Use 1888 as the author’s documented American boundary, not as a proven worldwide invention date.
The chapter is linguistic and institutional history, not merely Prohibition-era folklore.
Restrictive licensing and local enforcement produced concealed drinking places before the 1920s. Hannush documents “speakeasy” in western Pennsylvania by 1888 and links it to earlier British and Australian phrases such as “speak-easy shop” and “speak-softly shop.”
PDF sheet 107
PDF sheet 103
Chapter 6 — Speakeasy
Text and page images verified during the complete 374-sheet review on 2026-08-27. September30 fresh full374-sheet reading audit: source text checked at physical PDF103–107. Physical sheets and named sections are the reliable locators; no fixed displayed-page offset is asserted. This verifies the source attribution, not all underlying archives.
Verified paraphrase from Whiskey Lore: Volume One.
Evidence
Restrictive licensing and local enforcement produced concealed drinking places before the 1920s. Hannush documents “speakeasy” in western Pennsylvania by 1888 and links it to earlier British and Australian phrases such as “speak-easy shop” and “speak-softly shop.”
Location and context
- Section: Chapter 6 — Speakeasy
- Locator: PDF sheets 103–107
The chapter is linguistic and institutional history, not merely Prohibition-era folklore.
Annotation
Use 1888 as the author’s documented American boundary, not as a proven worldwide invention date.
Related synthesis: whole-book Literature Note.