Tom Collins
Noun
Meaning
Tom Collins (plural Tom Collinses)
A cocktail containing gin, lemon juice, sugar and a splash of soda.
Synonyms
Hypernyms
Related terms
Examples
Tom Collins, another of Black’s interviewees, grew up poor in a family of 14 children.
Similar to The New York Zoo hoax of 1874, several newspapers propagated the very successful practical joke by printing stories containing false sightings of Tom Collins.
Some origin stories suggest that someone substituted champagne for soda water in a Tom Collins.
History An August 1891 article from the British weekly magazine Punch disparaging British physician Sir Morell Mackenzie for his claim that England was the originating country of the Tom Collins cocktail.
However, it should be noted that a drink called a John Collins did exist prior to the Tom Collins hoax of 1874.
In The Great Tom Collins hoax of 1874, as it became known, the speaker would encourage the listener to act foolishly by reacting to patent nonsense that the hoaxer deliberately presents as reality.