Cocktail. We just like the word. Sure, no one really knows where it came from. We're guessing it surfaced close to the turn of the 19th century, somewhere in the US.

Of all the stories about cocktail, H. L. Menken's is at least mildly believable: "In many English taverns the last of the liquor drawn from barrels of ardent spirits, otherwise the cock-tailings, were thrown together in a common receptacle. This mixture was sold to toppers at a reduced price so naturally they would call for cocktails." So, the dregs were asking for dregs, or entailings of the cock (spigot).

Hmmm ... hardly a martini. But the word has been elevated in the world since those days. Lifted by volatile spirits, like we are.