From Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day service:
The Word of the Day for May 6 is:Here in the midwest, you can find Moxie in stores that carry "specialty sodas." Moxie must be tasted to be believed.
moxie \MAHK-see\ noun
1 : energy, pep
*2 : courage, determination
3 : know-how, expertise
Example sentence:
It took a lot of moxie for Brandon to go back to school to follow his dream of becoming a lawyer.
Did you know?
"Hot roasted peanuts! Fresh popcorn! Ice-cold Moxie!" You might have heard such a vendor's cry at a baseball game--if you attended one in 1924. That was the heyday of the soft drink called "Moxie," which some claim outsold Coca-Cola at the height of its popularity. The beverage was a favorite of American writer E.B. White, who wrote, "Moxie contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life. This was known in the second century before Christ and is a boon to me today." By 1930, "moxie" had become a slang term for nerve and verve, perhaps because some people thought the drink was a tonic that could cure virtually any ill and bring vim back to even the most lethargic individual.
comments: 4
As a native of Maine, I mourn that Moxie is so hard to find! I love it, and now I can't get it even when I go up to visit my family.
It was everywhere when I was a kid, and I didn't really like it. Now that I'm grown up and love it, I can't seem to get it.
It seems to be enjoying some kind of resurgence, though - hope that will result in more opportunities to buy. Thanks for the bit about E.B. White!
I am fortunate to live in Maine where Moxie is more plentiful than Mosquitoes and black flies...well almost.
Adding Angostura bitters (from the liquor aisle) to one of the better root beers makes a drink very much like Moxie without the wintergreen, but I don't miss the wintergreen. I had to hit a few stores before I found Angostura. A little seltzer is good to tone down the sweetness and flavor since you're taking one flavored drink and adding another highly concentrated flavor.
Thanks for the tip. I was not aware of the wintergreen.
In a comment on another post, someone cited the old joke that “You received the bottle of Angostura bitters as a college graduation gift, then you figured out who you’d will the same bottle to, shortly before dying.“ I just finished my first bottle of Angostura, several years old.
Post a Comment