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An Investigation Into Eggnog
Why do people love it so?
Some people love eggnog. I’m married to one. This is the only time of year my wife actually likes going to the grocery store, because they have eggnog.
I never thought much about eggnog, other than to think, “Who would want to drink eggs?” Then one day, while watching my wife enjoy a glass of eggnog, I thought, “What exactly is eggnog? Why do people love it so?”
In my opinion, neither eggs nor nog (an archaic term for a small block or peg of wood) sounds like a good thing to drink.
So after a little research, I discovered that the term eggnog likely comes from an abbreviation of eggs-n-grog. Eggs, usually coming from the species of domesticated fowl known as chickens, and grog, a beverage consisting of rum mixed with water that was a staple of sailors and pirates in the 17th and 18th centuries.
I suppose after drinking heartily from a barrel of rum and singing Yo Ho Ho!, the term eggs and grog would have been difficult to pronounce. So eggnog was a more slurred-speech friendly term for the stereotypical drunken sailor.
Although pirates may have had eggs available if they brought chickens on-board, I find it hard to imagine a pirate thinking, “Yo! Let’s be putting some eggs in our grog, mates!” Unless they had been watching…
