guys. Thanks 🙂
"Tired and emotional" was such a climax ! British culture of drinking and understatement mingling. Loved it.
I used to repair phones for a living, so I've seen the lock screens on a lot of phones, and the pictures that people put on them. Pictures of people were popular, but pictures of food and alcohol were a close second. The coin with the woman and "ale" reminded me of that!
One of my favourite observations is that, in British English, you can take almost any noun and turn it into a verb meaning to get drunk. Examples: "I was absolutely trousered last night". "I'm going out with the lads to get planked". Etc.
My grandfather grew up literally around the corner from Mencken. Well, around the corner and down a block, but it's a very short block. When he was young, my grandfather and his friends would go sit on "Old Man Mencken's" stoop until he came out and chased them away. Mencken would have been about thirty at the time. In his notebooks that were published some years ago, Mencken mentions the neighborhood kids doing that, and him going out to chase them away. I doubt he really cared, but it was expected of him, so he did it.
Menken wrote a large volume called "The American Language". He devoted almost a whole page to the use and abuse of the word engineer. He quotes a US barber describing himself as 'a trichological engineer'.
@@NickfromNLondon There were also two supplements to _The American Language,_ each as large as the original volume.
He was a Stout man who when he arrived at Port went to a pub to have to a Beer but drank too much Ale, now he is in jail hung over and not feeling fine but hair of the dog he drank a gallon of Wine and went on another bender feeling fine. Hey Rob and Jess I enjoy your videos and learn something new everytime I watch them!
@bobair2 I don't drink a lot or often, but I am quite selective in what I drink, with a preference for particular continental lagers. My one-time boss, who liked a drink, tried to imply that this indicated I had a drinking problem - he even used the 'A' word. He was taken aback when I replied, "Sir, you are both a Stout man and a Bitter man, but you can't say the same about me." Thankfully, he took it in good part. Sadly, he's no longer with us.
I tend to consider "beer" a generic term for malted hop-and-barley alcoholic beverages, and prefer to order - of the rare occasions I will drink of those beverages - by the specific variety.
Never heard of H.L.Mencken? OK Rob, you have a reading assignment.
H L Mencken quote
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
The story I’ve heard on the Old Fashioned is that a Louisville bartender would put bitters and simple syrup into a glass and pass it across the bar with a bottle of your choice of liquor. It became popular and other bartenders started inventing variations. Back at the original bar, patrons would ask for cocktails “the old fashioned way.” My favorite H.L. Menken quote was a reply to a letter to the editor of the ‘American Mercury’: “Madame, you may be right.”
Hearing the pronunciation of “uisgebearha” brings to mind something I’ve heard that sounds similar: a mock-Yiddish expression, "Ische ga bibble?", which was purported to mean "I should worry?" I wonder if there’s a connection there. ( the comedian Ish Kabibble, popular in the 1940s, is supposed to have based his stage name on that expression also )
Greetings from Cagayan de Oro City Mindanao Philippines, Jess and Rob. In the Philippines, the two most important things are rice and coconut products. Here in Mindanao, the most southerly part of the archipelago, and in the Visayas, the central part, Filipinos have made "tuba" since the days before the Spaniards arrived in the 1500's. Locals will climb up coconut palms, armed with a bolo (machete), and attach a container to an immature coconut, cutting it so that the coconut milk will be collected and begin to ferment. The drink is cloudy, and can be drunk soon after collecting, but becomes stronger the longer it is stored after beginning fermentation. There is a similar drink in Luzon, which is known as "lambanog". It was one of the things that the Spaniards noted when writing about the practices of the native people. Rob, when you mentioned "Beer, Wine, and Spirits", a chain of liquor stores in Australia is "BWS", which is the acronym for the above varieties of booze. I brought my BWS carry bag with me to Mindanao after my last trip to Australia. Yes, I'm Aussie. We know alcohol, especially beer. If you ever visit the Philippines, the go-to beer is San Miguel Red Horse. 6.9%. It's a corn lager. Emperador and Fundador Brandy are also popular. So is Tanduay Rum, made in the Philippines, and apparently the most popular rum in the world these days. I usually stick to Red Horse, and don't mix my drinks. I haven't sampled tuba or lambanog yet.
