Friday Night Vodka Buzz. Ask me anything.

[Aristus]

Two shots to get the party started. Now a Seville; gin, sherry, lemon juice, and orange juice.

I’m guessing it gets its name from the orange juice. Renaissance Europe got most of its oranges from Seville, Spain. And this is the source of one of the sweetest (literally) puns in any of Shakespeare’s plays.

Forgive me; I don’t have the text in front of me. But in Much Ado About Nothing, one of the characters says of Count Claudio of the lady Hero: “He looks upon her with countenance most civil”.

Beatrice responds: “Seville as an orange, and something of that jealous complexion.”

I think I got that right. I apologize, but it was completely from memory.

I will be here every Friday for the foreseeable future. I don’t know who all will need an escape, but I will…

I love you all…

[biophile]

1. Do you only drink on Friday night?

I was just talking to my brother because today is his birthday- I said I’ll be drinking heavily for the next four years. Just kidding, maybe not …
He’s a recovering alcoholic- he said he might have to start again! I told him not to start again- I’ll drink for the both of us!

[Aristus]

4. Mostly Fridays and Saturdays.

If I could, I would drink all day, every day. But there’s a word for that (as you know). So I set limits.

[underpants]

2. If people who were adopted apply for a passport, how does their birth certificate work?

[Aristus]

5. I imagine the adoption agency has to produce the birth certificate.

Otherwise, they could be accused of baby trafficking.

[Marthe48]

3. I have a pamphlet

copyright 1945, titled 300 Ways to Mix Drinks. How often does a new cocktail join the ranks of the classics?

[Aristus]

6. I don't know. But I'm willing to do my part to make any of them a classic.

[Marthe48]

7. Good answer!

Thanks to people around me, I learn about popular drinks. Through the decades, Fuzzy Navels, Margueritas, Amaretto sours, and Mojitos, don't always try them.

[Aristus]

8. I love a good Amaretto sour.

No more than two, though. After two, my tongue starts to break out.

[cachukis]

9. Are commercials art? Or just snake oil?

[Aristus]

10. Many, many commercials have achieved the status of art.

You know them when you see them.

The paradox is, the greater the artistic merit of any given commercial, the less likely it is you will remember what it is they’re selling.

[cachukis]

13. That would be an interesting study.

[surfered]

11. Another Friday Night where both your cocktail concoctions and Shakespeare quotes are over my head.

And I’m married to a high school English teacher. Cheers 🍷

[Aristus]

12. But you are here. And that's all that matters.

[surfered]

14. You're right. I'm just glad to be here.

[Wolf Frankula]

15. Do you know the difference between a Moscow Mule, a Warsaw Mule, a Mexican mule and a San Juan mule?

Wolf, who knows but no longer drinks any of them.

[NNadir]

16. Your remarks led me to learn a new word: antanaclasis.

I haven't much familiarity with Shakespeare's comedies, with the possible exception of a Midsummer's Nights Dream; I'm a tragedy kind of guy, Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear kind of guy.

Apparently the text you quoted actually reads like this:

The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor
well; but civil count, civil as an orange, and
something of that jealous complexion.

Exploring the text I came across this text referring to the word:

Antanaclasis is when a word is repeated in a sentence with two or more different meanings for the word. An example of Antanaclasis is in Shakespeares "Much Ado About Nothing," when Beatrice says
"The count is neither sad, nor sick, nor merry, nor
well; but civil count, civil as an orange, and
something of that jealous complexion."

In this passage, the word civil is used twice: The first time it is used in its normal context, but the second time it is used as a pun. Back in Shakespeare's day, the city of Seville was where bitter oranges on, and so the "civil as an orange" is a play of words which say that Claudio is very bitter. Additionally, in Shakespeare's day orange as envy, not green, thus the word "civil" serves two meanings in one.

This is what is meant as an Antanaclasis, a sentence with similar with different meaning. Thus we have civil=polite, and civil=bitter.

Apparently in Elizabethan times people would understand the pun; we by contrast have far more information at our finger tips but little of the wit.

Thanks. It gives me great pleasure to come across a new word in our rich language. It doesn't happen as often as I would like anymore, coming across a word with which I'm not familiar, maybe five or so times a year, usually a technical word, not a general word.

[Aristus]

17. Wow. I'm embarrassed. My memory is worse than I thought.

I should have just scanned the scene from MAAN before posting the thread.