APAD: A Mickey Finn

7
7grizzly
楼主 (文学峸)

Meaning:

   A sedative (or sometimes in the US a purgative) drug surreptitiously slipped

   into someone's drink.

 

Background:

   A `Mickey Finn', which is sometimes called just a `Mickey' is supposed to be

   named after a character from 19th century Chicago - `Mickey Finn', of course.

   Finn was the keeper of Chicago's Lone Star Saloon in the late 19th and early

   20th century. He was alleged to have drugged and robbed his customers. There

   are a couple of US newspaper references from December 1903 that allude to

   this:

   

     Chicago Daily News - "The complete defense advanced by `Mickey' Finn,

     proprietor of the Lone Star saloon ... described ... as the scene of

     blood-curdling crimes through the agency of drugged liquor."

     

     Inter-Ocean (Chicago) - "Lone Star Saloon loses its license. `Mickey'

     Finn's alleged `knock-out drops' ... put him out of business."

     

   Mickey Finn would have been a common enough name in Ireland and amongst Irish

   emigres to the USA. Ernest Jarrold was an author in late 19th century USA who

   wrote a popular series of newspaper stories called the Mickey Finn stories,

   from the early 1880s onward. The main character was a small boy and the

   stories are in the same vein as Twain's Huckleberry Finn (pub. 1884). It has

   been suggested that Twain, who knew Jarrold, plagiarized the idea from the

   `Mickey Finn' series. Jarrold later wrote under the pseudonym `Mickey Finn'

   and the name became a generic term for any Irishman - much like `Paddy'

   today.

   

   So, by 1903 there could well have been many people called or known as `Mickey

   Finn'. Although Jarrold's, a.k.a. Mickey Finn's, story is interesting and

   pre-dates the Chicago Mickey Finn's activities, there isn't anything to

   explicitly link him to the phrase. The only version of the story with any

   real supporting evidence is that of the Chicago saloon-keeper.

   

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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The term jumped out at me when I was reading 'Noble House,' one from James

Clavell's Asian Saga where an American executive landed in Hong Kong asked a

friend: "Peter, the men here, the ones on the make--are they into Mickey Finns?"

 

The Wikipedia has more information. I'm interested because I worry as my boy's

leaving for college and I'm losing control of his life. There are all kinds of

sh*t going on out there. I have to know.

最西边的岛上
Feel 4 U 7G (I cried after sending mySon 2 Uni). But U did
最西边的岛上
theBest U can. They’ve 2go thru saladDays 2 learn themselves
最西边的岛上
Maowi the cat has good sense: he never touched any drink!:-)
7
7grizzly
Some parents track kids' location thru some phone app.
7
7grizzly
I'd spike their water to see if they're truly curious :-)
移花接木
Coca-Cola was made accidentally

Yes, Coca-Cola was, in a way, made by accident. John Pemberton, a pharmacist, was originally trying to create a pain reliever and headache remedy when he accidentally combined his syrup base with carbonated water, instead of the intended plain water. This mixture resulted in a refreshing, fizzy drink that he then decided to market as a fountain beverage

最西边的岛上
Wow! I understand the parents, but that’s 2 much, IMHO.
最西边的岛上
Heard it b4, that’s Y I never buy it afterwards ;-))
移花接木
Charlie Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber by accident

by accident in 1839. He was experimenting with mixing rubber and sulfur, and accidentally dropped the mixture onto a hot stove. Instead of melting, the rubber charred and hardened, leading to the discovery of vulcanization.

A new revolutionary rubber industry was created. 

7
7grizzly
蒙汗药 too?
最西边的岛上
+ 增重药 ~~
最西边的岛上
Maowi, tell all Ur friends 2 stay away from 7G’s water ;-)))
最西边的岛上
"Serendipity is the mother of invention" - Horace Walpole