American English Take-Home Exam
in existence then. Second theory claims that martini is simply a dryer version of an older cocktail
called the martinez which was created in Martinez, California by professor Jerry Thomas, when a
gold miner visited his San Francisco bar and asked for a unique drink. In another version of the
story, it was local bartender Julio Richelieu in Martinez in 1870 who was asked to make a new
drink by a gold miner. Regardless of the orgin, the drink refers to a cocktail made with gin and
vermouth, and garnished with an olive or a lemon twist.
Maven – In the modern American English, maven means someone who knows a lot about a
particular subject. The term comes from Yiddish meyvn and from Hebrew mebhin, literally
translating into "one who understands." The term (spelled as mayvin) was first recorded in
English in 1950, and became popular in the United States in the 1960s thanks to the series of
commercials created by Martin Solow for Vita Herring, featuring "The Beloved Herring Maven."