Martinis, antagonistic effect on literary skill of, 186
~ Kingsley Amis, Index entry from Everyday Drinking
Turn to the page indicated for this admission: ‘I personally find that after half a dozen large Dry Martinis my customary skill with the commas and semicolons becomes a little eroded.’ There are no like entries for straight gin, whisky or vodka. That receptivity to the Muses is helped by lubrication is a point insisted on by many, by example if not by recommendation. Balzac, I think, had the better idea when he substituted coffee for alcohol, but he still drank himself to death.
