flight (of wine etc.)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Since I am perhaps the oldest wino on the list, I can confirm that
almost certainly "wine flight" is the ur-form, but I have seen it
extended to beer, scotch, and other things I refrain from drinking. I
believe it nicely distinguishes between a group of wines chosen for a
meal or event (allowing the diner to avoid one bottle for the whole
meal) and the more serious "wine tasting," but, alas, I have recently
seen tasting events described as ones that contain a "flight" of this
or that. Don't trust us winos with the language.

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: flight (of wine etc.)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Mar 19, 2008, at 7:30 AM, i wrote:
>
>>  not discussed on ADS-L since 1992.
>
>let me rephrase that: not in the ADS-L archives (1992-present).
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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