Comments

1
Oh dear, subbsisted on spodee in the Bering Sea one winter. We made it in a Hefty bag. Like drinking vomit, frothy and chunky.
2
My ears are burnin'.
3
We in Wisconsin called it "Wop" short for "Wopatoolee." Where that came from, or the official spelling for it, I have no fucking clue.
4
In Denver we called it a "Suicide".
When I was in london. I was at a pub teaching a group of fellow Hostelers how to play quarters. We would all fill the quarters cup up with whatever we were drinking. Beer, cider, whiskey, etc... The Bartender come over and admonished us. Saying "snakebites" were not allowed.
5
I mean, I always encountered trashcan punch in my wild youth down south, but while it was supposedly the dregs of everything dumped into a bucket, it was actually usually just a couple handles of cheap vodka or rum with some kind of brightly-colored flavoring drink... thing.

Anyway, I choose to interpret this etymology to mean that a White Russian is technically balderdash, and I'm okay with that.
6
We called it a “suicide” in Ohio too.
7
"Suicide" in MN.
8
How can you mention songs about Spodee without mentioning Jerry Lee Lewis?
9
Brendan, this is a great post. I want you to do (or assign) an etymological post at least 3-4 days per week (liquor references preferred, but not absolutely req'd.)
10
I thought spodee was fruit soaked in alcohol.
11
"Trashcan punch" or "bathtub punch" in New England when I was a kid. You know, back when there were dinosaurs.
12
In MN, we called a random mix of sodas "suicide", and a big tub mixed with random alcohol and juice "wapatui".
13
A friends grandmother called it Swamp Water, but she was also from the age of the dinosaurs.
14
In my town near the Great Dismal, on the horribly-and-historically-accurately-named Hanging Tree Road, we just called it "drinkin."
15
We called it a "suicide" in southern Oregon too.
16
We in SoCal called it "Kamikaze" for the fountain drinks, add alcohol and you have "Jungle Juice".
17
Oohhh, man. I need a "winesucker" tshirt, posthaste.
18
Swamp juice! In Toronto, that is.
19
Graveyard was definitely the name for mixing all the flavors of soda together, but dude, spodee is fruit soaked in alcohol.
20
Agree with @10 and @19. In my area (Issaquah, Redmond, Bellevue) Spodee was fruit, some fruit juice/punch, and booze. We soaked it overnight (or sometimes just a few hours) in coolers. You scooped it out with keg cups (generally).

I never had to mix random alcohol together (unless during a game of Kings)...we just did shots of what we had or made mix drinks. But I loved this post, very interesting.
21
Agree with 20 on the definition of spodee. That what it was where I grew up in West Seattle. All liquors mixed together no fruit or mixer was jungle juice.
22
purple jesus punch? TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!
23
Hamilton (only 45 minutes from Toronto) it was swamp water. Or (in residence) your birthday shot. Oh those were awful. Toothpaste and tobasco and milk and 6 or 7 different types of alcohol all in a 2-3 oz glass.
24
In the late 70's, once, we drank spodeodee which was beer and lambrusco mixed. After tossing cookies on the table and being asked to leave the club that was the end of spodeodee for me. I was looking up the meaning of balderdash and finally found the only other reference to spodeodee I have ever read. Thanks!
25
Down here (TN and FL), "purple Jesus" is grape juice (or other strongly-flavored fruit juice) mixed with pure grain alcohol. You "come to Jesus" because you can't taste the alcohol in the punch. ;-)

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