Gene calls from the Badlands of South Dakota to ask about ordering a glass of water at a restaurant by asking for a blue dolphin neat. Is that widely used? There are many slang terms used when ordering water, such as windmill cocktail, city coke, fish broth, Adam’s ale, and Neptune’s daughter. A teetotaler may also say give me one on the city. Gene’s also curious about a saying his grandmother used: Cold water is the cup that cheers away, away the bowl. This expression arose amid the Christian temperance movement of the 1830s, and appeared in many songs urging abstinence from alcohol. This is part of a complete episode.
What makes a great first line of a book? How do the best authors put together an initial sentence that draws you in and makes you want to read more? We’re talking about the openings of such novels as George Orwell’s 1984...
To slip someone a mickey means to doctor a drink and give it to an unwitting recipient. The phrase goes back to Mickey Finn of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago, who in the late 19th century was notorious for drugging certain customers and relieving...
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