Grog

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The word 'grog' (which first appeared in English in the mid-eighteenth century) is an abbreviation of the mid-sixteenth century word 'Grosgram' (itself a corruption of the French expression 'gros grain', literally 'coarse grain cloth'). 'Old Grog' was the name given to Admiral Vernon (1684-1757), famed for his bold taking of Porto Bello (Panama) from the Spanish (21 November, 1739). And he received it because of his habit of wearing a 'grogram' cloak when walking the deck in bad weather. Whether out of parsimony or in order to have seamen less inebriated, Admiral Vernon famously ordered that the neat rum which his sailors used to receive should be cut with water (some also say citrus juice). This new drink was baptised with the nickname of its first 'perpetrator'.

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