[Ads-l] 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - about flies?

Sun Nov 6 22:38:46 UTC 2022

Sounds like "monotony" was the point. The song was an endurance test:
that's why the last bottle never came down.

Could be fun if you were drunk enough.

JL

On Sat, Nov 5, 2022 at 7:51 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Very nice find. Thank you.
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, November 5, 2022 3:39:31 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - about flies?
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - about flies?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Fascinating theory, Peter! Here is a citation in 1924 that strongly
> supports the theory that the =E2=80=9CNinety-nine blue bottles=E2=80=9D
> son=
> g was about
> fire extinguisher bottles. The singing described in the passage below
> occurred at a convention held in Toledo, Ohio in 1903.
>
> Date: November 1924
> Periodical: The Painters Magazine and Paint and Wall Paper Dealer
> Article title: The Gazing Globe
> Article subtitle: Reminiscences of Half a Century of Paint, Painting
> and Painters, and Paint Manufacturers Recalled by a Former Editor of
> The Painters Magazine
> Author: Edward Hurst Brown
> Installment number:  Six
> Start Page 39, Quote Page 39
>
> https://books.google.com/books?id=3DdqjmAAAAMAAJ&q=3D%22blue+bottles%22#v=
> =3Dsnippet&
> <https://books.google.com/books?id=3DdqjmAAAAMAAJ&q=3D%22blue+bottles%22#v==3Dsnippet&>
>
> [Begin excerpt =E2=80=93 double-check for typos]
> The Toledo Convention began with the Blue Bottle song, which lasted
> for several years and was never concluded. It started on an evening
> trolley ride with
>
> "Ninety-nine blue bottles hanging on the wall,
> Take one blue bottle down from the wall
> Leaves ninety-eight blue bottles hanging on the wall."
>
> They were the fire extinguisher bottles so commonly used in those
> days. One was removed with each verse, and the object was to bring the
> song to a conclusion by taking down the last blue bottle. Year after
> year some were taken down, but so far as I know, the last blue bottle
> is still hanging on the wall.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Thu, Nov 3, 2022 at 8:40 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I revisited my 99 bottles research and uncovered one more, perhaps more
> s=
> atisfying possible origin story.
> >
> > There were glass hand grenade fire extinguishers that were mass-marketed
> =
> starting in late-1883, and into 1884, at about the same time the song, =E2=
> =80=9C99 blue bottles hanging on the wall=E2=80=9D appeared in print.
> >
> > Many of the grenades were made of blue, bluish green or green glass.
> The=
>  largest manufacturer even trademarked blue or bluish-green as the color
> of=
>  their glass bottles.  The grenades were frequently hung on walls,
> sometime=
> s in great quantities.
> >
> > I updated my post with information about the =E2=80=9Cblue bottle=E2=80=
> =9D grenades hanging on walls.
> >
> >
> https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2022/10/blue-bottles-green-bottles-and-flies.h=
> tml
> >
> > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3D550986> for
> Wind=
> ows
> >
> > From: Peter Reitan<mailto:pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Friday, October 14, 2022 5:15 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ads-l at listserv.uga.edu>
> > Subject: 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - about flies?
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------=
> ------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - about flies?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > I researched the history of 99 bottles of beer on the wall and learned
> se=
> ve=3D
> > ral things.
> >
> > It dates to about the mid 1940s.
> >
> > There is a well-known British analog called =3D93Ten Green Bottles
> Hangin=
> g on=3D
> >  the Wall=3D94 which I had never heard of.  It dates to the late-1920s.
> >
> > Both British and American troops sang an earlier version of the song
> duri=
> ng=3D
> >  WW I, which the Brits may have picked up from the Americans.
> >
> > There was an earlier American version, usually sung as =3D9399 (or 49)
> Bl=
> ue B=3D
> > ottles Hanging on the Wall,=3D94 which appears to have had the same tune
> =
> as t=3D
> > he modern British version.   The earlier American version dates to about
> =
> 18=3D
> > 84.
> >
> > When I tried to figure out what =3D93blue bottles=3D94 referred to, the
> o=
> ne thi=3D
> > ng that seems to have been in common use at the time related to flies
> =3D=
> 96 =3D
> > =3D93blue bottle flies,=3D94 commonly called simply =3D93blue
> bottles=3D9=
> 4 at the t=3D
> > ime.  That might explain why the bottles are hanging on the wall, which
> d=
> oe=3D
> > sn=3D92t seem to make much sense.
> >
> >
> https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2022/10/blue-bottles-green-bottles-and-flies.h=
> tm=3D
> <https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2022/10/blue-bottles-green-bottles-and-flies.h=tm=3D>
> > l
> >
> >
> > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3D3D550986> for
> Wi=
> ndow=3D
> > s
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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