site banner
PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   1573 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for February 27, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

What is a "cocktail" colloquially speaking?

Context: Mrs. FiveHour read and then made me read the book Strangers by Belle Burden, a memoir by a wealthy WASP about her sudden divorce. The theme of the book is that her hedge-funder husband suddenly walked out, and she realized that they were, you know, Strangers in the grand scheme of things, that she knew nothing about him if she didn't know he was going to walk out on her. The book is both fascinating and awful, because it's the direct testimony of an unreliable narrator, so there's a ton to pick apart, which is what Mrs. FiveHour and I happen to enjoy doing together. Anyway, one of the repeating elements of her account of her marriage is that her husband came home from work at the money factory, she of course never has any idea what he does exactly, and has a "cocktail." He needs his "cocktail" before he moves on with his evening. But she describes the cocktail he drinks every night as vodka over ice.

My answer: Which...that's not a cocktail, that's a drinking problem. A cocktail has at least two ingredients: gin and tonic, rum and coke, vodka or gin and vermouth, whiskey and soda, bourbon and amaretto, etc. Ice doesn't count, plain water doesn't count. I think in general I would say that to really qualify as a cocktail you need a third element in addition to the first two, the olive in the martini or the lime in a cuba libre, but strictly speaking it's not necessary.

Resulting analysis: Drinking straight vodka every night is not normal. Burden describes it as a cocktail to give it a charming mid-century WASP imprimatur, but just drinking vodka on the rocks is unhinged! Even my Polish family drink vodka as a shot! What Burden is describing isn't a guy with a quirky habit, it's a guy descending into alcoholism. Her entire analysis of the marriage is this: she didn't notice her husband's drinking, excused it as a harmless quirk, when the guy was drinking hard. Maybe not alcoholic hard, but you gotta be a heavy drinker to enjoy sipping straight vodka. It's not like whiskeys where you can fake the connoisseur, when you drink straight vodka you're doing it because you like the alcohol in your system. Mrs. Fivehour and I are thoroughly enjoying picking apart Burden's arguments in this way, she might be the worst marital strategist of all time.

I'm sure this discussion came up a few months ago in a motte thread.

I'm not sure there's a suitable definition of cocktail that doesn't expose you to Diogenes. If it's just "two ingredients" then every random mixer and liquor is a cocktail. Adding a lemon wedge to a beer bottle is a cocktail.

Make it three and you're excluding things like Martinis. You could say at least two ingredients and a recognised cocktail name, but then you're getting all the edge cases which aren't cocktails, like Screwdrivers and Cuba Libres.

If it's just "two ingredients" then every random mixer and liquor is a cocktail.

Canonically this is most cocktails like Screwdrivers or the "champagne cocktail" often served in old bar books.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats