A twist of nutjob

I recently saw a press release dated November 15, 2006 for a year-old book entitled The Dittohead's Guide to Adult Beverages. It's by a Rush Limbaugh fan and self-described humorist named Britt Gillette and features cocktails with names with the trademark subtlety of his hero, like "Environmentalist Wacko Whiskey" and "Affirmative Action Ambrosia."

(Example of the level of humor: the ambrosia recipe bans the use of light rum since it's "insenstivie to minority rums" and includes the instructions "consume while labeling as 'racist' any of your friends or companions who dare to add light rum to their favorite adult beverages.")

But what really caught my attention was the claim that "Rush coined the term 'adult beverages' as a politically-correct way of referring to alcoholic drinks."

Really now.

A quick scan of newspaper databases shows the term commonly cropping up in the mid-1960s, including in one ad by Western Airlines, which offered flights between Long Beach and San Francisco (for $17.50,no less), with "adullt beverage" service enroute. Limbaugh, whose very early career as a copywriter has not been well documented, was 14 years old at the time.

The lesson: never let your guard down against revisionism, even in the cocktail lounge.