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Where Alcoholic Drinks Got Their Names

Otherwords digs deep into this quintessential human trait of language and finds the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted. Incorporating the fields of biology, history, cultural studies, literature and more, linguistics has something for everyone and offers a unique perspective into what it means to be human.

Where Alcoholic Drinks Got Their Names

Season 3 Episode 3 | 7m 17s | CC

There are no shortage of wacky names for alcoholic beverages, from Fuzzy Navels, to Sex on the Beaches, to the NSFW AMF. Humans have been enjoying alcoholic beverages since the dawn of civilization so there's plenty of linguistic evidence in many languages to point to the origins of many of these alcoholic words. Let’s take a deep dive into the etymology of alcohol.

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