Friday, July 22, 2022

"Grog Shop" and "Grocery" in 19th-century Colloquial English

 In a discourse dated August 13, 1843 as reported by Willard Richards, we read that

 

Joseph. as Mayor inst[r]ucted the marshall. to keep the Ladies camp ground clear of young men.

the city is enlarging. very fast. we have so many learned men in this city. & the height of knowledge is not to know enough to keep out out of the way. I have been feretted feretting out Grog. shops. groceries & beer barrels

 

In a footnote to the above, we read the following:

 

Grog shop and grocery were colloquial terms for unlicensed establishments that sold spirits, or alcoholic beverages, by the glass; the term beer barrel was slang for a drunkard. Nauvoo city law prohibited the sale of spirituous liquors in small quantities (that is, by the glass) unless recommended by a physician. For a short period, the Nauvoo City Council licensed sellers to dispense some vinous liquors and beer, but the council repealed those ordinances in May 1842. Though the public consumption of alcohol was discouraged, neither production nor home consumption was prohibited by law. On 7 March 1843, for example, Theodore Turley was permitted to open a brewery at the corner of Hyde and Water Streets. . . . (The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents Volume 13: August-December 1843, ed. Christian K. Heimburger et al. [Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2022], 42 n. 255)