Well, this makes me want a cold one! Thanks for a fun conversation as always, Jess and Rob!
Really enjoyed this chat! Glad you included the Irish for whiskey - there shouldn't be a 'g' in there though. The Irish word for water is 'uisce' (ishka) with a 'c', and whiskey is 'uiscebeatha' (ishka ba-ha) - The water of life. 😄
When I was a coal miner we had a lot of words of German origin, such as firedamp and blackdamp for methane and carbon dioxide respectively.
'Snap' as a small mouthful immediately rang a bell, because the mid-shift break was 'snap time' when we'd eat our snap; i.e. food carried in a snap tin.
I thought of "Hair of the dog" when they were discussing a Bloody Mary as a hangover cure.
I love this program. Every one I have watch has fasanated me.
You guys are spreading joy, Thank you
First time I knew all of the answers for the questions in the teaser!
And in Scotland, they brew a beer called Old Engine Oil.
I love when you guys learn things you don't know! It's fun to see even experts learn new things :) Makes me feel less stupid for not knowing half of these hahaha. Really interesting episode!
Thanks for this little oasis.
Jolly good chaps, the pair of you.
Rob, for your cold, try a hot toddy before bedtime. It's a cocktail of whisky, honey, lemon juice, and hot water. Some people add ginger to the mix as well.
It won't help the cold, but you won't care.
@@JiveDadsonthe honey and lemon would be excellent for soothing a cough, the ginger settles the stomach, and the whiskey helps you sleep, and helps a bit with the cough, too.
I recommend substituting rum (2:1) for the whisky.
38:43 as a Chinese speaker you just blew my mind a little bit…
btw nice pronunciation! We get weirdly happy whenever a laowai such as yourself at least put some effort into pronouncing Chinese.
Acknowledged the corn. Drunk as a boiled owl. Excellent..
Cotton Gin cleans the seeds (and maybe husks?) from the cotton. Its advent meant the choke point in American textile production was cotton harvesting, accelerating our desire for chatel slavery, which mostly benefitted the textile mills in the industrialized north
I think it's fun that the Michelin Man is actually named Bibendum. It's a contraction of "nunc est bibendum," or "now is the time to drink" - from the classical poet Horace.
I'm adding "acknowledged the corn" to my repertoire. 🤣
Just watched the intro so far but as a Scot, interesting that whisky (or whiskey) popped up twice in the intro, as "uisge beatha" or "usquebaugh" is the original name for whsk(e)y (i.e. "water of life") and the spelling differs due to where it is produced - typically I believe Scotland (my home country), Canada and Japan (the country I live in) use whisky and the US and Ireland use whiskey.
ETA: I guess Aqua Vitae could also be the answer for "water of life" and it is older so maybe they will go with that, or (more likely) mention both!
So they went further and I love it, thanks so much Jess and Rob! This is one of my real pleasures!
And, to determine whether a country's spirit would be spelt with or without the "e", is whether or not the country's name has an "e" in its spelling. Ergo, in Scotland, Canada, and Japan, it is spelt whisky 🥃 😊
And just to fly the flag for the Irish..... its Uisce Beatha in Irish Gaelic , a "c" instead of a "g", just to keep the differenciation war going in spelling... even between Scots and Irish Gaelic.😄
I had been led to understand that the uisge part was cognate with the river name Ouse of which there are several in different parts of England. There is also a River Oise in France so perhaps oiseau means water water..
The use of two animals to indicate inebriation works for me. Drunk as an owl is one I have heard sometimes. I worked with captive owls and have seen them stare wide eyed at me and wobble from side to side (assessing me as a potential threat). How like a drunken person. Also, drunk as a skunk works. A skunk walks in a sort of stumping pace without doubt or apparent fear as do some drunks. Others get out of its way for good reason.
