Um ... that's probably because Greg is probably still no-mail, oh unknown
new sender of enormous messages. Man, I'm glad _I'm_ not listening ;)
___________________________________________
Alex (ablock@facstaff.wisc.edu)
ale, beer. Both words are more than 1,000 years old, and seem originally
to have been used as synonyms for the liquor made from fermented malt.
They were distinguished when _beer_ was appropriated to the kind brewed
with an infusion of hops, first imported in the 16th c. This distinction
has now disappeared; _beer_ has become a generic word comprising all malt
liquors except stout and porter, though brewers still call some of their
products _ales_, especially with a distinguishing adjective, e.g. _pale_,
_brown_, _rustic_, _audit_. In ordinary use, as at table, _beer_ is the
natural word; _ale_ has a flavour of genteelism.