Water, water everywhere...

To steal a few lines from the ancient mariner....

Had the old salt avoided albatrosses and stuck to water when he was knocking around on his boat he might have been struck, had he been a linguist, by the similarities in Europe of the names of certain types of strong drink.

Apart from Britain which distilled a strong flavoured alchohol (Gin) because the water was poisonous, drinking it as a preference to the H²O variety, to stay alive . The Irish, Scots, French, Scandinavians and Slavic nations all brewed up something called water but which in fact was alchohol.

Did you know that whisky in old Irish means water of life as does the French "eau de vie." Aquavit to the Danes is the very same thing and the peoples of Poland, Russia etc. when they knock back too much Vodka, might be forgiven for being unable to recall where the K came from and why they are getting so blathered on the clear stuff, as Voda means water in Slav.

And does this explain why the Brits all get pissed so much as we were brought up on Gin?

Miles Jefferson
www.chaletdoctors.com
For all your property needs in the French alps