Heard on The Doctors: _bug juice_

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Mar 14, 2012, at 4:30 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Doctors: _bug juice_
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mar 14, 2012, at 6:43 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>> A doctor explains his use of a term:
>>
>> "_Bug juice_ is doctor slang for 'anti-biotics'."
>>
>>
>> This meaning isn't in HDAS or UD and, as fate would have it, neither
>> is the only meaning for _bug juice_ that I know:
>>
>> "soy sauce."
>
> Hunh.  For us survivors of summer camp in Maine (early 1950s), and probably elsewhere (and elsewhen), "bug juice" will forever designate oversweetened (if that's not oxymoronic) kool-aid type beverages, almost always red.

common usage in summer camps all over the U.S., from at least 60 years ago. (only for boys? i doubt that, but i don't have evidence.)  don't know why it isn't in the slang dictionaries. (not in Green either.)

arnold

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