Caipirinha (continued)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Not quite. It's true that the booze in a caipirinha (literally, little
hillbilly [fem.]) is cachaça, but it is chopped up whole limes which get
mashed. The bitterness of the zest from the skins as well as the pulp juice
contribute to the distinctive taste. ("Mashed sugar" didn't make much sense
anyhow did it?)

dInIs (who makes them from time to time just to bring back memories)

 >CAIPIRINHA (continued)
>
>"Tall and tan and young and lovely
>The girl from Ipanema goes walking
>And when she passes, each one she passes goes--ah!"
>--THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA (song lyrics)
>
>     I'll nail Brazil's national drink.  Give me some time.
>
>17 October 1953, NEW YORKER, pg. 82, col. 2:  What he gets are black cigars,
>boxes of matches to light them with, black chickens with their throats slit,
>and, most favored of all, bottles of _cachaca_, a violent Brazilian drink
>made from sugar cane.
>
>7 March 1965, NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE, pg. 30, col. 1:  The sand was strewn
>with white flowers, mostly lilies, and quantities of "white" alcohol called
>_cachaca_, were drunk.
>
>18 October 1975, SATURDAY REVIEW, pg. 24, col. 3:  It was just such a tableau
>that is said to have inspired "The Girl From Ipanema," a song that has now
>become a standard.  "The girl" has matured to a matron, but in her time she
>captivated the songwriters gathered in a small, off-beach cafe then called
>Velloso.  Now the music and lyrics are enshrined on the wall, and the cafe is
>called "A Garota de Ipanema," a place to resurrect memories, invoke musical
>history, sip a _caipirinha_--clear sugar cane brandy, mashed sugar, and
>limes--nibble a _sandulche_ of _peru_ (that's the turkey of Brazil) and
>behold this year's crop of beauties promenading in The String, hopeful of
>inspiring some artist to literary or musical creation.
>
>     Ah!
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---------------------------------------------
>JERUSALEM SYNDROME (continued)
>
>     The Dow Jones database has 420 hits for "Jerusalem syndrome."  There
>were 135 hits up to 12-31-97, 125 hits in 1998, and there have been 160 hits
>so far in 1999.
>      The first citation, as the _Barnhart's_ points out (adding "?"), is
>from 1987; a play with the title of "Jerusalem Syndrome" opened that year.
>Yair Bar-El of Jerusalem's Kfar Shaul Hospital appears to have discovered the
>malady.  A 10-1-1994 article in the Peoria Journal states that the syndrome
>was "first recognized 14 years ago."


Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736