Over on Brian O'Rourke's blog, he's advocating that American men, well, man up and stop being so afraid of cider. All this somehow led me to think about grog, the rationed drink of the Royal British navy. None of that has much to do with cider, as I found out.
What is grog when it's at home, anyway? Well, that would depend on its home apparently. But the word does have a very distinct point of entry into our vocabulary, namely, August 21st, 1740. This is when the British Vice Admiral, Edward Vernon, decreed that rum would henceforth be diluted with water or small (weak) beer on board. Apparently on rations of straight rum, the sailors under his care had become just a bit drunk and disorderly.
Unfortunately, that shipboard water was often rank. Various additives were used to remedy this, and one of them was fruit, of the citrus persuasion. What happened seems to have been accidental--the Vitamin C in citrus ended up helping prevent scurvy, that shipboard plague, and Vernon's crew beat the curve, healthwise. Figuring that he was doing something right, other officers were quick to adopt his practices.
He was known, I hope affectionately, as "Old Grog". Although initially I hoped this had something to do with his being the inventor of this elixer, it happened rather differently. The nickname came fron the "grogram" coat he wore. What's grogram? Well, it's a coarse fabric that is the equivalent of the French derived grosgrain, meaning large grained. I was going to say, it stems from this, but apparently there is an old French 'grogram' as well. They all seem to mean "roughly" the same thing.
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Seana,
ReplyDeleteLooking back with 20th/21st century eyes, it's strange to think that, while sailors in the Royal Navy back in the day were severely disciplined for any little thing (assuming what I've heard about the infamous mutiny on The Bounty is fairly accurate), they were also given grog and encouraged to drink it.
Thanks for the good post, Seana! I had no idea where "grog" came from.
ReplyDeleteAnd Brian, maybe that was part of the Navy's pitch?
"Yeah, sure, we'll beat you senseless if you look at the cap'n wrong, but hey, you get to drink all day long."
Brian and Nate, what also is a little mind boggling is that before 1740, they were actually drinking rations of straight rum. Makes you wonder how they could even tie those fiendishly difficult sailor's knots.
ReplyDeleteAnd it only occured to me after this post that when I say I'm groggy in the morning, people might be forgiven if they thought I was still reeling from drinking too much watered down rum the night before.
There's a bit more about rum and grog at this site, including it's connection to the father of the founder of Pennsylvania, plus apparently some ballads about grog, those these I didn't have time to listen to...
grog I've discovered is also a general Australian slang word for alcohol.
ReplyDeleteDid they urge each other, in the fatuous manner later to be adopted be Americans, to "Get with the grogram!"?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if those sailors, with their eighteenth-century European eyes, would wonder why we're surprised that they were given alcohol.
My guess is that a) Alcohol was not regarded with the puritanical horror that is is now, or b) that the naval secretariat wanted to anaesthetize the sailors against the misery of their lot. It would have taken a fine caluculus, I imagine, to keep the sailors too buzzed to complain but sufficiently alert to maintain the ship and to fight.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I sometimes get the feeling that Australians are a lot like those non-Puritanical sailors, and am not too surprised that it's all grog to them.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually fairly conflicted about our current stance towards alcohol. On the one hand, people should probably not be getting behind the wheels of vehicles, or ships, for that matter, and there are certainly a lot of heartbreaking stories of families suffering because one of the parents couldn't hold down a job, or became abusive, or drank up the family earnings because of "the drink". But I think alcohol is here to stay. Or if not, that it will be replaced by some other form of inebriation.
Americans and alcohol are an odd combination. At least some of our fascination with it has got to stem from the rigid rules against its consumption. This is no great insight on my part, of course, but you know the old line about the quickest way to ensure a kid will do something is to tell him he can’t do it.
ReplyDeleteI knew an American expatriate in Rome who said he charged Italians more for their drinks because they would sit and nurse the drinks, while Americans would chug them and buy more. Whether he did in fact have such a two-tier price structure, I don’t know, but I can well understand the thought behind it.
My v-word, believe it or not, is exessnes
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
As a student I had some whisky glasses given me, which I felt was the right size for my breakfast orange juice. The first morning another student in 'my kitchen' looked at me and inquired whether I was really going to drink a 'grogg' at that time in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI've just looked up the very common term grogg in Swedish, and it seems to mean alcohol and something else, with the whisky or vodka or whatever constituting no more than a third of the volume.
As a non-drinker I have never gone further than OJ from whisky glasses.
That's interesting--I wonder if 'grog' migrated over to Sweden or if it's just a coincidence. And for some reason throughout this discussion I keep thinking of the Swedish word Gloog--not sure how to spell it--probably because I do enjoy the annual Gloog Night my friend hosts. In fact, I probably enjoy it a little too much. Anyway, that's also a mixture of alcohol and, well, more alcohol come to think of it. Oh yeah--and some oranges and the like.
ReplyDeleteOf course you can mix your own grog. The navy proportions are way too strong but white rum, crushed ice and lime juice is quite a pleasing drink.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds good to me. Don't know if you'll check back in here, Adrian, but if you do: You have a brother in the navy and a retention of historical detail that I lack. When did the Royal Navy stop with this somewhat questionable grog ration?
ReplyDeleteGlögg, Seana! Sort of mulled wine. But you can have an alcohol free variety, too. It's the warm temperature and the spices that matter most. And the fact that it's Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know how to put in the dots on blogger. But I will attest that our alcohol laden parties at least do get pretty warm and are much looked forward to.
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