Welcome to a discussion of jargon, dialectical terms, slang, referring to alcohol, drinking, the culture of bars, clubs, and liquor stores. By no means is this promoting drinking. If anything, I hope that a more clear understanding of “the subculture of drinking” might help in recovery and even better, in prevention or deterrence of alcoholism.
The Language and Culture of Booze
It must be the season to discuss alcohol and any dialect or jargon used to refer to it. On the other hand, some of us who live in hot coastal areas, such as myself, have come out of estivation, and find ourselves able to read or philosophize for longer periods daily or nightly.
Well (I take a deep breath here), stores at which liquor is sold are called “package stores” as well as “liquor stores” in the South, but usually the former, as there is a much greater stigma to drinking “booze” in the Bible Belt.
The word pub is virtually unknown to the less literate of the population, which is suprisingly a large portion of Southerners. Tavern is rarely used, though bar is common, and club almost as much used.
Other interesting phenomena which persist even today are the still and the bootlegger. Producing old fashioned “moonshine” is stil done in remote rural areas, not because of any national law, but because of the local county laws against liquor, as well as the incentive to avoid the county permits and state taxes.
Some “bootleggers” simply sell known brands on Sundays and election days. Many folk who either don’t drink or don’t vote are not aware that in some states it is against the law to sell alcohol on election days.
In the American and Canadian West, the word “hooch” is sometimes still used for liquor. Yet if you use the word “hootchie” in the South, people will think you are talking about a loose woman. Hootch can also mean primitive shelter for some older Americans.
I recently was reminded that a cheap wine is called “Two Buck Chuck.” I’m not sure why. Anyone know? And in what regions of the US? I’ve not heard it in Georgia, but saw it on the internet. I suspect it’s used north of the Mason Dixon line.
Working class and poor Blacks in America tend to favour certain types of liquor, such as malt liquors, or sizes such as 40 ounce bottles.
Often people refer to liquor by initials. Hence, the bourbons JD and JB are Jack Daniels and Jim Beam, respectively. MD is Mogen David, known to the middle class as a cooking wine, and to the poor and homeless as an affordable wine. PBR is Pabst Blue Ribbon.
The jargon of drinking has blended into working class and middle class life. “It’s Miller Time,” a slogan from a commercial in the early 80’s, has come to mean “End of the work day.” Many know the time of “happy hour” to be the hours of 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Closing time” actually refers to the closing of the bars. “After-hours” establishments are those open after closing time, until anywhere from five to eight a.m.
Lately, as more middle class Americans are slipping from middle class into working class or worse (something the media spin doctors keep trying to hide from whom I know not– I suppose foreigners watching on satellite), inexpensive brands of beer, wine, and liquor have made a come-back. I almost forgot to mention a new product which may bring about some vocabulary previously unknown. There is now a drink available which is a combination of energy drink and beer. It is being written or printed as B^E or B(+E), with the E as an exponent. Some health experts are warning of increased deaths due to the mixing of energy drinks and alcohol.
One last thing I’ll mention is the study the Australians did which showed that consuming diet drinks increased the rate of alcohol absorbtion. Whether this will lead to the coining of new terms or jargon remains to be seen. I look forward to reading if any of the other participants in this thread have anything to add in this area.
This essay was originally posted at Collins Word Exchange, under Dialect>Regional Sayings, under the nom de plume “jean-pierre.”

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