On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 15:29:38 +0000 (UTC) Rick Chappell
> broke off from drinking a cup of
tea at Dept. of Statistics, Univ. of Wisconsin to write:

>I wrote:
>
>>>Well, "parson's tea" is tea with a bit of rum or whiskey in it. I
>>>believe it was generally drunk to give the appearance of
>>>abstemiousness without the corresponding burden of complete sobriety.
>>>But I have just tried to look it up in the OED without success, and
>>>although I do not always limit myself to words which appear in the
>>>dictionary this does void my usual warrantee.
>
>Matt Probert > answered:
>> Indeed, while the term 'parson's tea' may be plausible, not only is it
>> not to be found in the OED but it is not to be found in any slang
>> references either. It seems to be a little used, or localised
>> expression.
>
>You're right. I can't find it anywhere either. But, unafraid to spend time
>on obscure and utterly useless causes, I'll keep looking. Rick.

Hey you and me both. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence,
as the archaeologists say. If you do trace it's use anywhere, please
let me know, I have an encyclopaedia to maintain! <G>


Matt

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