Cocktail

Cocktail (pronounced kok-teyl)

(1) Any of various short mixed drinks, consisting typically of gin, whiskey, rum, vodka, or brandy, with different admixtures, as vermouth, fruit juices, or flavorings, usually chilled and frequently sweetened.

(2) A portion of food, as seafood served with a sauce, a mixture of fruits, or juice, served as the appetizer course of a meal.

(3) In pharmacology, a mixture or solution concocted of various drugs.

(4) In casual use, a thing mixed of several ingredients.

(5) Any eclectic mixture or miscellaneous collection.

(6) An evening dress in semi-formal style; probably now a LBD (little black dress) alternative.

(7) A horse with a docked tail (archaic).

(8) A horse of mixed pedigree (ie standardbred and not a thoroughbred (archaic)).

(9) A man of poor breeding pretending to be a gentleman (archaic).

(10) A species of rove beetle, so called from its habit of elevating the tail.

(11) As the Molotov Cocktail, an improvised incendiary weapon; a petrol bomb.

1806:  If one accepts what seems the orthodox view, the construct was cock + tail.  Cock (in this context) was from the Middle English cok, from the Old English coc & cocc (cock, male bird), from the Proto-West Germanic kokk, from the Proto-Germanic kukkaz (cock), probably of onomatopoeic origin.  It was cognate with the Middle Dutch cocke (cock, male bird) and the Old Norse kokkr (cock (and source of the Danish kok (cock) and the dialectal Swedish kokk (cock)). The development was influenced by the Old French coc, also of imitative origin.  Tail (in this context was from the Middle English tail, tayl & teil, from the Old English tæġl (tail), from the Proto-Germanic taglaz & taglą (hair, fiber; hair of a tail), from the primitive Indo-European doḱ- (hair of the tail), from deḱ- (to tear, fray, shred).  It was cognate with the Scots tail (tail), the Dutch teil (tail, haulm, blade), the Low German Tagel (twisted scourge, whip of thongs and ropes; end of a rope), the German Zagel (tail), the dialectal Danish tavl (hair of the tail), the Swedish tagel (hair of the tail, horsehair), the Norwegian tagl (tail), the Icelandic tagl (tail, horsetail, ponytail) and the Gothic tagl (hair).  From this, came the general idea of the tail (rear) being the opposite of the head (front) which was generalized to many front-rear comparisons.

That etymology of course relies on the simple conjecture that "cocktail" was an allusion to the decorative embellishments often appended to the glasses in which mixed drinks were served; often made of bar wastage such as fruit rind or the leaves of pineapples, the constructions were said vaguely to resemble a rooster’s tail feathers.  Zoological still but equestrian rather than avian, it’s been linked also to the earlier use of cocktail to describe a "horse with a docked tail" (one cut short, which makes it stand up somewhat like the cock's comb).  The linkage is that because that method of dressing the tail was most associated with ordinary working horses rather than the pure-blooded thoroughbreds, cocktail came to be extended to drinks that were a mixture rather than anything pure.

What is certain however is the word is an Americanism and none of the attempts to explain the origin have found general acceptance.  HL Menken (1880-1956) listed several possibilities and the one which seemed most to appeal to him was a connection with the French coquetier (egg-cup) which, in English, was "cocktay".  That’s because a late eighteenth-century New Orleans apothecary, Antoine Amédée Peychaud (circa 1803-1883 and a confessed Freemason), conducted Masonic rituals in his pharmacy, mixing brandy toddies with bitters and serving them in an egg-cup.  Even those who find the etymology dubious admit it's an attractive tale.  The first known reference to a cocktail party is 1907 and since the 1920s cocktail has been used, formally and informally, to describe any concoction of substances (fruit, seafood, chemicals et al).  In motorsport, for almost a century, various high-octane fuel concoctions have sometime been allowed and colloquially they're known as the “exotic cocktails”.  What goes into the mixes has included gasoline (petrol, including high octane aviation fuel), methanol (known also as methyl alcohol), nitromethane (an often secret blend with several additives which creates famously explosive combustion characteristics and is banned in most categories), propane and nitrous oxide.  

The Cocktail Dress

Varations on the theme of the cocktail dress: Lindsay Lohan in vintage Herve Leger at Arrivals For Cartier Declare Your Love Day VIP cocktail reception, Cartier Store, New York, June 2006 (left) and in black Dion Lee cocktail dress with illusion panels and an off-the-shoulder silhouette, January 2013 (right).

Cocktail dresses straddle the gap between daywear and ball gowns.  Intended to be worn at formal or semi-formal occasions (classically of course, the “cocktail party”) including wedding receptions or dinner parties, they’re typically shorter in length than a gown, the hemline falling somewhere between just above the knee to mid-calf.  There’s no exact template for a cocktail dress but they should be identifiable by their simplicity and elegance, thus the utility of their versatility.  While not exactly post-modern, they appear in many fabrics and just about any style including empire, bandage, A-line or sack, featuring a range of necklines, sleeve lengths, and embellishments.  Historically, befitting the sophistication once associated with the cocktail party, the dresses were characterized by modesty and severity of line, the classic motif the tailored silhouette, relatively uncluttered by details.  Vogue magazine labeled the accessories (shoes, jewelry, a clutch and sometimes a wrap) the “cocktail dress ensemble”.  Things have has changed a bit and in recent decades, some discordant elements have intruded.

The Molotov Cocktail  

Molotov Coca-Cola Triptych (1997) by Alexander Kkosolapov (b 1943),

Describing a hand-held petrol-bomb, the term Molotov Cocktail was coined by the Finnish military during the Finnish-Soviet war (Winter War) of 1939-1940.  In Finnish it’s polttopullo or Molotovin koktaili, a reference to Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov (1890-1986; USSR Foreign Minister 1939-1949 & 1953-1956).  In 1939, Comrade Molotov claimed the Soviet Union was not dropping bombs on Finland, but merely airlifting bread to starving Finns.  The ordinance being dropped was an early type of cluster bomb which the Finns sarcastically dubbed Molotov's bread basket and soon after, they developed the petrol bomb as an improvised incendiary device suited especially to anti-tank operations in Finnish winter conditions.  That, they named the Molotov Cocktail, "a drink to take with the bread”.

The RHS

The cocktails called the Red-Headed Slut (RHS) or the Ginger Bitch are identical.  Although variations exist, the original is served on the rocks, poured over ice, either in a old fashioned (rocks) glass or a highball.  Quantities of ingredients can vary but the alcohol components should always be equal.

Ingredients

(1) One part Jägermeister
(2) One part peach schnapps
(3) Cranberry juice

Instructions

Combine Jägermeister and schnapps in glass full of cubed or crushed ice. Add cranberry juice to fill glass. Stir as preferred.

It may be served as a shooter, chilled and shaken but without ice.   One popular derivative includes equal parts Jägermeister, Schnapps, Crown Royal, and cranberry-flavored vodka.  Some substitute Chambord for the cranberry juice, and sometimes Southern Comfort for the schnapps.  For a sweeter taste, apricot brandy can be used instead of schnapps and best of all, there’s the Angry Red-Headed Slut which adds rum (over-proof or two shots to increase the degree of anger).

The Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan enjoying an eponymous.  Surely an affectionate homage, the Lindsay Lohan is a variation, the Lohanic version taking a classic RHS and adding a dash of Coca-Cola (usually expressed as "coke").  It should be always served in a highball.