THE LANGUAGE OF WINKS.

Patea Mail, Volume IX, Issue 1114, 19 November 1883, Page 2

THE LANGUAGE OF WINKS.

In those North American States in which the sale of alcoholic liquors is by law forbidden, the chemists and druggists who keep spirits ostensibly for medicinal purposes, sell large quantities of them to people who are suffering from nothing more serious than thirst. This kind of trade has, however, to bo conducted with many precautions, and in some districts elaborate codes of signals have been invented to enable customers to privately make known their illicit desires to the store-keepers. In Stillwater, Minnesota, for instance, to wink once is to ask for soda and rye whiskey; to wink twice and smack the lips is to demand half a tumbler of Jamaica rum ; to stand with the forefinger and thumb in the waistcoat pocket and ask mildly for banana syrup is to convoy a hint that ginger brandy would be gratefully received ; to wink thrice and j-rk the thumb over the left shoulder implies that gin is the liquor required ; and when a customer transfers his quid of tobacco from his mouth to his left hand the chemist at once prepares a hand-made sour mash. And, although the list of American drinks is a long one, (he Stillwater code is so complete that it even enables the thirsty soul to signal whether ho prefeis much or little lemon juice in his cocktail.—St James' Gazette.