Recently a skunk decided to make its home in our apartment's garbage room. Fortunately nobody got sprayed and it left less than 2 days later out the same door it got in.😄
32:20. First off, it is spelled, “Kahlua”, a coffee flavored liqueur. There is a “cousin”, “Tia Maria”, similarly coffee flavored. Both are, to me, quite tasty as I so love my coffee!!!
Rob slipping into a Bostonianesque accent for "worchestershire sauce" was such a jump scare lol love it
17:00 - It's at least possible that the word "Juniper" got swapped round to "Juniver" by means of a "p" changing to an "f" (the reason we spell "phone" with a "ph" instead of an "f") and then the "f" changing to "v" by becoming vocalized. THEN, people started believing t that this word derived from "Juniper" had something to do with "Geneva" instead. The last step would be shortening and compacting that into "gin".
@christopherfaytvlarknsassi9013
Friends from Catalonia constantly switch between "B" and "V" in certain words, just as many Japanese appear to confuse "R" and "L". "B" and "P" are very similar, so the switch from Juniper to Juniver might make sense as a pronunciation problem. By the way "Phone" is a direct transliteration from the Greek for "voice" - "Telephone" means "Far Voice" for example - and the Greek letter "Phi" Φ φ, is always transliterated as "ph" in English.
While ancient Greeks apparently did pronounce "Phi" as a hard "P", Latin introduced the "h" to show "P" plus air or breathing. This may be because the lingua franca of much of the Roman Empire was "koine" or "common" Greek which pronounced it as a "voiceless bilabial fricative" - which, while it is not used in English, sounds like a heavily emphasised "F". It seems that the Latin spelling made its way into English. Koine Greek also happens to be the language of the New Testament and this may have influenced how Greek was heard. The situation is complicated by the fact that Western Europeans "lost" the original pronunciation and came up with various systems to indicate how to read Greek. The Great Vowel Shift caused further problems. So, the original Greek word may have begun with "P", but by the time of Alexander Graham Bell, it had long been accepted as an "f" sound and spelt with a "ph". BTW Modern Greeks pronounce "Phi" as an "F". I don't know if this is an odd case of parallel evolution where the Greeks just happened to end up pronouncing it the same way as the English or whether they were influenced in any way by how other languages spoke or even how they read Greek. However, there was a similar shift from ancient Greek where "Beta" Β β, was "B" and is now pronounced "V" - as it was in Koine Greek.
I'm living in Tbilisi Georgia, NOT the US state. The Georgians are the first to ferment wine 8,000 years ago. Their word for it and the vine is ღვინო (ghvino) and it predates the Latin. But Georgia is so obscure to most Western Europeans that most of the West will stop at Latin. But any Georgian on the street will tell you that they discovered wine, that ghvino (slight gargly Frencg r in the gh sound) is their word forever, and then they will tell you that they invented toasting, and they have good evidence for it.
Any non-Georgian who masters the Georgian language deserves free wine for life.
@@jackpayne4658 I've got some of the words, but I'm a long way from mastery. ქართული მართლაც რთული ენაა.
...and you ARE a native?! Wow! Wtf?! That is insane and you can't be joking when you said it is a difficult language!
I like your alphabet. The letters are pretty. The pictures I have seen of the landscape have all been very beautiful as well. So, I suppose the language should be hard to learn because every culture has to have it's down side, right... it wouldn't be fair if everything was perfect!@@georgiancrossroads
It goes without saying that the Latin word also comes from previous words, which would be related to the Georgian word since Georgian is Indo-European. That shape to the word definitely has some interesting implications about the shape of the Indo-European word though. And if I remember correctly, the Indo-European word for vine is disputed. Ghvino seems in line with the pre-Classical pronunciation of Greek όινος [ghoinos], realizing that Greek "οι" and Latin "v" are the same sound [w]. Latin, Proto-Germanic and Proto-Celtic don't have the spirant or any evidence of it on this word, which is I think why there is a dispute. After all, the back spirant is so unstable that when it shows up linguists reasonably have a tendency to assume it's a new innovation (due to the softening of some other sound, or a prefix getting stuck to a word). But, the pre-Classical Greek having the same sound makes a persuasive argument that in this case Georgian is actually preserving an ancestral consonant.
Also, wine was most definitely invented multiple times. There are at least three distinct wine making traditions, which probably all started seperately. Even animals know to seek out naturally fermented fruit, and there is a pretty compelling argument that one of the first hominin survival advantages was an increased ability to digest alcohol so we could eat fruit which was more fermented without dying. From there, once you've discovered bread (paleolithic) deliberately fermenting fruit juice is not a huge leap in logic. So, your story is probably true insofar as one particular wine-making tradition did originate 8,000 years ago in Georgia. I mean, there would need to be archaelogical evidence to be sure, but it at least seems entirely reasonable. However, keep in mind that if someone else claims wine was invented in their region they aren't necessarily lying because it almost certainly happened more than once. Of course, none of the places most famous for wine nowadays actually claim to have invented the process.
@@elizabethpate9486 There is an old, slightly racist, joke where you speak to a good friend from another nation and tell them how God once made a perfect land. Describe the landscape of their homeland in loving detail and end with "but it was too perfect . . . so God made the (insert your friend's nationality) live there." Be careful that you choose someone who is a really good friend!
Such a good episode. Thanks guys.
23:22 I first came across a sbagliato in a bar in Milan in 2003, where it was served like a fruit punch with an aperitivo. Its a fantastic drink, but pretty lethal. I've spent the last 20+ years trying to convince bars in the UK and Canada to make them for me.
Great booze-up!
A cotton gin isn’t a large machine for harvesting cotton; it’s a small machine for separating cotton fibre from the rest of the plant.
Fun fact: a watered-down daiquiri is grog, the infamous pirate's drink. Sailors of course had to drink water to stay alive, but casks of "fresh" water on long-haul ships would not be very fresh or even potable, so they would be spiked with a bit of alcohol, usually rum, to sanitize them. Scurvy was also a problem, so lime was often added to this water to supply vitamin C. And because slightly spiked and soured bad water is not very appealing, a little bit of sugar could be added as well. The resulting drink was grog. Remove the bad water and you just have rum with lime and sugar: a daiquiri.
Interesting, grog is a pretty slang term for any booze here in Australia. For some reason particularly used by Australian Aboriginals. Grog shop etc
So daiquiri : grog :: Bisquick : pancake batter - just add water.
Grog comes from grogham the material of the coat worn by the admiral who ordered that the RN rum ration be diluted with water. He was nicknamed 'Old Grogham' and the rum ration, grog which became a term for rum.
In some cases they also added mint, which in modern terms makes a mojito.
Try Jamaica's Tia Maria the next time you make espresso martinis, Rob. It's made with Jamaican coffee, which makes it The Best!
Edited to add:
Wormwood was used as an anthelmintic herb, hence its folk name.
American bars often have many flavors of schnapps on hand besides peppermint, such as peach, root beer, hazelnut, etc etc.
One night during the 80s, friends and I went to a punk club we frequented here in Detroit, Bookie's. The downstairs bar had a drinks special: 50¢ schnapps shots. I got the *Schnapsidee* of trying many of the flavors, a decision I very quickly regretted!
V happy to see one of my favorite archaic slang terms for drunkenness mentioned: "spifflicated." "Very weary" is another favorite old slang term.
Here's me thinking that "al" being arabic in alcohol, algebra etc was a Terry Pratchett joke. I'd also always thought that the aguadiente / aguardente (Portuguese) was more literally "fire water".
vodka is also called the fire water
I don't know about 'aguardiente', some here say it means 'fire water' but the Spanish 'aguadiente' means 'tooth water'.
