[Ads-l] moist (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Joel Berson]

The quotation from the Bryan TX Eagle suggests that a "moist" area is somewhere between dry and wet -- that is, it permits some kinds of sale of alcoholic beverages, but not others.  E.g., fermented but not distilled beverages, retail but not at restaurants or bars, with food but not without food, a limit on licenses for restaurants, etc.

Joel


      From: "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Monday, March 21, 2016 4:30 PM
 Subject: [ADS-L] moist (UNCLASSIFIED)
   
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

OED has "wet" and "dry" in the sense of permitting or prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages, but not "moist".

As a synonym for "wet":

_Pensacola [FL] Journal_ 5 Mar 1908, p 4 col 4 (Newspapers.com)
"Should Osceloa go wet it will be the only moist county between Hillsborough and Duval counties of the Jacksonville and Tampa line, the only other interior wet county in the state being Marion."


_Kalamazoo [MI] Gazette_ 24 Apr 1913 p 3 col 3 [genealogybank.com]
"At Centerville they met Lagsdon, a junk dealer, and gave him a few nips of liquid nourishment which they had brought with them from the moist county."

Intermediate between "wet" and "dry":

Bryan TX _Eagle_ 6 Jun 1956 p 1 col 4 (Newspapers.com)
"By the way -- Brazos county has been a "moist" county since 1917.  Beer is legal but wine, whiskey and "hard" liquors may not be sold."

_Tyron [PA] Daily Herald_ 8 Apr 1981 p 8 col 6 (Newspapers.com)
"Kentucky has "wet," "moist" and "dry" counties, the last accounting for 84 of 120 counties.  There are 10 "moist" counties, which do not permit liquor sales but contain city's [sic] that have elected to do so."

Williamsburg KY _News Journal_ 29 Feb 2012 p A-8 col 1 [Kentucky Digital Library]
"Before Corbin went "moist" in 2003 with the sale of alcohol by the drink in restaurants, this was the wettest dry county in the state."
CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

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