Re: What is Blue Ruin? - Biblical Reference

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: : : : : Many a time in many a book, Vance's characters sit down to some serious drinking and call for a jug of "Blue Ruin." : : : : : I've seen this in quite an early work -- The Five Gold Bands, I think -- and I've seen it in one of the Araminta books, so he's been using it as a stage prop for roughly fifty years. : : : : : Has anyone ever run across a drink in real life called "Blue Ruin" or is Vance just having us on? If someone has heard of it in a non-Vance context, what's the formula? : : : : In Roget's Thesaurus 1911 version (online) blue ruin is listed under the catagory "Drunkenness". drink; alcoholic drinks; blue ruin*, grog, port wine; punch, punch bowl; etc etc etc for a full page. Haven't been able to figure out what the asterick means but it seems to be in a sub group with grog and port wine both of which were drunk by British sailors of the 19th century. : : : : Vance was in MM so blue ruin probably some sailor drink. : : : : John Robinson : : : To correct, Vance was a sailor, not sure if he was MM. Also I think 5 Gold Bands was published 1953 44 years ago not 50. I think it was the first Vance I ever read (part of an Ace Double with another Vance - maybe Dragon Master's??) Don't make me older than I am!! : : : John : : www.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin : : According to Bibliomania/Reference/PhraseAndFable web page: : : "Blue Ruin Gin: Called *blue* for its color and *ruin* for its effects." and so simply gin by itself. : : Turns out to also be: : : 1. a rock band from NY, : : 2. part of a Tom Wait lyric (9th and Hennepin) "'til you're full of rag water and bitters and blue ruin" (yum!), : : 3. in an Edgar Allen Poe story, "King Pest" where a shipmate has stowed a bottle of blue ruin, : : 4. the name of an obscure literary magazine (really, I am NOT making this up), : : 5. the title of a book on the 1919 World Series, : : 6. a brewery in Austin, TX, : : 7. title of an old Regency Romance novel, and : : 8. refernced in an 1832 story. : : However, best of all is (I believe) part of a biblical reference: "thunder, lightening, and blue ruin". Any biblical, Vance scholars want to trace that one? A diminishly small group, I admit. : : Terry : A careful search of the Tanach (The Holy Book of the Jews), the Midrash (folk-tales associated with the Tanach) and the Talmud (Commentaries, Rulings, Commentaries on the Rulings and Commentaries on the Commentaries of the Rulings of the Laws of the Jews) have yielded no reference to _Blue Ruin_. : The Zohar, or _Book of Splendor_, the great compendium of hermenutical knowledge and a source of doctrine and revelation equal in authority to the Bible and Talmud and of the same canonical weight, has yet to be thoroughly examined -- if such researches yield results, I will report them here.

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