Language

I see that Mt. Shasta Brewing has won a short legal battle with the fun-hating bureaucrats at the ATTTB. The ATTTB (apparently on the say-so of one employee's interpretation of the somewhat vague and arbitrarily enforced regulations; sound familiar?) told MSBC, which bottles their beer under the brand "Weed", which is the name of the town where the brewery is located. MSBC put the legend "Try Legal Weed" on their bottlecaps, and the ATTTB said that was a drug reference. And 420 isn't? Wiser 'heads' (hee hee!) prevailed, and the ATTTB backed down before the dispute went to trial.

Anyway, my real issue here is the use of the term "alcoholic beverages" in the story. I don't like it. I know, in the dictionary "alcoholic" has a definition of "containing alcohol." But ask most people what "alcoholic" means, and they'll start telling you about their uncle who drinks too much...and that kinda means that an "alcoholic beverage" is something an alcoholic drinks. I don't like it.

How about "alcohol beverage"? We call other soft drinks "fruit drinks" and "juice drinks," not "fruited drinks" or "juiced drinks." I write for a couple industry mags that insist on the term "alcohol beverage" instead of "alcoholic beverage."

Of course, I'd just as soon use the catch-all term "booze," even though some people think it's silly. Booze is so much easier than writing "beer, wine, and spirits" or "alcohol beverages" or "fermented and distilled beverages." It's a perfectly good word, and like Randall in "Clerks II," I'm taking it back. I'm gonna be using "booze" for that reference from now on. I refuse to let the New Drys define the discussion.