Ohhhhh ... okay. Pardon me for my perhaps understandable misunderstanding.
But as for not being interesting, hey, don't be so hard on yourself, kiddo!
>At any rate, there won't be any further posting animosity on said subject.
>It's adequately resolved.
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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.