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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I always thought, like Zed (maybe this is a Canadian intepretation, perhaps it's how things are listed on menus?), that the highball glasses were the short heavy-bottomed glasses, until I got a book about mixing drinks, which indicates a highball glass is the tall sort (also called a Collins glass, which someone referred to above). The short, heavy-bottomed glasses are called rocks glasses. I still get the names mixed up because I called the short ones "highballs" for so long.
I like my morning orange juice in a rocks glass - my all-time favourite OJ glass was a rocks glass. Alas, like all great glasses, it broke, and now I use a less-satisfying rocks glass.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Cocktail is a well-known term worldwide, and not just in Engliah language countries. Highball is understood, but little used. Its etymology is not clear to me, however. The Concise Oxford believes that it comes from cock + tail, i.e. cocks (stands) up. Earlier senses were "docked horse" or "upstart". FWIW.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
That's right, Capfka. In Brazilian Potuguese it's rendered as coquetel.
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
In Brazilian Potuguese it's rendered as coquetel.That's because after two you turn into a coquette. 
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
and after a couple more, there's no telling... ;)
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
.....not if your a gentleman anyway.. ;)
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
hey, babe, you said I shouldn't tell anyone about that... So now we're back to that word cocktale... 
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
I have no doubt there are regional variants on what, exactly, constitutes a 'mixed drink' as distinguished from a 'highball' or a 'cocktail'. My father in law, who worked for 40 years in a distillery, would have defined them as follows (and this is the usage in this part of the country):
'Mixed drink' and 'highball' are the same thing -- a hard alcoholic beverage, usually whisky of some kind, mixed with some carbonated beverage (usually), possibly plain water. Such as: blended whiskey (or rye) and ginger ale (the classic highball); scotch and soda, scotch and water, bourbon and branch, bourbon and ginger ale (classier than rye or rotgut), gin & tonic, rum & Coke, whiskey & Coke (ugh), to name the most popular. Vodka & OJ (screwdriver) might fit in this category.
A cocktail is a combination of liquor of some sort and (usually) another liquor (or 2 or more) or wine and (maybe) a smallish amount of some juice, soda, etc; e.g., the Martini (when made with vermouth, not just a glass of gin), the Gibson, the Old Fashioned, the Manhattan, etc.
A highball (or 'mixed drink') is properly served with ice in a highball glass, which is a tall cylindrical glass like an ordinary water glass, but holding about 6 oz. usually. A cocktail is served, either on the rocks or straight up in a smaller glass, which may be specific to the drink, like a Martini glass, which used to be unique to that drink but is now being used for other drinks. The other cocktails are usually served in what used to be called an Old Fashioned Glass, a squat tumbler holding maybe 4 oz.
The glass size demonstrates the difference between a cocktail and a highball -- the cocktail has more liquor proportionally; the highball is usually a pony (oz. and a half) and 5 or 6 oz. of mixer -- much less potent. You can drink a lot more highballs than cocktails in an evening.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Welcome home, Bob. We've missed ya. And thanks for shining the flashlight of information on this thread.
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