"rush the growler"--(its derivation)

[Gerald Cohen]

   Yesterday Michael Quinion asked about the derivation of the now
obsolete expression "rush the growler" (send someone with a pail to
fetch beer) and "growler" (a pail for beer).  The answer is given in
an article which Barry Popik and I wrote "_Rush the growler_: towards
a compilation of treatments on this expression." in: _Studies in
Slang_,  VI,(by Gerald Leonard Cohen and Barry A. Popik), Frankfurt
am Main: Peter Lang, 1999, pp. 1-20.

     The Rosetta Stone to "rush the growler" is the similar "chase the
duck" (drink beer; fetch/send for beer).  Cf. the NYC newspaper _The
World_, July 21, 1895, p.31/2: (title) SUNDAY BEER EASY TO GET.
(subtitle) HOW ARTFUL FLAT DWELLERS "FILL THE CAN" AND "CHASE THE
DUCK" IN SPITE OF MR. ROOSEVELT.  -- The article begins: 'Mr.
Roosevelt having declared that the "growler" shall not be "rushed" or
the "duck chased" on the first day of the week commonly called
Sunday,....'

     Meanwhile, F.H. Tillotson's 1909 book _How To Be A Detective;..._
mentions on p.91:  '"duck" -- a can of beer.'

    So, bearing in mind "chase the duck" (drink/fetch/send for beer)
and "duck" (can of beer), we see clearly that the beer-drinker in
pursuit of his beer has been likened to a hunter heading for his
downed duck.  Similarly in "rush the growler" the sending of children
to fetch beer has been likened to a hunter sending a dog to fetch the
duck.  The growler (i.e., dog, i.e., the fetcher) has been rushed to
the tavern to bring back the "duck" (i.e., beer).

--Gerald Cohen