Heard on The Doctors: _bug juice_

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Mystery meat":  HDAS: 1968 (nearly 100 years earlier as plain "mystery").

JL

On Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 11:16 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Doctors: _bug juice_
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I thought it was "mystery meat"--also used on one of the Top Chef shows
> when the meat was overcooked, making it unidentifiable.
>
> I've heard "bug juice" and "bug spray" in reference to windshield washer
> liquid from a couple of friends in the Midwest, but never gave it much
> thought. Nor am I suggesting that the expression is regional--could just
> be coincidental. But I did pick up a particular brand of windshield
> washer fluid that was supposed to facilitate bug removal (from the
> windshield) in the summer and it was called "Bug Juice". Unlike other
> similar liquids that were blue or pink, this one was deep green. (Got it
> from Menard's in 2007 or 2008) Still have the bottle in the garage--just
> wanted to check before posting.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 3/15/2012 8:02 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> > In college, it was "nondescript gray meat".  Now I suppose it's "pink
> slime".
> >
> > At 3/14/2012 09:33 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> >> That's what we used in college, but a but more specific. Any red-died
> >> "punch", such as Hawaiian Punch or Tahitian Treat, either plain or mixed
> >> into some kind of alcoholic concoction.
> > Thus merging two senses of "bug juice" -- the synthetic colored water
> > with the alcoholic.
> >
> > Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org