what is kool aid?

by dobbie 23 Replies latest jw friends

  • dobbie
    dobbie

    Isee this mentioned alot here but haven't a clue what it is?!Can somebody put me out of my misery please?I keep thinking of plasters but that's band aid!Thanks

  • under_believer
  • Brother Apostate
    Brother Apostate

    Courtesy of Wikipedia:

    "Drinking the Kool-Aid"

    Contrary to popular belief, Kool-Aid was not used in the infamous punch at Jonestown

    The idiomatic expression "drinking the Kool-Aid" was originally a reference to the Merry Pranksters, a group of people associated with novelist Ken Kesey who in the early 1960s travelled around the United States and held events called "Acid Tests", where LSD-laced Kool-Aid was passed out to the public (LSD was legal at that time). Those who "drank the Kool-Aid" passed the "Acid Test." "Drinking the Kool-Aid" in that context meant accepting the LSD drug culture, and the Pranksters' "turned on" point of view. These events were described in Tom Wolfe's 1968 classic, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. [4]

    It is also now closely associated with the 1978 cult mass-suicide/murder in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, convinced his followers to move to Jonestown. Late in the year, he then ordered his flock to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid laced with potassium cyanide. In what is now commonly called the "Jonestown Massacre," a large majority of the 913 people later found dead drank the brew. (The discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity versus the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.) The precise expression can be attested in usage at least as early as 1987. [4]

    One lasting legacy of the Jonestown tragedy is the saying, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid." This has come to mean, "Don’t trust any group you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever they tell you, don't believe it too strongly."[1] The phrase can also be used in the opposite sense to indicate that one has blindly embraced a particular philosophy or perspective (a "Kool-Aid drinker", or, as a cynical response to a fanatical claim, "sounds like someone's been drinking the Kool-Aid!").

    In technology circles "drinking the Kool-Aid" is often used to describe the misguided or over-abundant enthusiasm someone has for their product and its capabilities.

  • Hoping4Change
    Hoping4Change

    Kool aid is a sweetened drink mix used to make something akin to juice. In casual conversation (and especially in talks critical of a position set forth), the phrase "drinking kool aid" is a reference to the Jonestown Colony cult where a mass murder/suicide took place under direction from Rev. Jim Jones - many congregants either voluntarily or forced to drank a poison "kool aid" drink resulting in their deaths.

  • Nathan Natas
    Nathan Natas

    In the USA, Kool-Aid is a powdered drink mix, usually containing a lot of sugar and in various fruit flavors.

    The significance of "Kool-Aid" is due to a mistaken connection between Kool-Aid and the cyanide-laced beverage that was served to the victims of the Jonestown "suicide" (not all were voluntary) in Guyana on November 18, 1978.

    The beverage that was served was not actually based on Kool-Aid, but on a similar competing product: nonetheless, the phrase "don't drink the kool-aid" has become part of our language.

  • bernadette
    bernadette

    Apparently its a very versatile product - can even be used to dye one's hair

  • dobbie
    dobbie

    ugh what a way to die, those poor little kiddies. I didnt think of googling it i thought maybe it was some used up nickname for the dubs or something!Thanks for the information

  • lonelysheep
    lonelysheep

    Kool-Aid Man

  • Tyrone van leyen
    Tyrone van leyen

    Good question. I was puzzled by it context the other day, in the post your pic's thread. I get the drift of what was said, but I still can't figure out why kool aid, has any meaning, in the sense that it was used. I am glad to see however, that other people don't get it either. Any how, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here. I let it go into the archives of interesting ,misunderstood expressions. I am guessing that's what you were refering to, in this question. If not, I guess I stand alone. Sparky tried to explain it to me, as well as Ms mc D. I guess I have a pretty thick head sometimes. I guess the best thing to do, is rent the movie Clerk II. Here you will find the answer to this query, in the proper context it was meant for, on the thread. I think they was jus jivin me Right Thelma, right Louise! You naughty pair of deviants. lol

  • under_believer
    under_believer

    This guy here is the real expert.

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