"rush the growler"--(reply to questions)

[Gerald Cohen]

    In reply to Douglas Wilson's questions about "rush the growler":

   Once again, we deal with the imagery of a hunter going after a
downed duck, presumably by sending his dog after it. We know this
because of the attested expression "chase the duck" (drink beer;
fetch/send for beer) and the attested form "duck" (can of beer).

    This "chase the duck" clarifies "rush the growler"; the hunter is
here causing his dog (the growler, even if this is not a standard
term for "dog") to rush. Where to? Why, presumably to the downed duck.

    Now, once the expression spread beyond hunters, "growler" (in its
reference to the dog) would no longer make sense to the speakers
using the term. What these non-hunting speakers saw before them was a
child and a pail, and the child was supposed to rush to the local bar
and come back with a pail full of beer. So the thirsty adult was now
causing the pail to be rushed to the bar. The child was carrying it,
of course, but the speaker was focusing his attention on the pail.

     Hence: "growler" in "rush the growler" means "a pail in which
beer is to be brought back" (not just any pail). "Rush the can" has
the exact same meaning, and here "can" says directly what is meant.

    So, "growler" (pail for getting beer) arose in the context of
"rush the growler" rather than arising independently of this context
and then being inserted into it.  There's no need to look for an
underlying meaning "holy grail" or a possible Scots dialectal form
meaning "gruel."

     As for "roll the rock," this is a new one on me, and I have no
immediate comment about it.

Gerald Cohen


At 7:38 AM -0400 7/27/03, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>    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).
>
>Please correct me if necessary, but it was the pitcher or can or whatever
>(which was used to carry beer, etc.) which was called either "the growler"
>[HDAS, 1885] or "the duck" [HDAS, 1901], right? Apparently, besides "rush
>the growler" there were "hurry the can", "chase the duck", "roll the rock".
>"Growler" = "pitcher" appears in the "Century Dictionary" (1889, I think).
>It doesn't look to me as though "growler" referred to a person (or dog).
>[W3 attributes "duck" = "urinal" to its pitcher shape.] What is "roll the
>rock"? [Cf. Rolling Rock brand beer: any connection?] Is the image that of
>a keg of beer being rolled home from the corner shop? [Or is the expression
>from the brand name, perhaps?]
>
>If "growler" actually originated as a name of a container, it is difficult
>to explain (at least, difficult for me). I suppose one might speculate an
>alteration of "[holy?] grail" (not an obviously natural alteration
>phonetically though IMHO) ... or one might speculate "grueller" =
>"gruel-pot" in a Scots or dialectal form (Scots "growl" is sometimes given
>as = "gruel") (but I don't find this "grueller"! ... although there is an
>analogous "porridger").
>
>-- Doug Wilson