A few years ago I was reading a collection of Cliff Sterrett’s brilliant 1920s comic strip, Polly and Her Pals. One installment had Pa Perkins, terribly dizzy after an auto accident, mistaken for intoxicated by his faithful Japanese valet, Neewah. After Neewah helps Pa “walk it off,” he asks “Confidentially, honorable Pa, where did you get it?”
I always assumed he meant this literally. It was the Prohibition era, and Neewah probably wanted to obtain a drop of hooch for himself.
So this morning I’m reading Jack London’s John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs, and I come to a scene where the 15-year-old Jack has been drinking beer in an 1891 San Francisco saloon all afternoon. On returning to his oyster schooner, a shipmate grins up the passageway and comments “Where’d you get it?”
So, was this a late 19th/early 20th century American slang phrase meaning “Wink wink nudge nudge, I can tell you’ve had a few, brother!” ?
I need to know for sure, so I can start working it into my everyday conversations.
Uke I just finished checking my shelf of books. No luck.
My guess is that 'twas merely coincidence.
Having been around when “Polly ,and her pals” was running daily,albeit too young to frequent the local “blind Tigers”, I can tell you that the ordinary person, who did not party frequently,always wanted to know where one could procure a little"tanglefoot" when a party was in the offing.
A little "tongue oil"went a long way to get a party of the ground-----and keep it there!
First case - prohibition so where was of much interest.
Second case - Jack L was under age then, they had limits even then ya know.
YMMV 
I’m not sure, they did have minimum ages then (at least they don’t show up in the Stephen Crane stories). My guess would be that the liquor industry wasn’t regulated, so word of mouth was the best way to find the good stuff.
True. I can’t imagine a strapping 15-year-old male entering a San Francisco waterfront saloon in 1891 and being asked for age ID before being served a glass of steam beer. Especially if he had ready money.
Well, damn.
[sub]…listen…does anyone mind if I go ahead and use it anyway…?[/sub]
go ahead - use it! make a fool of yourself - see if we care…
[sub]idiot wants to use a phrase nobody’s ever heard, and expects to sound cool doing it… kids![/sub]
Uke casually walks into a NY bar after work and meets a friend.
“Where’d you get it?” he says to said friend.
Said friend has just come from the doctor with a er, em, ‘rash’ and glares at Ike.
“How’d the hell did he know?” he thinks.
It really doesn’t mean anything. In John Barleycorn, Spider later asks the bartender “Where’d he get it?”
“Oh, he’s been sousin’ here with Nelson all afternoon,” was Johnny’s answer.