[Ads-l] Heard: "bug juice"

[victor steinbok]

When we were using it in the 1980s, it was definitely a reference to red
"fruit punch" liquids or powders for making them. Not a bad reference, as
some of them used to contain crushed bugs (cochineal), while others had
beet juice or assorted carcinogens.

I just came across a reference from the 1930s that used it to describe a
stimulant, but didn't think it worthy a citation at the time. Will tag it
if I see it again.

VS-)

On 9:47am, Wed, Dec 31, 2014 Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:


 At 12/31/2014 03:01 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:

>as the term for an elixir that is drunk at sleep-away camp.

Heard by me circa 1950 at sleep-away camps up the Hudson River and in
far upper Vermont, and spoken by all including natives of New York Ciity.

>A casual search
>takes it back to 1868 as the name for various kinds of drinks, as a term
>for "bug-spray," as a term for "yeast," and as a term for the "honey-dew"
>exuded by aphids.

No point in trying to identify specific ingredients.  That would be
like trying to determine what was the origin of your college
cafeteria's "mystery meat".

Not in OED (which says only "bad whisky"), but in UrbanDictionary,
"bug juice 2".  The sleep-over-camp comestible came in the same
vehicle as UrbanDictionary's sense 1:  "A sugary drink mixed in vast
quantities from a mysterious powder commonly served on US Navy
vessels in the enlisted men's mess. Can also be used to clean
brass."  (No, not by ship, but in a powder.)

My recollection is that we consumers a bright, distasteful red color
was a necessary characteristic in order to apply the term.

Joel

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