Aguardiente in Spanish literally means "burning water" (agua ardiente) not "burned water"; so ultimately, it also means "fire water" as you mentioned for Portuguese. The Colombian version of aguardiente is a very strong anise-flavored drink so this is a very apt name. Also, although most words in Spanish come from Latin roots, there are many Arabic-derived words in Spanish that start with the "al" prefix.
The story I heard about Margarita is that margarita is the Spanish word for Daisy, which is a particular style of cocktail.
Which now raises the question of why they're called 'daisies.'
Wait, ancient Rome didn't have distillery tech, they did _not_ reach 37% to 80% ethanol. Medical disinfectant alcohol also later.
About nouns: In Finnsh nouns end in a vowel or -s. So when you see word like "olut", beer, you know it's a loan word. The original Finnish word is "kalja", which now means more or less non-alcoholic brews. Except as a slang word where it means beer.
In Britain, liquor is a brewing term - meaning water when added in the (slightly later stages of the) process.
In Oz Clake and James May series where they were trying to find the "Drink that Apeaks for Modern Britain" (Oz and James Drink to Britain) some years ago, they visit a microbrwery where they are take through the process and taught the vocabulary - from copper, tun, wort, to sparge and liquor.
In London liquor is parsley sauce with eel juice to go on pie and mash!
Tomorrow we all need to take some fluff from the dog who bit us tonight.
6:40 - An ancient Latin stereotype alleging rampant alcoholism in Spain started with the fact that a foreign-born Roman soldier's unpracticed ears couldn't tell the Spanish "v" and "b" apart, making the verbs "bibere" ("drink") and "vivere" ("live") sound identical. "Beati hispani quibus vivere est bibere" means "Lucky the Spaniards, for whom to drink is to live".
@jaspermcjasper3672. I have a close friend from Catalonia who constantly slipped between "V" and "B" when pronouncing the name of her home town of "Vic", so it may not be the soldier that had the problem, but the local speakers. (However, my friend is most insistent she is not "Spanish".) Oddly, this problem doesn't seem to apply to pronouncing "Barcelona", so it may arise only with particular vowel-consonant combinations. I note that "Vic", "vivere" and "bibere" all have an "i" following the initial consonant. but the "e" following the second consonant seems to knock my theory on the head.
To my everlasting shame, I used to get a bit impatient with her struggle to clarify the "correct" pronunciation of her home town, yet I never had the same problem with Japanese friends who slipped between "R" and "L". (Actually, it seems they say something which is between the two and my and most Western ears can't hear it without hearing either "R" or "L" but not both. Shades of the Roman soldier!)
I remember my school chemistry text mentioned that Finnish “alkoholi” came from Arabic word meaning something like Eye Paint. Thanks for an alternative translation. Otherwise, most of the related Finnish terms came from Swedish, either straight adaptations, or sometimes essentially translations. Such as Öl -> Olut, but Olja -> Öljy (Oil). During the phohibition years (1920’s) there was a pesky smuggling business from Estonia for high proof alcohol called Pirtu, (from Spiritus Fortis). The same name was actually also used for Moonshine, i.e. any illegal, tax evasion product. The Swedish Brännvin was officially translated to Paloviina, i.e Burnt (distilled) alcohol. But the folks called it “Brenkku”. And Wine was, and is “Viini”. That means distilled alcohol is “Viina”, rather than Wine being “Viini”. For Beer there is commonly used term “Kalja”, which officially means low or near zero alcohol % home brew drink. And to drink any strength alcohol is often referred to “kaljoitella”, mostly in a group. Finally, as the illegal distillation was often done in the shadows of dense spruce forest, the product had many names, with probably most common “Korpikuusen kyynelet”, translating as Tears of Spruces in Deep Forest.😊
I live in the southern US. Drunk as Cooter Brown was a very common phrase when I was growing up. I laughed so hatd at the etymology.
