oystercakes:

beatonna:

Anyone interested in words and turns of phrase will enjoy this book-

South Shore Phrase Book: A New, Revised and Expanded Nova Scotia Dictionary

First published in the 1980s, it has a lot of gems in it.  Along the south shore of Nova Scotia, you’ll find a lot of New England-y holdovers and the like, or German words around Lunenburg, or etc.  

I do know (as to the selection above) that when there was no booze around, people drank vanilla flavour bottles from the grocery, which was easier to get.  Also, old ladies drank (some still do, according to a friend) vanilla so as not to appear buying something so crude as liquor.  Old ladies!  Beer ain’t so bad.

I will add some only tangentially-related stuff to this! During Prohibition it’s true that some people turned to cooking extracts. Unfortunately, many of these contained ethanol. In order to prevent Jamaica ginger extract—which was often produced and distributed as a ‘patent medicine’—from being sought out for recreational use the US government required an elevated solids content; this would result in a bitter, unpalatable beverage.

Of course, folks drank ‘jake’ (as it was called) anyway. This caused paralysis, loss of limbs, and death in many cases, disproportionately in immigrants and the lower class. This was the inspiration for such songs as Jake Leg Blues, Jake Walk Blues, and Jake Liquor Blues. (Audio recordings in links.)

interesting and informative addition! 

(via oystercakes)