It’s 1925. You are walking down a cobblestone street in Manhattan when you see a yellow light precariously poised over a closed wooden door. You think this is the place, so you courageously walk over to the building and knock four times. You tell the large burly man who opens the door that Harry sent you. Suddenly you are chauffeured, past the kosher dairy shop and behind an old cabinet. As the faux wall opens, you finally see it, the dimly lit back wall of a bar equipped with liquors of every kind. You enter and have a seat as the bartender hands you a new concoction of gin, lemon and honey. He calls it the Bees Knees, and you have no reason to disagree.
This is a description of a NYC speakeasy.
In 1919 the United States, in the name of public health, instituted a law, which prohibited the sale of alcohol. Rather than bringing drinking to a halt, bars across the nation were driven behind walls and underground, accessed with secret passwords, special handshakes and knocks. It meant that those who enjoyed a tipple were forced to sip in secrecy. During this era, many popular drinking haunts morphed into underground night clubs, places where jazz was echoing off the walls and patrons were dancing, drinking, socializing, and sniffing a certain stimulating powder up their noses. These drinking spaces were revolutionary in the States for the diverse crowds they cultivated. It was here that many drinkers began to shed their social norms and engage in much more communal drinking behaviours. Men were drinking with women, whites were drinking with blacks, and everyone was having a good time. And whenever I would read about this era, I would be left with one mysterious, persistent, gnawing question that never really went away.
Where does the word ‘speakeasy’ come from?
History tells us, it was in these hidden places that bartenders would often ask patrons to “speak softly” so they wouldn’t draw the attention of law enforcement. They say that somehow this phrase casually morphed into the now widely spoken word “speakeasy.” As reasonable as that explanation sounds, something about it just never sat well with me. And that’s because, it’s bullshit.
The reality is, speakeasies in the United States may have been illicit, they may have been secretive, they may have been hidden but the one thing they probably were not, was quiet. Even if by chance these bars were run by stiff solemn librarians, this still wouldn’t explain how ‘softly’, mysteriously morphed into the vernacular ‘easy’. Who talks like that?
The truth is, the word speakeasy, like its cocktail associate, predates the era of Prohibition. The first printed record of the word in the States comes in 1889 from saloon owner Kate Hester who ran an unlicensed bar in Philadelphia in the 1880s. Over thirty years prior, in 1847 it appears in a book called A Farewell to My Old Shipmates and Messmates with Some Examples and a Few Hints of Advice. In this book, the long-winded author and British quarter master, John Bechervaise, uses the word to refer to an old widow who avoided paying duty and licensing fees by exchanging beer or brandy for items of equal value. So, is the word speakeasy British?
Not exactly. But by the 1820s the British were seeing the emergence of ‘speak softly’ shops. These were stores that sold spirits without a license. This phrase can be traced back to Ireland where the term ‘speak softly shop’ referred to the house of smuggler. Because of this, some think speakeasy is an Irish term. But I disagree. Why? Because the word softly isn’t easy. And for some reason I have a really hard time thinking that somewhere in the grassy knolls of Ireland while undergoing national rebellion, people were frequently using the word easy to describe much of anything. So, where does speakeasy come from?
Even just saying the word, it isn’t too difficult to guess where. When you really think about it, the answer is almost, too easy.
The earliest printed record of the word speakeasy comes from a boring contributor to a local paper who complained about the cool kids in his community.
He wrote:
“I feel myself most seriously annoyed in my business by what are termed private grog sellers, or, as the fancy style them, speak-easy shops, who set at defiance all attempts of the Magistracy to put them down.”
These words were published in the Sydney Monitor on the 3rd of October 1829. This means the origin of the word did not spring up from the cobblestone alleys of New York, or the home of green hills and Guinness. Instead, the term comes from the land down under. That’s right. It seems the term ‘speak easy’, is Australian.
*What to do you think? Are you shocked that the earliest use of speakeasy is seen in Australia? Are you surprised Wikipedia has no idea? Were you aware that the word predates Prohibition? I want to know!
Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
This makes me proud to be Ostrayan!! But seriously, I’m not sure I’m surprised a word so commonly used about alcohol originated down under. Great article! Thanks!
Yay, Australia for the win! We love our grog, so this makes sense. Love your writing style, especially since history bores me, but you paint such a vivid picture of what things were like way back when, that I am gripped and want to read more.
Appreciate the kind review. There is definitely more to come!
Haha, what an amazing Serlakholmes novel-like piece this is ^^ the suspense and payoff are just fantastic. Hat off and glass up to you.
Thanks!