It’s Heady Idea Week and I have a lot of Very Important Things to say. Except I’m not done with any of them.
In the meantime, here’s something terribly unimportant: I’d like you to order a Middle-Aged Lady.
What’s that, you ask?
Soda water with a splash of grapefruit juice, three healthy dashes of bitters, a sprig of mint and a lime wedge, over ice.
If you, a middle-aged lady, order this at a bar, and another middle-aged lady sees it or overhears your order, she will inevitably ask what it is you are drinking. Tell her it’s called the Middle-Aged Lady, and then tell the bartender how to make it. And see how many other people order the drink over the course of the night. In my brief experience, the drink becomes popular very quickly.
Now what if people all over the country start ordering it? Could we create a social contagion of sorts? Could we impact the culture? Could we change the course of the budding Mocktail industry? Could we normalize the consumption of this mostly-but-not-entirely-alcohol-free summer beverage?
I’d like to find out.
Please offer something wonderful you’d like to see spread.
How about spreading a social contagion where everyone who hears that we are chopping off the healthy breasts of vulnerable teenage girls and filling them with synthetic testosterone and encouraging them to pretend they were born male fills us with disgust? And how about if we also spread the notion that it is wrong for awkward young men to fill their bodies with synthetic estrogen, chop off their testicles and invert their penises? Hey, while we're at it, we could spread the idea that little boys and girls shouldn't be lied to and told they are "really" whatever they say they are, and that we, the adults in the room, will medically alter their bodies to prove it!
- Nah, that social contagion would never spread. It's too crazy.
(Sorry to put a damper on things with this very uncreative suggestion.)
P.S.: Like all the other commenters, I think the Middle-Aged Lady sounds delicious and I want one! :)
It amazes me when people claim there is no such thing as social contagion while at the same time they are wearing clothes that they bought because they saw them on other people, using slang terms and speech quirks that they picked up from hearing other people use them, immersed in the popular culture that their friends are immersed in, and ordering drinks that are suddenly, mysteriously popular. Being human is a nonstop epidemic of social contagion. Why would one area of life be magically exempt from this phenomenon?
'Thou shall not covet' is in the top ten rules designed to protect us humans, yet we have billion dollar industries designed to pluck this very string.
The mocktail is so named because it is bubbly and ticklish, quite bitter, and yet still zesty and refreshing🤓?
I will take mine with the addition of 100% rye when I am waxing nostalgic, potatoe vodka when I am prosaic and banala, corn free gin when I need a stiff upper lip and quickly barkeep, and 100% agave tequila when I need go kick off the traces and run wild.
I am not a top shelf girl on purpose but rather a food allergy queen. My heart still lives on the bottom shelf alongside my dreams and aspirations.
If we want to normalize and spread sobriety, we can skip the bitters. We do need a good name for the virgin drink because neither "the Old maid" nor "the Spinster" is likely to catch on.
I personally love me an Old Maid. A Spinster is even better! But don’t leave out the long-neglected perjorative of School Marm. (What is a marm anyway? Any idea other than colloquial for ma’am?)
This sounds delicious! It would also be amazing and so good for you with tart cherry juice in place of the grapefruit juice. I’m going to make this this weekend for sure!
That does look refreshing--I will try it. Tempting to add a dash off Campari.
As Ava and Hippiesq mention, social contagions are well, virulent. How can people not see this? We have MSM and medical societies promoting The Cult, no mincing words here, the activists are inside the institutes.
I finished reading "Morning After The Revolution" by Nellie Bowles. Recommend!
Oh! This was supposed to be positive.
What wonderful things would I like to see spread: critical thinking, sanity, curiosity, moving beyond one's tribe.
Well sure, and for those of us who partake, a spirit if your choice...vodka, gin, rum or...in the spirit of middle-aged ladies of the Mad Men era...vermouth 😁
How about spreading a social contagion where everyone who hears that we are chopping off the healthy breasts of vulnerable teenage girls and filling them with synthetic testosterone and encouraging them to pretend they were born male fills us with disgust? And how about if we also spread the notion that it is wrong for awkward young men to fill their bodies with synthetic estrogen, chop off their testicles and invert their penises? Hey, while we're at it, we could spread the idea that little boys and girls shouldn't be lied to and told they are "really" whatever they say they are, and that we, the adults in the room, will medically alter their bodies to prove it!
- Nah, that social contagion would never spread. It's too crazy.
(Sorry to put a damper on things with this very uncreative suggestion.)
P.S.: Like all the other commenters, I think the Middle-Aged Lady sounds delicious and I want one! :)
It amazes me when people claim there is no such thing as social contagion while at the same time they are wearing clothes that they bought because they saw them on other people, using slang terms and speech quirks that they picked up from hearing other people use them, immersed in the popular culture that their friends are immersed in, and ordering drinks that are suddenly, mysteriously popular. Being human is a nonstop epidemic of social contagion. Why would one area of life be magically exempt from this phenomenon?
God yes. Literally culture is one big social contagion. What else would “ marketing “ and marketing departments be for????
'Thou shall not covet' is in the top ten rules designed to protect us humans, yet we have billion dollar industries designed to pluck this very string.
The mocktail is so named because it is bubbly and ticklish, quite bitter, and yet still zesty and refreshing🤓?
I will take mine with the addition of 100% rye when I am waxing nostalgic, potatoe vodka when I am prosaic and banala, corn free gin when I need a stiff upper lip and quickly barkeep, and 100% agave tequila when I need go kick off the traces and run wild.
I am not a top shelf girl on purpose but rather a food allergy queen. My heart still lives on the bottom shelf alongside my dreams and aspirations.
This is the winning reply!
I'd like to start an epidemic of peace, love, understanding, and joy.
no, make that a pandemic.
So it’s a grownup Shirley Temple.
I would like to share my love of library books:
https://youtu.be/-FrdFLHYKZ0?si=mUQTqFKvOmLC6D_W
I'd like to see honesty and common sense spread.
If we want to normalize and spread sobriety, we can skip the bitters. We do need a good name for the virgin drink because neither "the Old maid" nor "the Spinster" is likely to catch on.
I personally love me an Old Maid. A Spinster is even better! But don’t leave out the long-neglected perjorative of School Marm. (What is a marm anyway? Any idea other than colloquial for ma’am?)
Marm sounds like a lemon-y frozen drink. I'll take one :)
Marm-a-lady!
And Lisa that looks delicious. Im going to make one.
This sounds delicious! It would also be amazing and so good for you with tart cherry juice in place of the grapefruit juice. I’m going to make this this weekend for sure!
That does look refreshing--I will try it. Tempting to add a dash off Campari.
As Ava and Hippiesq mention, social contagions are well, virulent. How can people not see this? We have MSM and medical societies promoting The Cult, no mincing words here, the activists are inside the institutes.
I finished reading "Morning After The Revolution" by Nellie Bowles. Recommend!
Oh! This was supposed to be positive.
What wonderful things would I like to see spread: critical thinking, sanity, curiosity, moving beyond one's tribe.
That sounds lovely!! One for me please 😉😂
Well sure, and for those of us who partake, a spirit if your choice...vodka, gin, rum or...in the spirit of middle-aged ladies of the Mad Men era...vermouth 😁
Love a grapefruit mock tail!