drink

[lencop]

Why when beer and lemonade are mixed is it called SHANDY?. Lenco.

[tictactoe]

Yes, and when the beer is mixed with Ginger Beer it is known as Shandygaff. Although most will just call it a shandy, made with ginger beer. Which, incidentally was the original concoction.

[tictactoe]

So sorry lencop,

misread your question.

OED says origin unknown.

Also says (which has surprised me) as I thought I was correct on first post, that Shandy is made with lemonade or ginger beer.

[Thunderchild]

as far as I nkow shandy is beer and lemonade, by the way what is ginger ?

[jno]

ginger is a spice (along with posh, sporty etc)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger

[jno]

...my dictionary (Oxford) says it's short for shandygaff but doesn't know where that came from.

[lencop]

Thank`s every for your answer`s, i`m happy with your info. Lencop.

[aurelia]

I had always thought that shandy was lemonade mixed with lager not beer

And there's another meaning for GINGER - In the West of Scotland GINGER is known as slang the same as POP is known in England - fizzy pop or ginger for different flavours of fizzy juice.

I once made a mistake aged 10 on visiting my Nan in the North-East of England and asking for a bottle of ginger in a shop and been giving Ginger Beer. When I said it was red cola I wanted - they said why did you ask for ginger - it was really hard to explain.

As kids here, we used to go to the shop and say "a bottle of ginger" and the shopkeeper would say "what kind of ginger do you want" - LOL

[robin dearde]

Shant of gatter - london vernacular.
Shanty=Public house.
Gatter idiom for water

[Brownlow]

The original shandy gaff was made with ginger beer.