"tamarack"? = whiskey

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:57 AM -0400 8/12/03, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>   "Tamarack" is a type of tree. Is there any evidence outside of the
>>possible 1879 circus-slang article in the _Cincinnati Enquirer_ that
>>it could also refer to whiskey.
>
>Tamarack (or larch) bark was used as a bronchitis remedy, I believe. This
>was often taken as a tincture, apparently, sometimes composed predominantly
>of whiskey. Casual or humorous reference to one's whiskey as medicine is
>not unknown, and "tamarack [tincture]" = "whiskey" would go along with
>another entry in the list, viz. "elixir".
>
>Just speculating.
>
And recall along the same lines the earlier euphemistic shift
involved in "liquor" (orig. '(to be) liquid' < Lat. liquere), more
general meaning preserved in "pot likker", oyster liquor, etc.

Larry