In The Nip Of Time

Yep, the city of Boston is going after the “little nipper.” You know, the miniature booze bottles you get on airplanes, in hotel mini bars, and at the counter at neighborhood packies. City Counselor Ricardo Arroyo is leading the charge, saying the sale of nips impacts public health, litter, and public drunkenness. This is another political issue, not a practical solution. Ricardo must be using his bullhorn to position himself to run for mayor of Boston. If he had real courage, he’d focus on getting fentanyl off the streets instead of little bottles off the shelves.

What the Christ? Look at all the soda cans, energy drinks, and fast-food bags pitched all over the side of roads and on your front lawn. I don’t think Popeye’s fans refuse to litter out of respect for the sailor man. That’s what I’m saying, Gin Bottle Garvey.

 

By the way, the term “nips” is New England slang. I don’t know what the ban will do except hurt the stores who rely on those sales. The other day I went down to my local packie and grabbed a coupla mini Jameson bottles as collectors’ items in case they get banned. The manager told me, “We’re a nips store.” In most small packies, nips account for 20% of sales. Hey, it’s always the little guy that takes the left hook to the jaw, Shootsie Newman. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever worked the polls on a cold November Election Day or marched in a Saint Patrick’s Day parade on a windy, frigid March afternoon, but you carry a coupla nips in your jacket pocket not to get drunk in public but to stay warm, Bucko. Here’s to the peewee booze bottles. Keep your dukes up.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsNWlM3fWmI

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