Sounds fun, doesn’t it? "Giggle water" was slang for champagne, but later came to mean any kind of alcoholic drink that made you feel good.

The term popped up around 1910 and hung around well into the '20s. Lighthearted and cheeky, it captured the mood of a tipsy good time. It was all laughs until the next morning.

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A "blind pig" was code for an underground bar, or speakeasy, where patrons paid to see an "exotic animal" and conveniently received a cocktail with the show. This ruse was an early attempt to skirt the law. The term dates back to the 1800s and had a cousin in crime: the "blind tiger." No matter the name, nobody was there to admire animals, they came for the booze.

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At first glance, this might sound like a fruit stand. But during the 1920s, a "juice joint" was slang for a speakeasy, especially the more modest ones. However modest, they were all in: music, dancing, and definitely drinks, legal or not.

The name originally referred to soda stands, but it didn’t take long before it meant something much stronger. If you were thirsty in the dry years, this was a must-stop.

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Here’s a sobering one. "Jake" was shorthand for Jamaican ginger extract, a legal tonic with high alcohol content. But manufacturers altered it to walk along the thin line of regulations, and the results were tragic. Drinkers developed a distinct limp from nerve damage, called the "Jake walk" or "Jake leg." Thousands were affected, especially in the South. It became both a medical crisis and a dark symbol of the risks people took to sneak a drink.

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Writer H.L. Mencken had a way with words… And a taste for booze. In 1920, he dubbed himself "ombibulous," meaning he happily drank anything alcoholic, no matter what. He was also known for calling bootleggers "booticians," always with a wink. A strong critic of Prohibition, Mencken turned his drinking habits into witty declarations.

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You know the drill: Desperate times, desperate measures. Some barkeeps took regular beer, injected it with alcohol via a syringe through the cork, and served it up as the real deal. This DIY hack became known as "needle beer." It was risky and often poorly mixed, but in an era where options were slim, creativity was all people had. Probably not the safest pint you ever drank, however.

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Yes, really! You could buy a block of grape concentrate, add water, and wait. Voilà, wine! These "bricks" came with an ironic warning not to store them in a cool, dark place (wink, wink) or they might "accidentally" ferment. For wine lovers who craved a glass during the dry years, this was a sly workaround. Just add water, patience, and a sense of humor, of course!

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Not a flavor, a method. "Bathtub gin" referred to homemade hooch often mixed in, you guessed it, a bathtub. Tall bottles didn’t fit under sink taps, you needed a larger space. We said before, and we’ll say it again: How creative could they get?

The quality varied wildly, and safety wasn’t exactly guaranteed. However, it became the generic term for all sorts of homebrewed booze.

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This word originated before the Prohibition but got plenty of use during it. A "teetotaler" is someone who avoids alcohol entirely. The term comes from the emphatic "T" in "total abstinence." It gained popularity thanks to temperance movements in the 1800s, long before the ban was official. While others were sneaking into blind pigs, teetotalers were proudly saying, "Thanks, but no thanks."

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If you were "dry," you were all in on Prohibition. Drys supported the ban, and dry counties banned alcohol completely. Agents who enforced the law were often called "dry agents". The term became a political and cultural identifier. You were either dry or...

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...you were wet. A "wet" person supported legal alcohol sales, plain and simple. Wet cities and counties allowed booze to flow, and many Americans never bought into the dry movement. The wet/dry divide wasn’t just about drinks; it actually represented a larger culture clash. And as we know now, the wets eventually won.

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Not a sea creature, but someone who could drink like a fish. A "whale" was a heavy drinker, often the life of the party and the last one standing. Whether at a juice joint or speakeasy, whales had reputations to uphold. The term lives on today in gambling circles, too. Back then, it was all about your booze tolerance.

Image: Todd Cravens