"grog"

[Michael Quinion]

Stephen Goranson wrote:

> Whitehall Evening Post or London Intelligencer (London, England), [British
> Library collection] Tuesday, January 31, 1749; Issue 465. p. 1 (?) col. 1
> (from the Jamaca Gazette): "...but short Allowance of Grog was worst of
> all..."

That's an extremely helpful example, which in combination with other
evidence suggests that the Admiral Vernon is really the correct one. He
instituted the tradition of the diluted rum ration later called three-
water grog in his Order to Captains No 349 in August 1740. Previously, the
earliest verified example of "grog" we had was in a poem of 1781.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: wordseditor at worldwidewords.org
Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org

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