Next time you’re in a bar and in need of an insult, say it like Shakespeare: Thou wanton swag-bellied underskinker! An underskinker is an assistant tapster who draws beer for customers. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
We say rush the growler to mean “go fetch the booze” because, back in the 1880s, people got around the new liquor laws by sending kids scurrying down to the bar with an empty growler in hand to fill up. Variations of this include chase...
To house a beer, sandwich, or pizza is to finish it fast, sometimes because everyone’s about to leave. Whitney in Tallahassee, Florida, heard it from her boyfriend’s friends and wondered about the slang. Its source isn’t certain, but it may connect...
Here’s a puzzler: try to explain what malt tastes like without using the word malty. Or, for that matter, describe the color red. Defining sensory things is one of the great challenges that dictionary editors confront. Imagine writing and...
nimbleton n.— «So let’s raise a glass to big funds with a toast of sincere best wishes for their success . . . of course, I’ll be explicit about my ulterior motive: keeping the small fund space the preserve of the nimbletons. If big...
slug pub n.— «A dish of beer, which Conrad and Petterson like to call the “slug pub,” does away with the slimy critters. “The slugs are attracted to the beer, and they die happy.”» —“Gardeners keepin’ it...