NOTE: This forum is no longer active. This is an archive copy of the forum as it was on 10 March 2018.
IrishWhiskeyChaser wrote:... so that is Peg out the door for us
DavidH wrote:IrishWhiskeyChaser wrote:... so that is Peg out the door for us
I don't get the conclusion. Yourself and Jim have supplied a compelling etymology for the use of 'peg' as a measure of booze so the case for reviving 'peg' is enhanced. Right?
IrishWhiskeyChaser wrote:I thought we were looking for an Irish term so I thought it did not fit the criteria.
Jim Murray wrote:... Right. Back to the Bible. My tongue is, after several hours, restored and a Locke's Grand Crew 9-year-old Single Malt awaits....
IrishWhiskeyChaser wrote:However it was a 17th century Silver drinking tankard...
Our ancestors were formerly famous for compotation; their liquor was ale, and one method of amusing themselves this way was with the peg-tankard. There are four or five of these tankards now remaining in this country, and I have lately had one of them in my hand. It had on the inside a row of eight pins one above another, from top to bottom. It held two quarts, (and was a noble piece of plate) so that there was a gill of ale, half a pint Winchester measure, between each peg. The law was, that every person that drank was to empty the space between pin and pin, so that the pins were so many measures to make the company all drink alike, and to swallow the same quantity of liquor. This was a contrivance for merriment, and at the same time a pretty sure method of making all the company drunk, especially if it be considered that the rule was, that whoever drank short of his pin, or beyond it, was obliged to drink again, and even as deep as to the next pin.
While bartender Patrick Duffy of New York claims to have invented it in 1895, the true origin of the highball glass remains uncertain. As for the name "highball" there are several theories surrounding its origination. Online Academic Dictionary makes reference to the time of day that the drink was consumed - late in the day while the sun, or "ball" is "high in the sky". Another theory from the Online Entymology Dictionary points to the fact that the glass is tall or "high" and that the type of drink usually served was a "ball" of whiskey.
jcskinner wrote:
I was reading something about the origin of the highball glass and cocktail (a whisk(e)y and soda, on the rocks), and it was suggested that both originated from the Irish phrase 'ball of malt.'
Irish emigrants to the US would order a ball of malt in a high glass, and dilute with soda water. Both the drink and the glass became soon known as highballs.
While bartender Patrick Duffy of New York claims to have invented it in 1895.....
cathach wrote:it comes from driodar (n), residue, dregs or figuratively a small amount.
Whiskey Pilgrim wrote:
"Jill or half Jill" Dublin female market traders measure.
Slainte !!
Jim Murray wrote:As for a "Peg": this was a term used for both Scotch and Irish.
Willie JJ wrote:
Ian Millar recently said on his Glenfiddich blog that traditionally a dram consisted of three 'scruples'. i like that idea too. It'd be nice to tell the Mrs that I'm going to the pub to increase my scruples.