Why do some distillers spell whiskey whisky?!
Why do some distillers spell whiskey whisky?
Answers:
Whisky without the E is used in Scottish spellings
Whiskey with the E is more used for Irish spellings
the ATF says the whisky is the correct speliing for US whiskys but allows companies to use the "impropper spelling" Which most choose to do
probably because they have been drinking too much whiskey.
Good question! I've wondered that same thing.
That's good info John, thanks!
whis・key also whis・ky
NOUN:
pl. whis・keys , also whis・kies
1: An alcoholic liquor distilled from grain, such as corn, rye, or barley, and containing approximately 40 to 50 percent ethyl alcohol by volume.
2: A drink of such liquor.
WORD HISTORY:
Many connoisseurs of fine whiskey wouldn't dream of contaminating their libations with water, but they really can't avoid it. Not only is water used in distilling whiskey, but the words whiskey and water share a common Indo-European root, *wed-, "water, wet." This root could appear in several guises, as *wed-, *wod-, or *ud-. Water is a native English word that goes back by way of prehistoric Common Germanic *watar to the Indo-European suffixed form *wod-r, with an o. Whiskey is a shortened form of usquebaugh, which English borrowed from Irish Gaelic uisce beatha and Scottish Gaelic uisge beatha. This compound descends from Old Irish uisce, "water," and bethad, "of life," and meaning literally "water of life." (It thus meant the same thing as the name of another drink, aquavit, which comes from Latin aqua vtae, "water of life.") Uisce comes from the Indo-European suffixed form *ud-skio-. Finally, the name of another alcoholic drink, vodka, comes into English from Russian, where it means literally "little water," as it is a diminutive of voda, "water"a euphemism if ever there was one. Voda comes from the same Indo-European form as English water, but is differently suffixed: *wod-. Whiskey, water, and vodkaetymology can mix a potent cocktail.
Technecal stupidity that in todays texting.. will be long gone soon Few people know how to really spell without the aid of spellcheck and most of them don't aknowledge the word useage.