"Rum" meaning "bad" is used in Narnia -- they used "It's a rum thing" to mean something like "What a bummer."
Indeed - or a rum do as in "That's a rum do". Long before Narnia, of course.
I was of the understanding that rum meant odd not bad? Or is that something else yet again?
@@trevorcook4439 yeah - I always thought 'rum' in those phrases meant odd or interesting.
@ it does in my 57 Oxford English Dictionary so..
@@trevorcook4439 Yes, I would agree.
In Canada, we have a version of the Bloody Mary, except it's made with Clamato juice. That is called a "Bloody Caesar" or just a "Caesar." Often served with a pickled bean or asparagus, and don't forget the celery salt on the rim.
I lived, as a child, in Brandy Cove, Wales, which has an etymology story (as I learned it) similar to the brandy-smuggling-in-ponds story; the local legend was that smugglers would bring the brandy in at high tide and leave the barrels in the flooded caves of the cove. When the tide went out, the locals would go down and retrieve the barrels. Not very likely, really, especially when you realize that the cove has quite a steep walk to get up to the village, but it's a cute story.
@huwleonard. Outgoing water can have a strong pull, so any barrels in flooded cave might go out with the water, I think.
The E in Irish whiskey comes from a time when column stills were becoming widespread, especially in Scotland (there were eventually royal commissions called to decide if column distilled whisky was in fact whisky) The E was to denote that "we make the real pot still stuff unlike those cheap scots, look for an E to denote quality"
And seeing at the time there were a great many Irish immigrants in the US the E kinda stuck around. Meanwhile in the commonwealth countries and Japan(which took the whisky production from the Scottish tradition) Whisky became the primary spelling.
Whisk(e)y is a passion of mine
When I saw the “E in Irish…” my mind went straight to Poteen. Hmmm.
Yes, I remember watching older British TV shows and movies, and sometimes the phrase "a rum go" would pop up.
Edit: I'm not sure, but I may have first heard the phrase "a rum go" in a WWII movie. I may be misremembering this however.
Jess had never heard of it! That’s a bit of a rum do, that is!
In Scotland you can pretty much add ..ed to the end of any noun to describe being drunk. My friend described himself as 'hamstered' a few weeks ago!
"Dram" quite possibly came into English by way of alchemy and/or apothecary (chemical distillation played/plays a role in both fields of study). A dram is the name of a apothecary's unit of weight measure equivalent to one-eighth of an ounce, while a fluid dram is a measure of volume equivalent to one-eighth of a fluid ounce. Older cocktail recipes often call for drams and/or "jiggers" of fluid ingredients (a jigger being a unit of volume equivalent to one-and-a-half fluid ounces or a standard serving of distilled spirits).
I live for this kind of stuff. Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
One little addition to that saqke jug is if you break the character to its smaller components, the three dots that make the handle reads as water, and the jug reads as west. So "water of the west". I don't know how far west, but alcohol may not have been invented/discovered in 7000 BCE China.
True history is plain to see, with this kind of linguistic archeology.
One of my favorite "folk etymology" experiences came in the form of the Clancy Brothers, who often introduced their rendition of the Irish street ballad "Tim Finnegan's Wake" with a short breakdown of 1) the origin of the word "whisk[e]y" from the Gaelic and 2) why James Joyce was so focused on the juxtaposition of "the water of life" being a major component at a wake, when he wrote _Finnegan's Wake_ the novel, which was influenced by, if not based on, the ballad.
The 2 “p”s vs 1 “p” in schnapps makes me think of the saying “Like 2 peas in a pod”, but there is only 1 “p” in “pod”. 😏
There's 2 if you rotate your head around halfway.
Ah, I see... you're taking it too literally and yet, not literally enough.🤔
Great episode, a few words in here linked to the Dutch province of Groningen (which I'm from). A popular drink here is 'Jenever' (you called it Hollands gin), it's pronounced very similar to the French word for juniper you mentioned, but with a harder J sound. And in the city of Groningen we have the Martini tower, named after Saint Martinus. And because the province of Groningen is so flat, if there is a clear sky you can actually see this tower from nearly anywhere in the province.
