Thursday, September 14, 2006

Splash du Jour: Thursday

“If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be to forswear thin potations, and to addict themselves to sack.”
-- Falstaff, in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, (4.2.109-11) –

Perhaps some definitions are in order… firstly, “potations” refers to the action of drinking something, esp. alcohol. And “sack” here is referring to “a dry white wine formerly imported into Britain from Spain and the Canary Islands.”
So basically, Shakespeare’s Falstaff [probably half-tanked at the time] is saying that it is important to teach one’s progeny how to be properly drunk.
Or, as another great English writer would put it, centuries later, and in much less poetic of terms….

"Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew."
-- Charles Dickens

To which I say… “Here, here! Fill my bloody tankard!”

Have a great Thursday!

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2 comments:

  1. I guess there's only one word for it: hic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. alexandra.
    My poison of preference is not very fancy....
    BEER!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your words!