E. C. Booz
Sir: I was surprised to see Nicholas von Hoffman (`The good old days', 6 October) trotting out that old chestnut about the miniature log cabin whisky bottles given out by the supporters of General Harrison in the 1840 American presidential contest. Manufactured by the E. C. Booz distillery of Philadelphia, 'that is how that word got into the American version of the English language.'
It is? Consider the following verse from a mediaeval English poem surviving in Harleian Manuscript 2253 in the British Library, which also may be found, together with a translation, in Mediaeval English Lyrics, ed. R. T. Davies (London, 1963), pp. 71-73:
Drynke to hym dearly of fol god bous, ant oure dame douse shall sitten hym by, When that he is dronke ase a dreynt mous, thenne we schule borewe the wed ate bayly.
For all that I know there may have been an E. C. Booz who left his name to the Philadelphia distillery. But may one not suggest that the name is a pun? E. C. Booze = Easy Booze? If so, this is yet another example of the conservative aspect of American English, retaining as it does words and morphemes long since fallen out of standard English English (gotten as past participle of get, for example).
William Tighe
Flat 7, Chesterton Towers, Chapel Street, Cambridge
Previous page
