Counting Down to April 7, the Anniversary of the Return of Legal Beer

On March, 30, 1933, the New Jersey Commissioner of Motor Vehicles issued a warning to motorists in his state.

Enjoy the legal beer that's coming, he said, but watch the wheel while you're at it.

"Theoretically, 3.2 beer is non-intoxicating," he explained.*

"It is conceivable, however, that an excess of consumption of it by certain individuals might result in an adverse effect upon the mental alertness and skill with which they operate their automobiles."

For which I hereby award him a posthumous prize for Most Convoluted Use of the English Language By A Minor Bureaucrat While Issuing a Useless Press Release.

* See my blog entry for March 22 for a brief explanation of the "non-intoxicating" point.

Source: "Warns Beer-Drinking Drivers Not to Endanger Other Traffic," New York Times, March 31, 1933, p. 2.