Green Fairy
I like in this cartoon that we see Squish having an affect on Ryan. We also see a bit of bartender humor. If you aren’t aware, The Green Fairy is who visits you if you drink absinthe…
I like in this cartoon that we see Squish having an affect on Ryan. We also see a bit of bartender humor. If you aren’t aware, The Green Fairy is who visits you if you drink absinthe…
Found this today … you think Randie is scared of gnomes now? Put one of these in her yard!
http://acidsquirrel.com/post/32648
My mate makes Absinthe, never seen a green fairy yet. I need to get him on the ball and have him order some more Orange Absinthe extract, love that stuff. So, why is Squish done up like a green fairy anyway?
Hey GreyWolf, my mate showed me that very same image yesterday. Thought of posting it here myself.
Oh… duh! *Faceplam* Halloween is right around the corner.
Pash – yeah, Halloween seems to have sneaked up on all of us this year.
Grey Wolf… THAT is scary and rather unconventional… as gnomes always use garden tools to kill. They are still in the iron age.
Pash… Oh, yes… Absinthe! I recently came across the best Absinthe I’ve ever tasted… St. George (from Alameda, CA, no less!) Oh, it is most tasty! I think I shall imbibe on this Halloweeen… for giggles.
http://www.stgeorgespirits.com/spirit/absinthe/
Yes… booooooo!
Chug… I actually was more ready for Halloween this year than in year’s past. Usually I do everything at the last minute.
Oh they’re looking alright.
She sort of looks like the version of the Green Goblin in the disaster-prone Spider-Man musical (still running, still breaking).
jack… they are indeed… alcohol lowers your inhibitions… “hey, baby… you sure are …. green!”
Dada… aw… that’s sweet.
Absinthe makes the heart go wander….
I gather that a good deal of the bad reputation that absinth used to have came more from the lead used both a a sweetener and in the pipes used to distill it… but wormwood took the blame.
By the 18th C. it was pretty well known that lead was not a good choice as a sweetener, but… tradition, don’t you know….
The Auld Grump
She is adorable/awesome in that.
Stop stuttering Ryan!
Squish looks a bit like a squash.
But a very nice one, with wings… I wouldn’t want to make the flying squash fairy angry by telling her otherwise. That might be bad. Very bad.
Grump… it was alcohol, in general, that was to blame. Alcoholism was rampant back in the days of Absinthe. You wouldn’t want to drink the water so you drank more “safe” beverages. The thujone in wormwood certainly didn’t help matters… and Absinthe was cheaper than both wine and bread… and people over did it. And ruthless non-moral companies decided to add chemicals as substitutes for Absinthe’s real ingredients. All this lead to its being banned. Poor absinthe.
Legacy… thank you… I mean, she thanks you.
Rat… Squish can get testy at times… don’t cross her. Lady bartenders can squish you if you get fresh, or become a violent drunk or…
Distilled alcohol in general had a lead content that was much higher than was safe – not to mention wood alcohol used to stretch the grain alcohols…. Lead was used in soldered pipes, and in much of the piping in general.
‘Drink to me, only, with thine eyes
‘Tis safer than bootleg liquor supplies …’
Blindness was not that uncommon a result.
Ironically, the cheapest booze of much of the time was also the safest – whiskey was made without soldered pipes. Gin – ‘blue ruin’ on the other hand… sometimes was mixed with as much as 50% wood alcohol.
The base for whiskey was inexpensive enough to avoid the issue.
But for steampunk… nothing beats absinthe – play up the superstition, not the truth….
The Auld Grump – my name is Wormwood Applegate Spite… and the pleasure is all mine….
Actually one of the main reasons that Absinthe was banned is because it started to out sell french wine… in France. The french really didn’t like that so they took it upon themselves to convince everyone that it was actually a deadly poison. I took this from Wikipedia entry on thujone:
“Even though it is best known as a chemical compound in the spirit absinthe, recent studies reveal that absinthe contains only small quantities of thujone, and therefore it is unlikely that thujone is responsible for absinthe’s alleged psychedelic effects.”
It’s true that high doses of thujone (in the 60 mg/L range) produce 100% mortality in laboratory mice, but on testing the highest rate of thujone found in pre ban Absinthe was around 4.3 mg per liter.
Yes, absinthe was plagued by many threats… The unscrupulous business practices of foul producers trying to make a quick buck on the drink’s popularity; the growing displeasure of a temperance movement; the popularity of a drink which was cheaper than wine (due to the Great French Wine blight); and the inferiority of the tools with which absinthe was made. Too, France needed strong and sober soldiers to fight in its army… Not alcoholics who couldn’t hold a gun straight.
All so very very true.
And add the willingness of the US government to believe the balderdash.
One thing that I remember – from when I was researching the American Civil War for a school project, was a list of what foods and drinks sold the most from civilian sellers to the enlisted purchasers.
I was expecting whiskey, beer, rum, or other alcoholic beverages to top the list.
But it was molasses cookies – the big ones, sprinkled with sugar.
It is easy to forget, sometimes, how young those soldiers were, and how homesick.
And last – a nifty link to an article about Poe and Absinthe: http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poealchl.htm (Spoiler) He probably didn’t use it much, if at all.
The Auld Grump