nutties

[Amy West]

On 7/21/12 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> Date:    Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:44:43 +0200
> From:    Michael Newman<michael.newman at QC.CUNY.EDU>
> Subject: nutties
>
> I didn't see this on the list, but this is a nuttie or nutcracker is a term used in NYC to mean fruit flavored alcoholic drinks often sold in bodegas or apparently in this article in barbershops. They're controversial because they are presumably marketed to underage kids.
>
> http://bronxpresspolitics.blogspot.com.es/2011/08/crackdown-on-nutty-drinks-in.html
>
> Two questions:
>
> What's the etymology?
> Is this term used outside of NYC?
>
>
> Michael Newman
> Associate Professor of Linguistics
> Queens College/CUNY
> michael.newman at qc.cuny.edu
Here in MA they've been called "alcopops" in the news coverage: I found
this term confusing/unusual since MA is not in the "pop" area, but
rather uses "soda" or, rarely now, "tonic." When I first heard the term,
I thought it referred to alcoholic lollipops.

The most popular brand of these grain alchohol, fruity, caffeinated
drinks was/is "4Loco." I suspect that's where the "nutty" comes in:
loco=crazy=nuts, nutty, etc.

---Amy West
Worcester, MA
(wherein there are 10, count 'em, colleges in the environs, so that's
why I know about this. . . )

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