brown-bagging

[Jeutonne P. Brewer]

Brownbagging was the only legal way to have a cocktail
before (or after) dinner in NC when we moved here in the
1960s. It was legal for licensed restaurants to allow
customers to brownbag; it was illegal to sell a mixed
drink.

The term also could mean bringing your own lunch. an
interesting point is that context made it unnecessary
to explain which meaning the speaker intended.

Jeutonne Brewer



On Fri, 31 Mar 2000, Natalie Maynor wrote:

> Jerome Foster wrote:
> > Brown-bagging , I've always understood, was bringing your own lunch from
> > home to work or to a meeting or other event.
>
> That usage is common here (Mississippi) now, but back in The Olden Days
> brown-bagging meant taking liquor to restaurants and ordering set-ups.
> I'm pretty sure it was illegal, but it was overlooked.  After all,
> Mississippi is, I think, the only state in the country that levied a
> "black-market tax" on bootleggers.
>    --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)
>

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Jeutonne P. Brewer, Linguist
email: jpbrewer at uncg.edu
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