I just visited Groningen last week with a group of friends - what a wonderful city!! And only two hours from where I live (Bremen). We of course made it a goal to sample Jenever. Quite nice, although I had expected it to be served quite cold, but it was served at room temperature. I guess I’ll have to go back to sample some more 😉. Looking forward to when the high speed train is back in service.
Jess was right about the hops. Ale originally meant beer without hops. They used 'gort' instead for countering the malt. I don't know the English word for it but it's a mixture of herbs and/or spices. They eventually switched to hops in ale too because it makes the beer/ale last longer. After realizing this benefit, the English created a special beverage with extra hops for the long trips to India, aka IPA (India Pale Ale).
Bonus fact: Hops are closely related to weed, they even smell like it 😄
Italians drink acquavite, which is another word for grappa. Mainly drunk after a hearty meal to digest. And when it's freezing cold, especially on the mountains😊
My relatives in the North Carolina Appalachians said "drunk as Cooter Brown" just ALL the damn time. I was going to say this shows the phrase still in use, 'til I realized that was 50 years ago.
Now I just feel old.
Also, I'm a bit disappointed we didn't hear some different phrases used in the bar environment; I've always been fascinated by the Brits' "last orders, please", as well as the phrase "early doors".
Wormwood never had hallucinogenic effects. It was a hit piece in France. There was a blight that hit the vineyards and while wine was unavailable absinthe became popular. When the vineyards rebounded, people kept drinking absinthe, so they can up with a story to discourage drinking it.
I thought "Buck's Fizz" was named because it is traditional in UK for it to be served at weddings and the buck is another name for the groom and presumably the intent is to get the groom to consumate the marriage!
Another Irish synonym for being drunk that I've heard a fair bit is "locked." (Also, pronunciation note: -iu in Mandarin is pronounced more like "oh;" so baijiu sounds like "by Joe." Just so you know!) Thanks for this particularly fun episode! Keep them coming! Cheers!
Here’s one for the algorithm
Algorithm: like alcohol derived from arabic Al-Khwarismi
@@muhammadpatel4669Unclear actually. The etymology of algo-rithm is probably a more interesting video that al-cohol?
For the algorithm! ***drink***
@@MeMe-c1w9s*falls off stool
pour one out for the al gore rythym
You reminded me of the (almost) Spoonerism: Absinthe makes the tart grow fonder.
Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire and is pronounced Goat-Ham (goat'm) where the villagers feigned insanity to avoid TAXES. It was adopted for the name of Gotham City, home of batman, as a place where insanity reigned.
I’ve always wanted a book of great slang options for the big three: dead, drunk, and crazy. They did very well by drunk! I like the phrase used in The Irish RM - “not drunk, but having drink taken.”
Something that always amused me with it's word play is in the British cartoon of the '80s Henry's Cat the bad guy was an evil sheep named Rum Baabaa. A delicious desert but a rum baabaa might also literally mean bad sheep.
I went to get a drink to have with this video, but it turned out to be something you didn't mention: cider. Which according to etymonline came to English via Old French and Latin from the Hebrew "shekhar" strong drink. The meaning of apple booze specifically was a later narrowing of meaning. And (according to my existing general knowledge) the US loss of the alcohol implication came from during prohibition when they had to switch from using the cider presses to make juice to ferment into "hard" cider, to drinking the pressed liquid immediately.
My favorite was always snockerd or three sheets to the wind.
In NZ the Maori word for alcohol is "waipiro" which translates as rotten/stinking water. 🤭
I’m fluent in Spanish as a second language so as soon as I read the title I was like OMG MOJITO! But it had never dawned on my English brain to parse it that way until I saw that title.
Yay Rob for explaining the difference between Sake and Nihonshu!