"bamboo", some kind of drink?

[Jonathan Lighter]

He's a cat in a contemporary novel. What makes you think he knows what he's
talking about, or if he does, that his transcriber does (or, more to the
point, cares)?

But maybe the word is OED's "bumbo":

"‘A liquor composed of rum, sugar, water, and nutmeg’ (Note to *Rod. Random*);
also other alcoholic mixtures."

JL
On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 3:14 PM, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> Subject:      Re: "bamboo", some kind of drink?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 3/2/12 3:00 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > What is "bamboo", in:
> >
> > "So then they [pirate captains, 1700, reminiscencing in Madagascar]
> > sat down and gossiped about old times, drinking their bamboo the
> > while.  I had no taste for the sickly stuff, myself, it being nothing
> > but water, limes and sugar."
> >
> > Related by Capt. Kidd's cat, McDermot, as written down by Robert Lawson.
> >
> > I haven't found it in the OED, but perhaps imaginative spellings are
> > escaping me.  Or perhaps Lawson's transcription is inaccurate -- what
> > was he thinking of?
> >
> By a process of (very) free association, what comes to mind is "shrub"
> (a fruit-infused syrup that can be diluted to taste).
>
>
> --
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